Unique oppertunity with bio professor - Research trip

[Dreaming big]

e. American Association for Cell Biology Annual Meeting (Dec, 2009, San Diego, CA). Up to a dozen lucky and hard-working Freshmen who are now taking HONbio and are doing A-level work in September and October will fly to San Francisco with Dr. mi right before finals for 5 days at the world’s premiere scientific forum for Cell Biology, returning on a study day before final exams. We will stay in a downtown hotel, attend workshops, education sessions, plenary lectures by Nobel laureates past present and future, poster sessions, and amazing technology exhibits. We will also visit The Salk Institute, the California Institute of Technology (where Linus Pauling worked) and if time permits, the famous San Diego zoo. Participants will be selected by November 1 and will attend in several preparation sessions before the trip. The cost is about $900 for each partgicipant, but partial subsidies for all and scholarships for some may be available. If you want to go, I suggest that you start studying NOW, and indicate your interest early in the semester. Nine of us did this last semester (the cancer meetings in Denver) and it was a great success!.




is this worth it? would it be put on my resume?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MilkmanAl]

What about that is resume-worthy? It's a vacation that happens to involve some notable people. You're in a BS/MD program anyway, so anything you do now is pretty useless to you.

 

[Compass]

Assuming you're prepared for your final by the trip,

Make sure to network a lot!

It's not a resume entry, but it certainly is something you can write about. You could put it on your CV as an honor/award.

 

[MilkmanAl]

It does sound like it could be fun, and I suppose there's a chance you might get some contacts out of it. I don't expect many world-class researchers are too interested in interacting with college freshmen, but you never know. Like Compass said, if you can prepare for your final beforehand and can afford it, there's not much reason not to go. Just don't count on it improving your credentials at all.

 

[Dreaming big]

Assuming you're prepared for your final by the trip,

Make sure to network a lot!

It's not a resume entry, but it certainly is something you can write about. You could put it on your CV as an honor/award.

So i put it as a honor award? that would be cool

 

[Compass]

It certainly is an honor, since it's not something everyone can do at your school. Whether it's an award, I dunno, since you're paying for it unless you get some partial scholarships.

 

[TopSecret]

e. American Association for Cell Biology Annual Meeting (Dec, 2009, San Diego, CA). Up to a dozen lucky and hard-working Freshmen who are now taking HONbio and are doing A-level work in September and October will fly to San Francisco with Dr. mi right before finals for 5 days at the world’s premiere scientific forum for Cell Biology, returning on a study day before final exams. We will stay in a downtown hotel, attend workshops, education sessions, plenary lectures by Nobel laureates past present and future, poster sessions, and amazing technology exhibits. We will also visit The Salk Institute, the California Institute of Technology (where Linus Pauling worked) and if time permits, the famous San Diego zoo. Participants will be selected by November 1 and will attend in several preparation sessions before the trip. The cost is about $900 for each partgicipant, but partial subsidies for all and scholarships for some may be available. If you want to go, I suggest that you start studying NOW, and indicate your interest early in the semester. Nine of us did this last semester (the cancer meetings in Denver) and it was a great success!.




is this worth it? would it be put on my resume?

It's risky since it's right before finals. I would skip it and just study. Protecting the GPA should be your first priority.

 

[LizzyM]

e. American Association for Cell Biology Annual Meeting (Dec, 2009, San Diego, CA). Up to a dozen lucky and hard-working Freshmen who are now taking HONbio and are doing A-level work in September and October will fly to San Francisco with Dr. mi right before finals for 5 days at the world’s premiere scientific forum for Cell Biology, returning on a study day before final exams. We will stay in a downtown hotel, attend workshops, education sessions, plenary lectures by Nobel laureates past present and future, poster sessions, and amazing technology exhibits. We will also visit The Salk Institute, the California Institute of Technology (where Linus Pauling worked) and if time permits, the famous San Diego zoo. Participants will be selected by November 1 and will attend in several preparation sessions before the trip. The cost is about $900 for each partgicipant, but partial subsidies for all and scholarships for some may be available. If you want to go, I suggest that you start studying NOW, and indicate your interest early in the semester. Nine of us did this last semester (the cancer meetings in Denver) and it was a great success!.




is this worth it? would it be put on my resume?

Flying to San Francisco for a meeting in San Diego... obviously the trip isn't being planned by a geography major.

I agree that it is far more important to protect one's gpa. Such a meeting this early in your career isn't worth $900 and several days of prime studying for finals.

 

[MarieMarie]

Can't this count as a research conference attendance? Or perhaps not, because you're not participating.

 

[Dreaming big]

Flying to San Francisco for a meeting in San Diego... obviously the trip isn't being planned by a geography major.

I agree that it is far more important to protect one's gpa. Such a meeting this early in your career isn't worth $900 and several days of prime studying for finals.

Isn't it worth it for the experience?

