I attended the Graduate Student Q&A discussion session last Thursday, where I learned about what it is like to be a graduate student. The speakers were Courtney Boise and Josh Zosky- both are working on their PhD program, especially in the fields of developmental and neuroscience, respectively. They discussed the graduate program as the session offered students the opportunity to ask questions they might have regarding graduate school. Josh 's research interest is in neuroimaging and use that to build devices for rehabilitation. Superficially, I learned that a graduate student needs 9 hours to be a full time student. According to the speakers, the class sizes are smaller and longer compared to undergraduate courses. However, the class should …show more content…
I learned that it is important to get the foot in the door by taking necessary actions as an undergrad to get myself prepared for graduate school. One of these steps is to work in a research lab. They suggested to prolong the time working in a single lab to advance the level of responsibilities as the advisor become more acquainted with their research assistants. The advisors will eventually write good letters of recommendations. Thus, it is necessary to reach out now to the right advisors who work in the department I will would like to work at, and see if they are looking for assistance. Courtney & Josh also recommended to not restricting myself in working in a desired lab, but reaching out to other fields to get the foot in the door.
If one chooses to take some gap years, then he/she should be working or doing something that is related to the program that will more likely to get them into the graduate program. Courtney worked as a lab manager while she took a few years off before entering her PhD program. Taking a year off or not is still a debate that I have. My number one reason for taking a year off is to get more work experiences in the field. Also, because I know I want to achieve a higher level of education to pursue the my dream career, I doubt I will lose interest in going back. Hopefully this desire will not fade over