Indecision 2006
Well, I've come to the part of my grad school career when it's time to decide who I'll do my rotations with. For the uninitiated, I choose three professors and do a seven-week stint in their lab. The idea is that I'll get the chance to see what working in that lab will be like. One of them I will select as my mentor and I'll be working with them for the next five years or so, so it's an important decision. I've already chosen two people to rotate with for sure, Dr. Laurance Morel and Dr. Sankar Swaminathan. I've already spoken with them and it's cool, but I've hit a snag. After talking to Dr. Long and looking around her lab I told her I would like to do a rotation with her and she agreed. Afterwards I found out that her only current graduate student is really unhappy. Now, normally I'd dismiss that as personality conflicts and try it out anyway, but I also found out that a professor with a huge lab and lots of money (Dr. Atkinson) was very impressed with me and wants me to rotate with him. So now I don't know what to do.
Dr. Long's work is closer to what I'm experienced in, and she is a very nice person who works closely with several people whose work I also found interesting. But she's also kind of new, and not nearly as well-established as Dr. Atkinson. Plus, she has unhappy grad students.
Dr. Atkinson is the number one Diabetes researcher in the country. His office was so nice I felt weird sitting in it...lol. He's not around as often as Dr. Long, and his lab is a lot bigger than what I'm used to. Dr. Ostrov assures me that my expereince would come in handy, and Dr. Atkinson apparently wants to work with me. Plus the guy is loaded. It's always nice, as a grad student, to not have to worry about losing your funding.
But I'm at a bit of a loss. I think I'm going ot try and get Dr. Long's students e-mail, and maybe ask a few other professors what they think.
In other news, Dustin and I are going to Orlando this weekend for the Time Spiral pre-release. We're crashing at our friend Jesse's place, which is nice. No hotel costs so we can buy more Magic cards...lol. I'm such a nerd.
Dr. Long's work is closer to what I'm experienced in, and she is a very nice person who works closely with several people whose work I also found interesting. But she's also kind of new, and not nearly as well-established as Dr. Atkinson. Plus, she has unhappy grad students.
Dr. Atkinson is the number one Diabetes researcher in the country. His office was so nice I felt weird sitting in it...lol. He's not around as often as Dr. Long, and his lab is a lot bigger than what I'm used to. Dr. Ostrov assures me that my expereince would come in handy, and Dr. Atkinson apparently wants to work with me. Plus the guy is loaded. It's always nice, as a grad student, to not have to worry about losing your funding.
But I'm at a bit of a loss. I think I'm going ot try and get Dr. Long's students e-mail, and maybe ask a few other professors what they think.
In other news, Dustin and I are going to Orlando this weekend for the Time Spiral pre-release. We're crashing at our friend Jesse's place, which is nice. No hotel costs so we can buy more Magic cards...lol. I'm such a nerd.