No matter what platform you peruse articles upon, you’re bound to see titles promising a scathing article about the sorry state of "Millennials". They live at home, they can’t even afford to buy diamond rings. And horror upon horror, they don’t pick up the phone! At some point in your grad school career, you should be writing.
For me, it cycles through the challenge of writing while in classes to the wide open space of vacations and summers when I should be writing, but seem to do every other thing on my to do list before sitting down at my computer. Over the past few years, I've stumbled across some great writing resources, many provide subscription emails. A few subject lines from these resources popped out at me this morning from my inbox, and I'd like to share.
One of my current projects as a baby genetic epidemiologist is taking a look at missing heritability in type 2 diabetes. Reading papers late one night, this image popped in my head, and I had to draw it out. Laughing alone with my laptop and my dog on PubMed is probably a sign of too much coffee, not enough sleep. But, enjoy the cartoon! I hope to have more. Science is my life, as is creativity.
xoxo BD
Great news! I've come back from my first conference as a PhD student and it went great.
If you read my first post on getting the most out of conferences, you may recognize a few of 'tasks' or suggestions I mentioned. You may be thinking, "Bailey, what was your goal for this conference?" Read more to find out.
How do you feel when you go to a conference? Are you nervous? Overwhelmed? Personally I wonder if I’ll ever get to the point in my career where I feel at ease, looking forward to seeing colleagues from all over the nation I’ve collaborated with on projects.
My advisor runs a weekly breakfast club for his advisees, and with a national conference coming up in the next few months, we wanted advice on how to get the most out of conferences. He came up with a top 10, that I’ve organized and elaborated on below. I’ll expand on a few in my next post (Part II).
All of these tips fall under the category of preparing for your own success. They should be done before the conference, and then acted upon. Make a game plan and you’ll return home feeling accomplished.
TIP: Make sure you read the conference program before registration day, so you can plan ahead and make the most of it! Check out the conference website, too! Re-evaluating your priorities is a good idea to do at least once a year, but can be especially helpful if you are feeling stale or stuck in a rut.
Orientation brings a tsunami of information crashing down on your head. Administrators and students acknowledge this fact in your meetings with a smile and joke. But by the end of the day, your pleasant expression has twisted and you'd prefer they get on with it.
But it's not their fault - what you really need is for the semester to fast forward a week or two. Diving into course material in class, instead of syllabus review. A routine for your schedule - problem sets due Fridays, lab reports due Wednesdays, happy hour on Thursdays. Everything fitting in neat little boxes in your head, instead of the nebulous cloud of worry and the frantic feeling you're forgetting something. To Be or Not To Be
In ninth grade English, one of our first assignments was to produce a book report without using the verb “to be” in any form. The purpose was to expand our vocabulary and make us actually think when we wrote (I think). It was hard, but it shaped how I approach writing. I would even say it helped me find my voice over the past decade. To continue reading, click below.
A past professor encouraged us to reformat our emails to busy supervisors. Often we start with pleasantries, and hide our true purpose for emailing in a body of text or at the bottom of the email. Get to the point with these templates.
To continue reading, click below.
Transitioning from college to residency, I learned many workplace lessons that ended up being rather traumatic. Any infographic or article you see that lists the differences between Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millenials summarizes many of the challenges that twenty-somethings encounter in the workplace. While we use email and text as a go-to communication tool, more experienced colleagues and supervisors find it impersonal and possibly offensive to address certain topics via email. Similarly, being called in for a one-on-one meeting with your boss may throw a millennial in a tizzy. What did you do wrong? Why are you in trouble?
While everyone can benefit from understanding why and how these different generations function, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to assimilate. Learning how to construct an appropriate email is important. Learning when not to send an email may be even more important.
