(no subject)
So, I just returned from my first graduate school interview weekend (at NIH/UPenn)...or as they call it, a recruitment weekend. I could deal with this for a while :) There were a couple hours of interviews in there, but the rest was spent trying to sell the school/program to us. Since the interview are starting to really rack up (UCSF, Stanford, UC Berkeley, WashU, and Yale) and I'm probably going to lose track of them all, I'm going to note general impressions here.
They almost completely sold me on the program. It sounds amazing. With the NIH/UPenn immunology partnership program, I can do one or more of my rotations at NIH, and have the option of doing my thesis research in an NIH lab or as co-mentored project, with an NIH PI and a UPenn PI. Collaboration is a really big thing in this program, which is really awesome, since you hear a lot about really fierce competition for grants (even within the same institution). There aren't many required courses, and you start rotations your first year. They're also very serious about mentoring the graduate students, and making sure that they finish in 5 years (or thereabouts--basically they want you to be able to start your career as soon as possible). Awesome! I guess one thing I might have wished to see was more opportunities for teaching. They don't require any teaching, and it sounded hard to find those opportunities...and I think that's something I might want to try. Anyway, the program seemed wonderful, I just wasn't such a fan of Philadelphia. It could have been my mood/the weather when they were touring us around the city. I was exhausted from extensive socializing with all the other recruits and the introvert in me was flaring up, and it was a grey, wet day. Everything just looked really grimy and run-down, and it wasn't all that thrilling. Maybe I'm just picky. Anyway, I'll have to keep an open mind.
Ahh. In other news, I think my course schedule for this semester is solidified:
Biophysics (because I have to)
Research for Credit
MB&B Senior Project (ha)
Epidemics and Society
The Hero in the Ancient Near East
a random yet satisfying mix. I'm going to test it out this week, since I only went to two days of classes last week. It's nice that schedules aren't due till Friday. I also think this semester will be a lot more sane than last, because I'm hoping the senior project and research for credit will overlap a lot (at least in material). It also helps that there's actually no meeting time for the senior project until the very end of the semester.
I'm just realizing I haven't really updated since my craziness during exams/reading period. Obviously, I survived. Yay! My grades were okay, but I wish they could have been a little better. Winter break was pretty fun--reconnecting with some old friends, and *ridiculous* amounts of carillon at Frederick. Like, really ridiculous. I put so many miles on the old Blazer driving there and back, it's not even funny. The good news is, I *think* I have a decent recording. We'll see. I'm not too hopeful, but I'm happy I have something to send in (my job for tomorrow!). I also need to shout out some serious thanks to Tom for pointing out Polderbits to me...it really saved me, and I don't know what I'd be doing if I was still struggling with that stupid Sony software.
Okay. I'm going to get to bed. And make 8 copies of my CD. Happy new semester!
They almost completely sold me on the program. It sounds amazing. With the NIH/UPenn immunology partnership program, I can do one or more of my rotations at NIH, and have the option of doing my thesis research in an NIH lab or as co-mentored project, with an NIH PI and a UPenn PI. Collaboration is a really big thing in this program, which is really awesome, since you hear a lot about really fierce competition for grants (even within the same institution). There aren't many required courses, and you start rotations your first year. They're also very serious about mentoring the graduate students, and making sure that they finish in 5 years (or thereabouts--basically they want you to be able to start your career as soon as possible). Awesome! I guess one thing I might have wished to see was more opportunities for teaching. They don't require any teaching, and it sounded hard to find those opportunities...and I think that's something I might want to try. Anyway, the program seemed wonderful, I just wasn't such a fan of Philadelphia. It could have been my mood/the weather when they were touring us around the city. I was exhausted from extensive socializing with all the other recruits and the introvert in me was flaring up, and it was a grey, wet day. Everything just looked really grimy and run-down, and it wasn't all that thrilling. Maybe I'm just picky. Anyway, I'll have to keep an open mind.
Ahh. In other news, I think my course schedule for this semester is solidified:
Biophysics (because I have to)
Research for Credit
MB&B Senior Project (ha)
Epidemics and Society
The Hero in the Ancient Near East
a random yet satisfying mix. I'm going to test it out this week, since I only went to two days of classes last week. It's nice that schedules aren't due till Friday. I also think this semester will be a lot more sane than last, because I'm hoping the senior project and research for credit will overlap a lot (at least in material). It also helps that there's actually no meeting time for the senior project until the very end of the semester.
I'm just realizing I haven't really updated since my craziness during exams/reading period. Obviously, I survived. Yay! My grades were okay, but I wish they could have been a little better. Winter break was pretty fun--reconnecting with some old friends, and *ridiculous* amounts of carillon at Frederick. Like, really ridiculous. I put so many miles on the old Blazer driving there and back, it's not even funny. The good news is, I *think* I have a decent recording. We'll see. I'm not too hopeful, but I'm happy I have something to send in (my job for tomorrow!). I also need to shout out some serious thanks to Tom for pointing out Polderbits to me...it really saved me, and I don't know what I'd be doing if I was still struggling with that stupid Sony software.
Okay. I'm going to get to bed. And make 8 copies of my CD. Happy new semester!