 

[zayka]

Would you be able to defer your finals? My best friend deferred most of her exams to fly to Seattle for a conference, but she was presenting.

I think it's a great opportunity, but you have to take special caution with your grades. I do think that it would be possible to prepare regardless, and you may be able to have your cake and eat it too by attending and studying before/during. If I had to choose, I would concentrate on GPA though. Since you're not really involved in Cell Bio research yet, you may not be able to fully enjoy the conference yet, and may not understand all/most that is going on.

BTW, I understand perhaps not flying into San Diego since the landing requirements there are different, but why not fly into LAX?

 

[LizzyM]

Isn't it worth it for the experience?

What experience? You aren't presenting so you don't have that experience of give & take with other investigators regarding your work. You get to see some big shots in the flesh which can be fun (putting names with faces) but you are so early in your academic career that it is really too soon, IMHO, to get much out of the experience.

 

[dw2158]

i'd skip it and study for finals. but...

Isn't it worth it for the experience?

... it seems like you've already made your decision!

 

[TopSecret]

what experience? You aren't presenting so you don't have that experience of give & take with other investigators regarding your work. You get to see some big shots in the flesh which can be fun (putting names with faces) but you are so early in your academic career that it is really too soon, imho, to get much out of the experience.

+1

 

[TopSecret]

BTW, I understand perhaps not flying into San Diego since the landing requirements there are different, but why not fly into LAX?

Actually, there's also John Wayne Airport in Orange County. It's pretty nice and traffic is not as bad. The only downside is that the airport closes at around 10pm to keep the local residents (Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and other beach communities) happy at night.

 

[MilkmanAl]

What experience? You aren't presenting so you don't have that experience of give & take with other investigators regarding your work. You get to see some big shots in the flesh which can be fun (putting names with faces) but you are so early in your academic career that it is really too soon, IMHO, to get much out of the experience.

See? I'm not as stupid as I look.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

If you want to save some money, I can give you a trip to the San Diego zoo for only 100$. I can give you a talk about biology 101, like sexual and asexual reproduction n stuff. Wow, what a bonus. PM me if interested.

 

[musafirah]

only if someone else is paying for it. or you have 900$ to throw away.

all i can think of is that to the layman it sounds impressive. "omg you met nobel laureates!1"

 

[TopSecret]

For $900 you could buy roundtrip tickets to LA, sign up for skydiving lessons, and get 45 minutes of flying time at Top Dog Air Combat.

Edit - I actually took skydiving lessons and went to Top Dog Air Combat. It was a lot of fun.

 

[zayka]

For $900 you could buy roundtrip tickets to LA, sign up for skydiving lessons, and get 45 minutes of flying time at Top Dog Air Combat.

Edit - I actually took skydiving lessons and went to Top Dog Air Combat. It was a lot of fun.

Do this . Then, do good research and present at the conference, and you can get a scholarship to pay for your costs there. Win win.

 

[TopSecret]

Do this . Then, do good research and present at the conference, and you can get a scholarship to pay for your costs there. Win win.

I also took sailing lessons for $400 and got my certification. A lot of possibilities with that kind of dough.

Also, for about $1000 you could go to Front Sight and learn how to shoot a firearm like in the movie Collateral.

 

[zayka]

I also took sailing lessons for $400 and got my certification. A lot of possibilities with that kind of dough.

Also, for about $1000 you could go to Front Sight and learn how to shoot a firearm like in the movie Collateral.

Yeah, its sometimes makes me sad to think about the thousands I'm spending on applications... Ah well, hopefully won't have to do it again next year and will have money for fun things.

 

[Dreaming big]

What experience? You aren't presenting so you don't have that experience of give & take with other investigators regarding your work. You get to see some big shots in the flesh which can be fun (putting names with faces) but you are so early in your academic career that it is really too soon, IMHO, to get much out of the experience.

Ok, I got that it won't have value for CV> Will it be worth it so that I can get a better LOR from my BIO prof? Would this lead to a better LOR?

 

[MilkmanAl]

You don't need to go on a trip to get a LOR. Go talk to the professor, and try to hide the fact that you're only doing so to further your own agenda. You know, act like you actually give a crap about what (s)he's teaching you and him/her as a person, even though that clearly will not be the case. Also, since you're already in med school, what good will a LOR of any strength do you?

To answer the question directly, no, going on the trip in an attempt to secure a stronger LOR is not worthwhile at all. You're going to have to stand out (positively) via academics to secure those recs.

 

[Reggieray2k]

Go if you want to but it doesn't sound like much of an honor, its just in a class and awarded by the professor.

Also as everyone has pointed out, San Francisco is far from San Diego (6hrs by car at least) San Diego has an airport (surprise!). UCSD is about 20 min away by car.

Also CalTech is about 2 or 3 hours from UCSD so I don't know how great of a day trip that would be.