Email often lacks context, making it a challenging communication medium in general. When Baby Boomers and GenXers view email as impersonal and disconnected, the problem is compounded. As humans, we are programmed to consider facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and our knowledge of the person. With email, we’re limited to the text in front of us and our knowledge of the person. Some consider TYPING IN ALL CAPS to denote excitement. For others, it’s angry.
You may also like: How to email your professor (or any supervisor)
Do you find yourself gossiping about a peer?
Is she a woman? Would you say the same things about a male peer? Gender bias is persistent on both sides of the gender aisle.
I first heard the term "stretch assignment" in undergrad from a lecturer discussing career development. She encouraged us to identify those opportunities that are a bit beyond our current skill set and comfort zone, and embrace them as an opportunity for growth.
Did you know that women are more likely to apply for a job only if they meet all of the listed qualifications? But men will apply even if that last few bullet points don't describe them. Once I read this statistic, my entire approach to growth transformed. Many of my peers, upon graduation with their Master degree, are job searching. For myself, I am preparing myself for doctoral training, and reflecting back upon these past 2 years. What projects would I like to spend my time on? How will it influence my training and career path?
Whether you are meeting your advisor for the first time, or are interested in revitalizing a placid relationship, these tips can help you not only make the most of your weekly meetings but improve your productivity and success as a graduate student.
Here's three possible scenarios.
In high school, there was a quick change from using Britannica encyclopedias in the library (media center, anyone?) or online, to the tempting world of Wikipedia. Every time we had a paper assigned, the teacher would call out after us when the bell rang, "Wikipedia doesn't count!"
Transitioning into college, Wikipedia became more...consistent? reliable? solid? Or at least gave off the appearance of such a resource. I used Wikipedia as a starting point (it is the first result on Google, after all...) and then use the keywords linked in the articles to find more "reputable" citations. So do I still use Wikipedia? Admitted Students days can be exhausting but informative, in the best case scenario. In all of my experiences, I attended these hosted visit days after already accepting my admission; however, many students go hoping to find another tidbit of information that can help them with a difficult decision. Regardless which camp you fall in, you should find this information useful. Prep work. Since you've already applied to the school, you're likely pretty familiar with their program. But as you consider actually going there, you may have more nitty gritty questions related to funding, coursework, or general program structure. These are the hard pieces of information you should use to compare and contrast different schools. Next, think about your past educational experiences. Do you do better in large lectures with separate teaching sections, or in small group discussion classes? Do you utilize office hours like it's your job or do you prefer study groups with colleagues?
Last night, I flew back north after a whirlwind trip for Admitted Students Day. Since I've already accepted the admission offer, my focus for this trip was to hash out my expectations for the upcoming year and to leave a memorable impression on my future advisors and mentors.
Reflecting during the plane ride, I realized that the approach I took during my meetings and interactions could be articulated for you to address the issues of imposter syndrome we all struggle with at one time or another.
Grad student grandiosity sits confidently (but ignorantly) across the aisle from imposter syndrome. Grad student grandiosity is that overly wordy short answer response that makes grading that much more miserable. It rears its head in discussion section when one student dominates the conversation, and insists on arguing with you over a basic terminology definition because they can hypothesize a number of scenarios where it doesn't hold.
When I have a particularly productive day working on my thesis, I come to a stopping point and just want to shut my computer and move to the next activity. While this is satisfying, it comes back to bite you in the bum.
The next day, when I open my computer, I have a plethora of documents open and datasets and do files without the slightest clue if its saved. I need multiple documents open when synthesizing results, but this system doesn't let you jump back in.
One of the benefits and challenges of being a graduate student is managing your own time. With only 1-2 courses this term, and the majority of my energy focused on my thesis, I find that it isn't necessary to go to school to do work. Last year, with such a large course load, finding time between classes to do work was advantageous. I associated certain spots at the school with working, and would make good use of 30 minutes here and there to churn out emails or recopy notes from yesterdays lecture. Updated 4/12/2015 Being able to identify your situation when you are most productive is the first step in planning a successful work space. |
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