My First Job Interview!!!
... on this side of the table at least, to my recollection.
My lab is well known for several things. Dr. Kaneshiro, my PI, is a well established veteran in her field, one of the top. She is also known for driving her students like workhorses, as most of us work 9-5 M-F, weekends, plus whatever else time we need to get our work done. She is also known for bringing in undergrads, particularly minorities, for research experience. As such, she gets her lab out there as an option for students to get undergrad research, and apparently is great at recruiting.
Well, she was at an appointment, so her grad students got to interview a potential candidate. First off, being able to do this is an amazing feeling. It's like your opinions can make a difference. This experience was too *something* for words, but I must try. This story cannot be kept quiet. Here's a rough transcript.
So the guy got there. He was dressed up with a hot pink shirt, black striped vest, black slacks, and shiny dress shoes. They say first impressions matter. I used to be one of those people who thought it was stupid to pass judgment based on attire, and instead one should look at the work ethic and intelligence alone. However, in recent years I've found that on some level dressing up is a sign of taking things seriously, since it's atypical of one's normal way of dressing. While I liked that he dressed up, I felt that he should have gone more conservatively and less like he was nightclubing. But I can understand the way the kids these days like to dress in the modern fashion. But let's just say this first impression wasn't lasting.
First question: What is your major?
Answer: Biology
Q. What year?
A. 4th year.
Q. What classes have you taken?
A. All the 100 level classes.
Q. Oh, did you switch majors?
A. No.
Q. So, are you planning on taking more than 4 years?
A. No, I'll be graduating this year.
At this point, eyebrows are raising, yellow flags are raising, and the three of us are somewhat confused.
Q. How is that?
A. Well, I made my own schedule (that explains a lot...). I decided to get my electives out of the way first, then save the hardest classes such as the ones for my major for last. So, I only have six classes to take, so I'll take botany, genetics, etc. this year and finish my major.
Jenny and Laura look at each other, I start to snicker. I thought I should have left at this point, but I didn't. I don't like it when I'm interviewing for something and somebody does something that makes me feel underqualified, such as laugh at me, but it was too hard to hold back. (Later, I mentioned it to Laura, and she said she didn't notice anything.)
Q from Jenny. You haven't taken sophomore ___ (the set of classes most often taken by sophomore bio majors that are supposedly prereqs for upper level bio classes.)? You need to take them for your major requirements.
A. No, but I'll be taking them this fall, then I'll do the upper level things in winter and spring quarter.
At this point, I maintain my composure for the most part. I realize that I need a piece of paper to write down my comments to look official, even though I'm sure of my recommendation. Jenny and Laura throw ideas for classes he should take back and forth. I think they were skeptical, but decided to leave it at that.
Laura: Well, let me tell you about the lab. Dr. K is great... She's really demanding... She expects the full 20hrs, plus some.... If you have class 9-10 and 1-2, she expects you to work 8-9, 10-1, and 2-5... If you do well, her rec will be worth a lot... We've had students that have come and done well, we've had some that weren't up to it...
Undergrad: Ehh.
At this point, I could tell he was feeling the pressure.
Q. Do you work?
A. Yeah, at Macy's, I just came from there.
So I guess he didn't dress up for us necessarily? Whatever was left of a first impression was gone at this point.
Q. How much?
A. Now, 30hr per week, but in school just weekends.
Jenny: That's something to think about... Time commitments... Study time... This lab does take a lot of time...
Laura: Have you taken any chemistry?
A. Yeah, General 1&2 and Organic.
Q. How'd you do in Organic?
A. *pause* Bs and As (possible lie?)
Laura: That's good. Our lab is very much a biochemistry lab, so organic is something you'll want to know. Also, we think you should maybe look into biochemistry, microbiology, etc. (not classes he was considering.)
At some point of this discussion, he mentions that he likes to study, and that while he was in organic, he'd come to school at 10am, and leave at 4:30am. He says he studied organic like 7hr per day. Laura claims that organic was easy compared to biochemistry, which is again something to consider.
Undergrad: Wow, you guys make it seem like this lab is a lot of work.
Laura: It is. And if you want to come work here, it takes a while to start. You need animal safety training, radiation training. It takes about three weeks of work training somebody until they can be useful to us (sort of arrogant way to put it in my opinion). I mean, *points to me* he's been here for about 2 weeks and he's still not done.
Jenny: And if you quit halfway through, we've put in a lot of time training you that we could have used for research, so we won't be happy about it. If you want a rec, it will show in that.
Undergrad: Ah...
Laura: So if you want to come here, she'll want you to stay for like the whole year. If you just want a quarter, there are other labs that would probably be better. You can work with lizards and mice easier with less training.
Q. Any questions?
A. So, you guys work on weekends?
Us: Yes, we pretty much work each and every day.
Undergrad: *silence* Well, I'll need to think about this.
Us: I mean, it's a huge commitment with huge potential gains. So we really want you to think it over, and maybe come by sometime to see us in action so you can get a feel for everything.
