UAB Chalk Talk Question

[thecatran]

UAB MSTP requires students to give a 10-minute presentation on their research before their interview. The e-mail said that you did not need to prepare a PowerPoint presentation or anything like that, but I was wondering what some of you did for visuals. Just trying to get an understanding of what the admissions committee is going to expect in regards to preparation, quality, or extra materials.

My research dealt with the protein catalysis if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance!

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[Hoagie]

Figure out whether there is a black/whiteboard (im assuming yes if they are calling it a chalk talk) that you can use. If so, dont bring visuals and draw out your stuff. I would practice being concise though, 10 min is not a long time so you dont want to dillydally on the board. I did a similar thing at wustl interview where they insisted no visuals and also no black/white board. Just make sure you know your stuff to the point you can weave an interesting story about your science to scientists that may not be in your field. Be selective about the nitty gritty details you provide, and try to fit your science within a narrative. Good luck!!!

 

[thecatran]

Thanks for the info! It was very helpful.

 

[eryaman]

I interviewed there last year, and they did have a whiteboard. As far as I remember, none of the other interviewers brought any visuals, we wrote stuff on the board and talked.

 

[Hoagie]

Thanks for the info! It was very helpful.

no prob! in addition, it would be a good idea for you to be able to talk about the stuff below, whether it's in the context of your presentation or during the interview:

1. how your project was conceived (we decided to study gene x because x expression is upregulated in disease A...)
2. control conditions of experiments and why they are the correct controls (to ensure that the phenotype is not an artifact of transgenesis, we used heterozygous and/or wildtype littermates in our analysis)
3. strengths and weaknesses of your experimental paradigm (we used lentiviral vectors to express x-gfp instead of making x-gfp transgenic animals because...)
4. what the next experiments are
5. big picture implications (the role of gene x as a major player in disease A could be confirmed in a genome-wide association study...)

sorry the examples were meh, but you get the idea...

 

[thecatran]

Your replies definitely make feel a lot better. I've already had to give the same type of explanations at my other interviews. I was under the impression that the chalk talk was a lot more formal than it actually is.

 

[Hoagie]

That's good to hear. The major difference from the panel interview and the individual interviews in terms of talking research for me was that there were multiple people looking at you instead of one-on-one. The challenging part is not letting the audience psyche you out. They're going to want to see some poise and enthusiasm, and absolutely do not bull**** them. they are more knowledgeable than you, and it is much more difficult to bull**** multiple people of varied expertise than one person. if you don't know something, just say so and move on.

go kick ass!