The Grad School Thread

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And I had a license in the state I was going to grad school in. I HIGHLY recommend to do this. This could be a backup if you want to do some relief work or if something should happen and you need to go back to practice.
 
I'm going to be doing part time GP working during my PhD so getting licensed in the state where I'm going to school. I feel like it makes sense, even if you want to do wildlife work in the future, to have some way to maintain (and develop!) your clinical skills. The extra income is a bonus.
 
(essentially) officially a part of this club :hello:

the way my PhD portion will work is.... 2.5 years DVM curriculum (all didactic courses) {summers spent rotating in labs to identify desired PI} --> PhD in its entirety --> 1.5 clinical years; DVM graduation

I thought I'd be able to do my DVM and then my PhD but that option isn't funded! the way one of my interviewers put it, when she tried to become employed after having done it the traditional way (DVM then PhD), employers were unsure because her clinical experience was several years removed. I suppose I understand that logic?

Of course, I imagine that shouldn't be a problem for you, WZ, and those doing clinical work concurrently with the PhD.

anyway. happy to be here (not that I didn't post here before lol). still soaking in that I got offered this opportunity. doesn't seem real!
 
I did part time GP and relief work during my PhD without the blessing of my program (only in nights, weekends, and holidays) and found it helped with my mental balance during the PhD studies. When I started writing my dissertation though I had to stop and then my program realized I was doing this. Lol. They were kind of upset but then realized I needed the break in constant PhD work so it was fine. Anyways it was a fun break from “PhD all the time” and kept my clinical skills up. I got more calls for jobs for small animal GP when I was done with the PhD than I had for research positions because I graduated in 2013 at the tail end of the recession. I don’t regret my part time work during PhD work one bit.
 
Musicandhorses said:
I did part time GP and relief work during my PhD without the blessing of my program (only in nights, weekends, and holidays) and found it helped with my mental balance during the PhD studies. When I started writing my dissertation though I had to stop and then my program realized I was doing this. Lol. They were kind of upset but then realized I needed the break in constant PhD work so it was fine. Anyways it was a fun break from “PhD all the time” and kept my clinical skills up. I got more calls for jobs for small animal GP when I was done with the PhD than I had for research positions because I graduated in 2013 at the tail end of the recession. I don’t regret my part time work during PhD work one bit.
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Pretty much every dual degree student in my program has done relief or part time work on the side, and all the mentors and PIs are cool with it, but the program director must never know :laugh:
 
WildZoo said:
Pretty much every dual degree student in my program has done relief or part time work on the side, and all the mentors and PIs are cool with it, but the program director must never know :laugh:
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Interesting. Unless people kept good secrets I don’t know of anyone who did that here. It’s a small town though. Not sure how many opportunities you’d find without going to Topeka or Kansas City.
 
Musicandhorses said:
And I had a license in the state I was going to grad school in. I HIGHLY recommend to do this. This could be a backup if you want to do some relief work or if something should happen and you need to go back to practice.
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I think I signed something formally agreeing that I wouldn't moonlight. My PI also mentioned that she discourages it unless absolutely necessary for financial reasons. Though I could see the benefit of being able to treat my own animals. Since my PhD is in Canada, that may or may not add another layer of complication. I'm approaching the conclusion that I need to do a lot more research and make a spreadsheet to compare options.
 
Written. prelims. are. done.

(not to be confused with "written prelims are submitted and passed with flying colors, no rewrites, and only questions about why I haven't been given a Nobel yet," but they are written in their final form and will be submitted tomorrow morning)
 
sheltermed said:
(essentially) officially a part of this club :hello:

the way my PhD portion will work is.... 2.5 years DVM curriculum (all didactic courses) {summers spent rotating in labs to identify desired PI} --> PhD in its entirety --> 1.5 clinical years; DVM graduation

I thought I'd be able to do my DVM and then my PhD but that option isn't funded! the way one of my interviewers put it, when she tried to become employed after having done it the traditional way (DVM then PhD), employers were unsure because her clinical experience was several years removed. I suppose I understand that logic?

Of course, I imagine that shouldn't be a problem for you, WZ, and those doing clinical work concurrently with the PhD.

anyway. happy to be here (not that I didn't post here before lol). still soaking in that I got offered this opportunity. doesn't seem real!
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What will your PhD be in? You might have talked about it elsewhere but I haven't been around much.
 
PrincessButterCup said:
What will your PhD be in? You might have talked about it elsewhere but I haven't been around much.
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~comparative medicine and integrative biology~

I don't have a project selected or anything. First two summers of DVM curriculum will be spent rotating in labs to make that decision 🙂
 
WildZoo said:
Heh. Mine is technically comparative and experimental medicine.
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Mine is comparative & molecular biosciences. Comparative seems to be a theme.
 
