WE DO NOT PLAN TO ACCEPT NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE COMING YEAR
But perhaps the following questions may help you find a grad school opportunity elsewhere that works for you.
– Dave & Pedro
Five Questions:
- Do you see grad school as your best opportunity to immerse yourself in a subject that fascinates you? To be a grad student is to value ideas and learning more highly than material wealth. Grad school is not just a ticket to a job or a means to delay paying student loans. About 7% of the US population earns a Master’s degree and ~1% earns a PhD. Think about that for a minute. Those who complete grad school do so because they love to learn, despite the hurdles.
- Are you interested in some of the journal articles and other information available on this lab’s web page? You should understand the research topics your potential advisor has been interested in. Presumably, they can best advise you on research that is somewhat related to their experience.
- Do you like ecology because it is interwoven with math, statistics, and computing? You should, because it is. Most modern ecology professors are interested in students who are adept in all these skills, or who want to become so.
- Do you think of yourself as independent and responsible? The best part of our job is advising student research projects, because its fun to help and watch students develop their own ideas and carry them through. You need to develop your own ideas and get comfortable with taking the reins.
- Do you enjoy working with people from a variety of backgrounds? Many labs are full of grad students from varied experiences and backgrounds, and labs can be quite interactive. You are likely to learn more from other grad students than from your advisor, and that means you should enjoy interactions with your colleagues.
You should also know that:
- Entry to grad school is very competitive and is based on multiple features, such as your research experience, your ideas for a graduate research project, your application to be accepted, conversations we may have, openings in our lab, and availability of financial support, typically as a teaching assistant (TA) or research assistant (RA). Much of that list depends entirely on you, but other items depend on timing and opportunity here and – despite your credentials – may preclude your being a grad student in our lab. We recommend this article for great general advice and insight to the process.
- You’re not an undergraduate anymore. Of course, you are expected to do well in your courses. But beyond that, you must also excel as a TA or RA and be an active member of the lab (i.e., fully participate in lab meetings, help others with their research, and carry your weight in shared lab jobs and as a member of the department). Most importantly, you’re expected to make steady progress on high-quality research. The goal from the outset is to publish that research, which imposes stringent criteria and demands excellence throughout. To accomplish all that requires strong motivation, a tolerance for stress, and a lot of work.