*more questions* He picks our brains and gets an idea of what we do. He asks what degrees we are working on and what we want to do.
Then we ask another question...
Q. So, what are you thinking about doing after graduation?
A. I'm going to apply for med school.
At this point, I was so glad I was sitting down. I was nearly speechless. I've spent a lot of time around premed students, including rooming with one half my college life. It's shocking to me that somebody who is planning on going to med school hasn't taken anything above 100 level classes by senior year. What if he can't do the work? What if he decides he doesn't like biology? It's not something I'm used to.
And one final question from him...
Q. So, you guys do lipids, right? Those are like fats?
And at this point I'm officially speechless. What kind of bio major doesn't know what a lipid is???
Laura: Well, not exactly...
Undergrad: Non-polar.
Laura: Well, some are polar and some are non-polar. We work with both types. We do sterols.
I was tempted to tell her to stop because this was probably beyond his grasp. But I found it hard for me to say that explanations of polar and non-polar lipids were beyond anybody's grasp. And as stated before, I was speechless.
Just then, Dr. K came in and introduced herself. THen she brought him back to her office to chat for a bit. I myself was in that very seat 3 months ago. I don't know if we were like the hyenas and she was the lion, or if we were the lions and she was the hyena. Either way, he got taken out of something and thrown into something. And as we did that, Laura and I broke our professional demeanors and stared at each other in disbelief.
After this, I seriously considered emailing Dr. Richey and showering her with many thanks for all the work she's done in planning my schedule with me. But I didn't, because that would be sort of weird.
Later, I talked with Laura, and she said that there are a lot of premed snots like him. She said that everyone in her organic class said that they were going to med school, and that half of them cheated there way through with the same grades she got honestly. This gave me infinitely more appreciation for the work Dr. Workman does.
I think this experience has taught me not to take Centre for granted, like I think some people do. Sure it was hard, small, conservative, liberal, exhausting, etc. But it taught us to be hardworking, thoughtful, and all that other stuff.
So the next time you're complaining about Centre, remember this: there are few idiot premed students with delusions of grandeur, because Dr. Workman stopped them. People don't show up to work in a lab not knowing stuff that they should know anyways at their level, because there are advisors that make sure people have the right schedule. Of course, you won't truly understand this until you go someplace that doesn't have this, or people don't listen.
Words really can't express the whole experience. Maybe they could if I was a better writer.
And the best part? I know of two more potentials that will be coming in. Let's hope they're better... Or just as funny. Either way.
Oh, and the guy I was talking about just sat down at a table in front of me. I laugh in his face, in the polite manner of course.
My lab is well known for several things. Dr. Kaneshiro, my PI, is a well established veteran in her field, one of the top. She is also known for driving her students like workhorses, as most of us work 9-5 M-F, weekends, plus whatever else time we need to get our work done. She is also known for bringing in undergrads, particularly minorities, for research experience. As such, she gets her lab out there as an option for students to get undergrad research, and apparently is great at recruiting.
Well, she was at an appointment, so her grad students got to interview a potential candidate. First off, being able to do this is an amazing feeling. It's like your opinions can make a difference. This experience was too *something* for words, but I must try. This story cannot be kept quiet. Here's a rough transcript.
So the guy got there. He was dressed up with a hot pink shirt, black striped vest, black slacks, and shiny dress shoes. They say first impressions matter. I used to be one of those people who thought it was stupid to pass judgment based on attire, and instead one should look at the work ethic and intelligence alone. However, in recent years I've found that on some level dressing up is a sign of taking things seriously, since it's atypical of one's normal way of dressing. While I liked that he dressed up, I felt that he should have gone more conservatively and less like he was nightclubing. But I can understand the way the kids these days like to dress in the modern fashion. But let's just say this first impression wasn't lasting.
First question: What is your major?
Answer: Biology
Q. What year?
A. 4th year.
Q. What classes have you taken?
A. All the 100 level classes.
Q. Oh, did you switch majors?
A. No.
Q. So, are you planning on taking more than 4 years?
A. No, I'll be graduating this year.
At this point, eyebrows are raising, yellow flags are raising, and the three of us are somewhat confused.
Q. How is that?
A. Well, I made my own schedule (that explains a lot...). I decided to get my electives out of the way first, then save the hardest classes such as the ones for my major for last. So, I only have six classes to take, so I'll take botany, genetics, etc. this year and finish my major.
Jenny and Laura look at each other, I start to snicker. I thought I should have left at this point, but I didn't. I don't like it when I'm interviewing for something and somebody does something that makes me feel underqualified, such as laugh at me, but it was too hard to hold back. (Later, I mentioned it to Laura, and she said she didn't notice anything.)
Q from Jenny. You haven't taken sophomore ___ (the set of classes most often taken by sophomore bio majors that are supposedly prereqs for upper level bio classes.)? You need to take them for your major requirements.
A. No, but I'll be taking them this fall, then I'll do the upper level things in winter and spring quarter.
At this point, I maintain my composure for the most part. I realize that I need a piece of paper to write down my comments to look official, even though I'm sure of my recommendation. Jenny and Laura throw ideas for classes he should take back and forth. I think they were skeptical, but decided to leave it at that.
