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Category Archives: Graduate school
How to avoid choosing zombie professors for grad school
The list of faculty affiliated with a program is a political document more than an accurate document. At my university anyone who is on the faculty and wants to be affiliated with a program may be. Some of the people … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Undergraduates
Tagged graduate school admissions, professors, university, zombie
1 Comment
How getting into grad school in cell biology or neuroscience is different from ecology or evolution
You would think getting into grad school in one or another area of biology would be more or less the same. You might even think that if you went to a better undergrad university, had better grades, more research experience, … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Interviewing, Undergraduates
Tagged admissions, ecology, evolution, Graduate school
5 Comments
The three questions on our prospective graduate student evaluation form
We learn so much about our new grad student applicants, but the form we fill out on line for our Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, DBBS, only wants us to put down three things. We are asked: 1. What … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Interviewing, Undergraduates
Tagged evaluation, grad school, interviews, judging, Research
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Don’t lose focus on grad student interviews!
It is again time to interview next year’s potential grad students. They have flown in from all over the country and will be spending a few days with us. Our current grad students will let us know how collegial they … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Interviewing, Undergraduates
Tagged ecology, evolution, graduate student, Interview, leadership, self-starter
3 Comments
What do graduate students want?
This is a tough time to be a graduate student. This is a wonderful time to be a graduate student. It is wonderful for hardly fettered curiosity, freedom to explore, to share, to teach, to learn, to live simply, and … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school
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A rant on letters of recommendation that include passwords and check boxes
This is the time of year we write letters of recommendation. If you have a lot of students, you may be writing a lot of letters. Each student will need several letters. We generally use the same letter for different … Continue reading
The most important academic thing an undergraduate must do: cultivate three professors
It is tough to be an undergraduate. You get told all the time what to do, where to be, what to study. Then, just when you get really interested in something, you have to move on. In some ways being … Continue reading
Impress us with your grit: apply for small grants when you are a student
Grit. It is what matters, along with some altruism, intelligence, creativity, and enthusiasm. But grit is what it takes to get the paper out the door. It is what it takes to finish that Ph.D. It is what it takes … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school, Grant proposals, Grants, Managing an academic career
Tagged academic success, determination, funding, grants, grit, Research
3 Comments
What to do about a low GRE verbal score
How can you fix a low GRE verbal score when it is dependent on a lifetime of reading, listening to complex language, and writing? Little children have no control over the richness of language they hear. They don’t get to … Continue reading
Journal club extended to research planning for students at the Gulbenkian in Portugal
Did you drift from one project to another during your first year in graduate school? Did your program have you do rotations? Did you continue something you began as an undergrad? Or did you simply join one lab, get on … Continue reading
Posted in Graduate school
Tagged Education, Graduate school, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, journal club, Research, rotations
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Sociobiology 