(no subject)
Interviews are done. I'm back in the Triangle and am having lunch at work.
So the rundown of yesterday:
Woke up at 5 AM central. Seemed fairly normal to me. Lounged about, watched the news, got dressed and packed, went to breakfast then checked out.
8:45 AM we were picked up at the hotel and taken on a driving tour of Downtown Lawrence and KU campus. I snapped a buncha pics, I might make a separate post later with them.
We got to the center and were taken on a tour of the labs. Then we got set up for the presentations.
The faculty members were the audience for the presentations. I went first. I got through it fairly well, only had to stop and reorganize my thoughts a couple of times. Very few questions, including "How do you know that these proteases are important?" (due to conclusions from literature) and "What role did you play in the project?"
The other applicants had good presentations. The second to go said "Umm" and "Uhh" a lot. The third spent a lot of time on background. One of the professors pointed this out.
After the presentations we did our first two interviews. I talked with Profs. Zhang and Karinicoulos first. They were very nice, they were pleased with my answers and gave me a lot of information about the program. My common question was "What is your teaching philosophy?" Prof. Zhang apparently has one some individual international competitions. Both complimented my presentation, saying I spoke well and they could tell I understood what I was presenting.
Then we had lunch with some of the current students (pizza!). It was fun.
After lunch we interviewed with three more professors. My first was Prof Verkhivker. He was very very kind. He said he was very interested in my presentation because what I demonstrated biologically his lab is interested in computationally: ligand binding, protein-protein binding. He said I would fit in well with his group and said he's fully supporting my application.
Then I met with Prof. Vakser, the Dept. Chair. He said he liked my presentation, that it showed research maturity and a good sense of responsibility, hard work, commitment, and an idea of how to get it done. He talked with me about making sure that this is what I want and told me about how he put the program together with only the best getting faculty positions. The program does not submit a paper to low impact journals. If a paper is going to go out, it's going to be because it's strong. Perfectly fine with me, the higher the impact I have as a grad student, the easier it will be to find a job afterward (which is what Prof Vakser pointed out as well).
Lastly I met with Prof. Im, with whom I had been talking with off and on throughout the day. He showed me some of his research, asked a few questions, then talked to me about the core courses and his teaching philosophy.
After doing some paperwork to get reimbursed for the flights we were taken back to the airport via shuttle. Had dinner there then flew over to Charlotte then caught a plane over to RDU and got home close to midnight.
And now I'm exhausted.
So the rundown of yesterday:
Woke up at 5 AM central. Seemed fairly normal to me. Lounged about, watched the news, got dressed and packed, went to breakfast then checked out.
8:45 AM we were picked up at the hotel and taken on a driving tour of Downtown Lawrence and KU campus. I snapped a buncha pics, I might make a separate post later with them.
We got to the center and were taken on a tour of the labs. Then we got set up for the presentations.
The faculty members were the audience for the presentations. I went first. I got through it fairly well, only had to stop and reorganize my thoughts a couple of times. Very few questions, including "How do you know that these proteases are important?" (due to conclusions from literature) and "What role did you play in the project?"
The other applicants had good presentations. The second to go said "Umm" and "Uhh" a lot. The third spent a lot of time on background. One of the professors pointed this out.
After the presentations we did our first two interviews. I talked with Profs. Zhang and Karinicoulos first. They were very nice, they were pleased with my answers and gave me a lot of information about the program. My common question was "What is your teaching philosophy?" Prof. Zhang apparently has one some individual international competitions. Both complimented my presentation, saying I spoke well and they could tell I understood what I was presenting.
Then we had lunch with some of the current students (pizza!). It was fun.
After lunch we interviewed with three more professors. My first was Prof Verkhivker. He was very very kind. He said he was very interested in my presentation because what I demonstrated biologically his lab is interested in computationally: ligand binding, protein-protein binding. He said I would fit in well with his group and said he's fully supporting my application.
Then I met with Prof. Vakser, the Dept. Chair. He said he liked my presentation, that it showed research maturity and a good sense of responsibility, hard work, commitment, and an idea of how to get it done. He talked with me about making sure that this is what I want and told me about how he put the program together with only the best getting faculty positions. The program does not submit a paper to low impact journals. If a paper is going to go out, it's going to be because it's strong. Perfectly fine with me, the higher the impact I have as a grad student, the easier it will be to find a job afterward (which is what Prof Vakser pointed out as well).
Lastly I met with Prof. Im, with whom I had been talking with off and on throughout the day. He showed me some of his research, asked a few questions, then talked to me about the core courses and his teaching philosophy.
After doing some paperwork to get reimbursed for the flights we were taken back to the airport via shuttle. Had dinner there then flew over to Charlotte then caught a plane over to RDU and got home close to midnight.
And now I'm exhausted.