Decisions decisions

Now that my classes are less intense, I can focus on another highly important aspect of graduate life - choosing an advisor and a project. I started talking to people last semester but finals and projects got in the way. My program is decently unique in that you have a year to find a project. In most other programs (including the other three that I applied to), you must find an advisor before you are accepted into the program, or even before you can apply. Personally, I like being able to walk over to labs and meet with people after class; it doesn't involved a huge trip on top of senior year of college. I did know that there were many faculty members who I'd be interested in working with, so at least I started school knowing I'd be happy in someone's lab.

Of course, the big thing right now is money and funding. This is where you must find a balance and decide what is more important for you - a funded project or a project you love. If you're super lucky, your project will fit both categories. I have seen a few projects that were funded, but did not interest me. As I will be working on this project for the next two years, I was not too keen on that idea.

My program has also been great in that it has allowed and pushed me to explore options that I wouldn't have considered before. Part of my required curriculum includes a seminar introducing first years to the program and the grad school process. Last semester, this seminar mostly involved bringing in people with projects and/or funding for students. The class exposed me to faculty members I would never have seen otherwise. Equally important, it made me realize that some projects were not as exciting to me as I imagined. I slowly started to open up my mind and consider new avenues. I entered the program focued on fish physiology, but now I have talked to people about parasitology and toxicology. I can still work with fish for either projects, but I would never have considered these topics before. The amount of knowledge that is still out there in this field is mind-blowing, and I'm so excited to be a part of it!

Like a Smack in the Face

As I prepare to return to school this weekend, I feel like it's an appropriate time to look back on my first semester of grad-level academics. I had to take physiology, ecology, and a seminar. Overall, I learned many things

1. I like physiology much more than ecology...sorry, it's the truth. My mind is just better at working through equations. However, I do love field and lab work, which made both classes worth it.
2. Yea, you know how as you move up each level of education you're told that no one will hold your hand, but they really do? Yea...that actually ends at this level. There will always be people ready and willing to help, but not unless you reach out to them. No one will try to stay on top of your reading or problem sets - it's up to you to decide what's worth doing, especially if you have another job (teaching, lab work, etc). After failing both of my first tests, I definitely started studying for exams earlier and more often with my classmates. Which gets into my next point...
3. An F really isn't the end of the world....OK, an F in an entire class is, but one test or assignment does not define you unless you let it. If you continue to produce F work, then yea you're done. If you say "OK, I effed up, time to straighten up" then you'll be fine.
4. I became one of those people who studies for hours on end for finals...try 12 hours straight, with two breaks for food :/ And I came very close, but somehow managed to not pull an all-nighter....still all-nighter free! (OK, so I actually did try and gave up at 3am...whatever)
5. It really helps to develop a thick skin, so that when professors put you down you can brush it off and fix whatever is wrong and move on with life (or at least hold off on the tears until you're alone).
6. It helps to have someone/thing outside of your school life, otherwise you'll go nuts. For many of my fellow cohorts, it's dancing or working out or playing a sport...I'm working on making working out one of those releases. This past semester, it's been my amazing roommate who has absolutely nothing to do with my grad school life. We vent about our school/work lives and then bond over life stories and Jersey Shore. It's a beautiful friendship.
7. Despite all the crying, hair-pulling, and curses at various objects and people, it's all worth it if you truly love what you do. I mean seriously, I've spent classes at the beach and on boats, how awesome is that?! It has even led me to my new mantra/saying - "I play in the water like it's my job" :D

Benthic sampling in Ecology lab.

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year to y'all! Hoping that everyone had a good 2010 and is looking forward to all that 2011 can offer!

My first semester was definitely a learning experience - learning to be more independent, learning to be less of a student and more of a scientist. So here are my science-related goals for 2011:
- Find a thesis project that will make me happy and fulfilled (OK that one is more of a requirement but whatever)
- Take my classes a bit more seriously so I'm not stressing out over grades come May
- Join a society so I can get myself out into the scientific community

Oh, and while I'm here, some good news - my internship paper was published!
Read all about it!

The Woes and Joys of Teaching

I think I'll start with something that was surprisingly fun - teaching. Most of my fellow first-years (and many grad students across the country) received teaching assistantships to teach up to three sections of intro biology labs for undergrads. The level of responsibility differs between schools, programs, and even within programs. Some TAs just grade for large lecture classes, some lead discussion sections, and some are the sole instructors. Even within my program the amount of responsibility differed - those teaching non-majors had more work since their kids wrote papers and completes projects. As a lab teacher for majors, I only graded weekly quizzes (which I wrote) and two practicals. I had the majority of control over my classes; the lab coordinator wrote the manuel, but I was usually able to figure out from other students or trial and error what was actually doable.