Laura: Well, let me tell you about the lab. Dr. K is great... She's really demanding... She expects the full 20hrs, plus some.... If you have class 9-10 and 1-2, she expects you to work 8-9, 10-1, and 2-5... If you do well, her rec will be worth a lot... We've had students that have come and done well, we've had some that weren't up to it...
Undergrad: Ehh.
At this point, I could tell he was feeling the pressure.
Q. Do you work?
A. Yeah, at Macy's, I just came from there.
So I guess he didn't dress up for us necessarily? Whatever was left of a first impression was gone at this point.
Q. How much?
A. Now, 30hr per week, but in school just weekends.
Jenny: That's something to think about... Time commitments... Study time... This lab does take a lot of time...
Laura: Have you taken any chemistry?
A. Yeah, General 1&2 and Organic.
Q. How'd you do in Organic?
A. *pause* Bs and As (possible lie?)
Laura: That's good. Our lab is very much a biochemistry lab, so organic is something you'll want to know. Also, we think you should maybe look into biochemistry, microbiology, etc. (not classes he was considering.)
At some point of this discussion, he mentions that he likes to study, and that while he was in organic, he'd come to school at 10am, and leave at 4:30am. He says he studied organic like 7hr per day. Laura claims that organic was easy compared to biochemistry, which is again something to consider.
Undergrad: Wow, you guys make it seem like this lab is a lot of work.
Laura: It is. And if you want to come work here, it takes a while to start. You need animal safety training, radiation training. It takes about three weeks of work training somebody until they can be useful to us (sort of arrogant way to put it in my opinion). I mean, *points to me* he's been here for about 2 weeks and he's still not done.
Jenny: And if you quit halfway through, we've put in a lot of time training you that we could have used for research, so we won't be happy about it. If you want a rec, it will show in that.
Undergrad: Ah...
Laura: So if you want to come here, she'll want you to stay for like the whole year. If you just want a quarter, there are other labs that would probably be better. You can work with lizards and mice easier with less training.
Q. Any questions?
A. So, you guys work on weekends?
Us: Yes, we pretty much work each and every day.
Undergrad: *silence* Well, I'll need to think about this.
Us: I mean, it's a huge commitment with huge potential gains. So we really want you to think it over, and maybe come by sometime to see us in action so you can get a feel for everything.
*more questions* He picks our brains and gets an idea of what we do. He asks what degrees we are working on and what we want to do.
Then we ask another question...
Q. So, what are you thinking about doing after graduation?
A. I'm going to apply for med school.
At this point, I was so glad I was sitting down. I was nearly speechless. I've spent a lot of time around premed students, including rooming with one half my college life. It's shocking to me that somebody who is planning on going to med school hasn't taken anything above 100 level classes by senior year. What if he can't do the work? What if he decides he doesn't like biology? It's not something I'm used to.
And one final question from him...
Q. So, you guys do lipids, right? Those are like fats?
And at this point I'm officially speechless. What kind of bio major doesn't know what a lipid is???
Laura: Well, not exactly...
Undergrad: Non-polar.
Laura: Well, some are polar and some are non-polar. We work with both types. We do sterols.
I was tempted to tell her to stop because this was probably beyond his grasp. But I found it hard for me to say that explanations of polar and non-polar lipids were beyond anybody's grasp. And as stated before, I was speechless.
Just then, Dr. K came in and introduced herself. THen she brought him back to her office to chat for a bit. I myself was in that very seat 3 months ago. I don't know if we were like the hyenas and she was the lion, or if we were the lions and she was the hyena. Either way, he got taken out of something and thrown into something. And as we did that, Laura and I broke our professional demeanors and stared at each other in disbelief.
After this, I seriously considered emailing Dr. Richey and showering her with many thanks for all the work she's done in planning my schedule with me. But I didn't, because that would be sort of weird.
Later, I talked with Laura, and she said that there are a lot of premed snots like him. She said that everyone in her organic class said that they were going to med school, and that half of them cheated there way through with the same grades she got honestly. This gave me infinitely more appreciation for the work Dr. Workman does.
I think this experience has taught me not to take Centre for granted, like I think some people do. Sure it was hard, small, conservative, liberal, exhausting, etc. But it taught us to be hardworking, thoughtful, and all that other stuff.
So the next time you're complaining about Centre, remember this: there are few idiot premed students with delusions of grandeur, because Dr. Workman stopped them. People don't show up to work in a lab not knowing stuff that they should know anyways at their level, because there are advisors that make sure people have the right schedule. Of course, you won't truly understand this until you go someplace that doesn't have this, or people don't listen.
Words really can't express the whole experience. Maybe they could if I was a better writer.
And the best part? I know of two more potentials that will be coming in. Let's hope they're better... Or just as funny. Either way.
Oh, and the guy I was talking about just sat down at a table in front of me. I laugh in his face, in the polite manner of course.