I greatly underestimated how useful YouTube could be for learning signaling pathways. Also, I overestimated my ability to draw signaling pathways in a way that doesn't require me to write explanations also because my drawing is legitimately so terrible.

ok but legit every time I draw DNA, it looks like a tapeworm.
 
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Chocolate_Coffee_Bunnyz said:
I'm looking to get my for-thesis MS in zoology (although there are a thousand names for it that differ by school) but with having started my path toward vet school, I have no instructors who can write a LOR (only my current boss (a wildlife rehabber) that I have three years experience working with at her facility, a vet I interned with for about 100 hours, and a lead zoo keeper who worked with me as opposed to the volunteer coordinator for about two years) nor any lab experience (aside from limited class labs like biochemistry, some animal science classes etc).

I have since graduated from undergrad with my BS in Animal Science and don't have any particularly strong relationships with my professors since I didn't do any research with them (which was pretty much the only way they would get to know you well enough for a LOR- even office hours weren't enough). I'm not looking for a "will I get into grad school" style answer but rather a "what can I do in the next year or so to strengthen my application, apart from going back to repeat/ get another undergrad degree"?

How would I go about getting lab experience without being enrolled in a university? Is it common for university labs to accept outside help even for just grunt work? I've heard that its not what you know but who you know, so any advice for reaching out to researchers/ advisors given my askew academic path? Are those in research likely to pick up such a late-to-start student (not for their project but maybe as a mentoring or grunt work assistant)? I'm also willing to expand my work experience to better prove how interested I am in research. TIA!
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I was in a very similar spot, actually! I was originally focused on applying to vet school and most of the choices I made in employment/experience reflected that, so I felt woefully unprepared when I started looking into grad school. I had some basic experience as a biology lab TA and some research experience in other fields, but nothing substantial or hugely applicable.

Once I was out of school and had decided on the grad school thing, I had a hard time finding lab or research experience. I applied for some entry-level lab positions in academia and industry. No luck. I happened to live between two research universities, so I started looking through professors' profiles and lab websites and e-mailing anyone who was doing work I was even remotely interested in. I sent a lot of e-mails before I finally had a PI e-mail me back, and he set me up with one of his students so I could shadow and build experience. I was invited to attend their lab meetings, and I also started attending the graduate student lecture series every week. I applied to the same program for grad school. Didn't get in.

It made sense - my grades weren't impressive, my GRE wasn't impressive, I didn't have impressive experience. I didn't stand out in the pool of applicants. After that failed round, I actually applied to my undergrad again, planning to go back for 2 or 3 semesters to finished the credits for a microbiology degree, intending to get experience in a lab and more coursework to make myself more competitive for another application cycle. Then I happened to hear about a professor who needed a student for a specific project and I reached out to her to learn more. I met with her a few times and talked about what she does, what I want to do, etc. I asked her what steps I should take to apply and she had me write a letter of intent. After that we had another conversation and she basically decided she was willing to take me on as her student. I still had to meet the basic GPA criteria, write a personal statement, and submit letters of rec to be accepted by the graduate college, but it was mostly a formality at that point.

So, that's kind of a backdoor way into grad school. Some students apply to the program and if a PI is interested they will interview them, but a lot of the people here got into grad school by connecting with a PI they wanted to work with. I think it's different if you're looking at programs where the department pays you vs. the PI being responsible for your stipend, but that's how I did it.
 
Humble brag but I’ve been working with the head of the pathology grad program while we’re waiting for animals to be delivered again and apparently I found something I’m good at here. I’ve been mounting neonatal piglet brain sections and coverslipping them for IHC. I’m apparently good at it and it makes me happy that the PIs keep complementing me. I’ve never done either before yet I’m flying through this.

I’m gonna be sad when we are allowed to resume experiments because I like this
 
Balesofhay said:
Humble brag but I’ve been working with the head of the pathology grad program while we’re waiting for animals to be delivered again and apparently I found something I’m good at here. I’ve been mounting neonatal piglet brain sections and coverslipping them for IHC. I’m apparently good at it and it makes me happy that the PIs keep complementing me. I’ve never done either before yet I’m flying through this.

I’m gonna be sad when we are allowed to resume experiments because I like this
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That's great! Well done, Bales! :clap:
 
supershorty said:
It’ll be somewhere between June 30th and July 10th, just waiting on 1 committee member.
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JK lol

Here's hoping I can persuade my committee to do a Saturday prelim (since we're on Zoom anyway) because otherwise I have to wait until August and I'm not sure my brain can handle that.

