Comments for Ruminating...

Comment on Digital Office part IV: Inboxes and various tips by Justin Stortz (@newfirewithin)

Justin Stortz (@newfirewithin) — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:55:23 +0000

Thanks! I’ve really enjoyed your series and the diagrams were wonderful. I really appreciate the sharing.

Comment on Invest in a good manuscript (PDF) management system by Team Mendeley is joining Elsevier… | Ruminating...

Team Mendeley is joining Elsevier… | Ruminating... — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:24:10 +0000

[...] Mendeley is a serious options for those looking at a PDF management (and in text citation) system for scientific literature. It is a rather good option to replace the old-timer Endnote. [...]

Comment on Getting a summer job in a research group? by Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:17:44 +0000

Thank you for your quick reply. I definately understand the point you are trying to make about GPA. The director of the program (Bridges to Baccalaureate) explained what is expected of the potential candidates. I just got back from the symposium and it went great. Very fascinating research being done at UTEP. I’ve got the contact information and ready to schedule interviews with the professors I want to work with. I also found out after safety laboratory certification, we will be trained on the basic laboratory procedures depending on which laboratory we will be working in. Thank you again and any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Comment on Getting a summer job in a research group? by Luc Beaulieu

Luc Beaulieu — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:24:19 +0000

Stephanie,

If it is not on your CV it cannot be held against you BUT it cannot help you either. Let me explain. Every years, I received around about two dozen CVs for summer internship in my research group. Usually, 1/3 are discarded only based on the GPA (beeing too low to even get to grad studies). For the remaining CVs, I will look at past work experiences, in particular research/laboratory works. I will also look at particular course results for courses that are relevant to the project to be done.

Based on this information, I will select what I called the top 1/3 for interview, probe their knowlegde, ask about their past experiences and gauge their interest.

What I notice for the past 10 years, if you have top 10% GPA, getting to the interview is a given (most of the time). If you have a good GPA but below that of the top 10% of your University cohort, having done specific projects, laboratory works or other science or technical works is a big plus. For me, it means I can ask the colleagues for which the student has worked for feedback. I would much prefer to hire an independant, hard working and creative student with a lower GPA than an “exam machine” (those who can answer any formely formatted questions but cannot perform in a lab where you get to ask the questions yourself).

Not sure if this help, but wish you the best.

Comment on Getting a summer job in a research group? by Stephanie C.

Stephanie C. — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:53:46 +0000

Thank you for the great advise. I will be attending a symposium where professors and graduate students will be presenting their current work tomorrow! I have one question though. I am in my sophomore year of college and have a genuine interest in the biomedical field, however I have no laboratory experience at all. Will this count against me?