alexandrabilder

One common piece of advice for students looking for research is: find a PI whose research interests you. That sounds fine until you are early in your science courses and almost everything sounds interesting because you do not know enough yet to know what you like. How are you supposed to decide whether you are interested in a lab studying a signaling pathway you have never heard of? And how are you supposed to write an email explaining your interest when you barely understand the abstract?...

When I first started looking for a research role, I did not have much research experience. I had done one internship where I spent most of the summer de-stapling and digitizing files. I had 0 publications and 0 technical skills. But I had a genuine interest in research, an Excel spreadsheet, and a willingness to put some effort into finding the right opportunity. I eventually found my first role through cold outreach and a wonderful mentor and research team. Looking back, the process taught...

When I started my post-bac, I knew the classes would be hard. I expected long nights, a lot of studying, and some complicated scheduling. What I did not expect was how much of the process I would have to figure out on my own. There Is No Obvious Roadmap One of the biggest differences between my post-bac and undergrad has been the amount of support available. In undergrad, there were advisors, established systems, and people whose job was to help students understand what came next. In a DIY...