Update: it is now scheduled for a Saturday at 8am. Not ideal but at least it’ll get done. Having half my committee composed of clinicians from the same service makes scheduling anything a real challenge, let alone scheduling a 3 hour block!
 
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sheltermed said:
~comparative medicine and integrative biology~

I don't have a project selected or anything. First two summers of DVM curriculum will be spent rotating in labs to make that decision 🙂
Click to expand...
I can’t remember, what are you planning on going into that you need the PhD?
 
SkiOtter said:
I can’t remember, what are you planning on going into that you need the PhD?
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I don't know for sure. I don't need the PhD, per se.

I'm thinking I'd specialize following the PhD and try to get a faculty position at a vet school. Other ideas include lab animal medicine in industry, public health/epidemiology, agriculture things.

My idea with the PhD that made me want to pursue it is that it could open up a lot of opportunities down the line. I hope to be involved in research in a greater capacity throughout my career. Ideally, I would like to do the first option I mentioned and pursue both clinical practice and my own research, hopefully linking the two!

There are lots of things I can do though. I have 7-8 years to figure it out 🙂
 
sheltermed said:
I don't know for sure. I don't need the PhD, per se.

I'm thinking I'd specialize following the PhD and try to get a faculty position at a vet school. Other ideas include lab animal medicine in industry, public health/epidemiology, agriculture things.

My idea with the PhD that made me want to pursue it is that it could open up a lot of opportunities down the line. I hope to be involved in research in a greater capacity throughout my career. Ideally, I would like to do the first option I mentioned and pursue both clinical practice and my own research, hopefully linking the two!

There are lots of things I can do though. I have 7-8 years to figure it out 🙂
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Cool!
 
sheltermed said:
I don't know for sure. I don't need the PhD, per se.

I'm thinking I'd specialize following the PhD and try to get a faculty position at a vet school. Other ideas include lab animal medicine in industry, public health/epidemiology, agriculture things.

My idea with the PhD that made me want to pursue it is that it could open up a lot of opportunities down the line. I hope to be involved in research in a greater capacity throughout my career. Ideally, I would like to do the first option I mentioned and pursue both clinical practice and my own research, hopefully linking the two!

There are lots of things I can do though. I have 7-8 years to figure it out 🙂
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I'm excited for you!
 
Kind of wishing my oral prelim was this weekend instead of next weekend. I want to get it over with and get back to being lab doing science instead of studying and reading papers all the time.
 
I have no idea what I'm doing and undergrads are like "We'd love to learn some of the things you're doing for this project!" and I'm like "Yeah me too!" :banana:
 
supershorty said:
Any SDNers feeling bored and want to listen to a runthrough of my prelim seminar next week and ask questions?

6 days meeeeeeep
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I can later this afternoon!

Edit: Or did you mean later this week? I can help whenever 🙂
 
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PrincessButterCup said:
I can later this afternoon!

Edit: Or did you mean later this week? I can help whenever 🙂
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Later this week would be super optimal since I haven't finished making my slides yet :whistle:

Thanks!!!
 
supershorty said:
Any SDNers feeling bored and want to listen to a runthrough of my prelim seminar next week and ask questions?

6 days meeeeeeep
Click to expand...
Meeeee!!
 
My garmin watch tells me that my resting HR has gone from its usual high 50s/low 60s to solidly in the mid-upper 90s starting around 2:30 this morning. Can't wait to see what it is tomorrow morning...
 
supershorty said:
My garmin watch tells me that my resting HR has gone from its usual high 50s/low 60s to solidly in the mid-upper 90s starting around 2:30 this morning. Can't wait to see what it is tomorrow morning...
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You're gonna do great!!
 
I'm so over collaboration. The politics of it, the miscommunication, the waiting for months for someone to share their part of the data. Just ugh. Why is science supposed to be collaborative, again? Can't I just sit over here and do my own thing?


I don't always feel this way, but this week is especially frustrating.
 
Every time I think I'm at the point of being able to wrap up my side project (that takes a lot of time away from my thesis project), this one gene does something unexpected, and I'm so tired of it. I just wanna work on bone tumors.

/whineover
 
FB_IMG_1596895434960.jpg
 
But like look close in this pic from daycare and you can tell how bad the eye goop gets when I’m not wiping it off: Identifying Agency as a Form of Erasure

only sharing because I apparently send texts that are a lot longer than WZ and Finn 😛
 
JaynaAli said:
But like look close in this pic from daycare and you can tell how bad the eye goop gets when I’m not wiping it off: Identifying Agency as a Form of Erasure

only sharing because I apparently send texts that are a lot longer than WZ and Finn 😛
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My texts usually aren't that short! But the last text I happened to send before this was to MSU for the daily covid screening and it was a yes or no question. :laugh:
 
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