It certainly took a while getting used to teaching. I mean, I look like I'm 15 and I sound like it, how was I supposed to control a bunch of people who were (at the most) only four years younger that me?! But surprisingly, my students were for the most part very respectful. I did have to get an attitude at one point, but that was the extent of my harshness. I've still learned some important things for next semester:
- If I don't know something, say so and follow up on it. I was pretty good about this but I'll definitely keep it up.
- Think of every possible scenario and make a rule about it in your syllabus. I was caught offguard a couple of times, so now I know to include those issues in my new syllabus.
- I'm a teacher first. Sometimes I felt bad about saying no to students I like, but a fellow first-year (and former high school teacher) reminds me that I'm not their friend.

I'm so excited to continue teaching next semester!

Life gets in the way sometimes...

So my initial plan was to keep regular posts about how I got to where I am, and how I'm surviving graduate school. Then a little thing called....graduate school....happened. So my apologies; I promise I'll stay on top of things as my life will apparently become ten times calmer (according to older students). So for a quick overview of the past couple of months...

- Somehow survived the hardest semester at my program with a passing GPA....which means I get to keep my TAship, woot!
- Also survived my first semester teaching undergrad biology labs. It started out very stressful, and I often wondered if my kids liked/respeted me. But seeing some kids pass with Bs and Cs when they were failing at mid-term period, to have kids argue over who's lab I should teach next semester...I've never felt such a reward.
- I feel extremely close to my cohort, and to everyone in my program in general. Late-night study sessions will do that to you.

I'm currently back in DC for winter break, so I'll have more time to catch up. For now, a pretty accurate representation of the past four months of my life:

Out of the Classroom

So during undergrad, I was also in three marine-related groups (Wow, my life really does revolve around marine science). Through the marine mammal stranding group, I was certified to assist with marine mammal strandings in south FL. I probably could've been more involved, but it was still a great experience. I was also in my school's SCUBA club, which allowed me to earn an open water certification. Again, wasn't as involved as I could've been, but it's a good skill to have in the field.

However, the most influential organization for me was my marine science honor society. We did so much together; we cleaned up beaches, we hosted various speakers on topics from study abroad programs to graduate schools to aquaculture, we had parties. But best of all, we had an annual spring trip that allowed me to see so many different places and things.

Whale watching in Monterey, CA

South Carolina Aquarium

So if you have the chance to explore similar opprotunities, do!

Classes Classes

So today I'll get into classes and what you should be studying. You might think that it's beneficial to study marine science right off the bat. Wrong! The important thing is to study basic biology, chemistry, physics, geology and math, all of which you can accomplish with a biology, chemistry, etc. major. Make sure that if you do study marine science, your program recommends - or better yet, requires - these courses. I've herd through the grapevine that at least one undergrad program doesn't require all of these courses. Unless you know to take them, you'll be out of luck in you want to continue on to grad school. As far as what courses I'm talking about...(and this is from the POV of a biology major...this will be different if you're studying one of the other sciences)...

Intro Biology - Your run-of-the-mill basic bio class for science majors. This should be a repeat of what you learned in high school, but on a more in-depth level.

Cellular and Molecular Biology - At some schools, these are two separate courses. At mine, this was one course.

Genetics - A lot of people dislike it, I love it. Punnett squares get more complicated, and there's more math involved. But come on, population genetics is awesome!

Ecology - I personally found it ridiculously easy and boring (partially because my instructor is a plant ecologist....sorry, plants aren't my thing)

Physiology - Almost forgot this one! My class was on comparative physiology. Really tested my poor memorization skills, but I got through it.

But wait, there's more! (Man, I can still hear my art history instructor's voice when I write that)

Intro (inorganic?) Chemistry - again, an in-depth repeat of high school chemistry.

Organic Chemistry - You'll need at least one semester unless this is your major. It sucks, no matter how, no matter where, it is unnecessarily difficult and there's no way around it. Embrace it, go into it with an open mind and you'll get out alive (God help you if you have to take the second semester though as I did :/). The labs were far better/fun.

Physics - For all the grad programs I applied to, you just needed a year, no level specified. My school has two level: University is Calculus-based and is usually taken by overachievers or younger students with Calculus fresh in their minds. College is Algebra-based and is for the masses who just want to get by alive. Guess where I was...

Geology - This is sort-of the wild card....you might not need it, but if you can fit it into your schedule you'll be that much more well-rounded in the sciencesgo for it, so I say . I don't have much to say about the lecture: honestly, my habit was to read the school paper and then pass out (In my defense, I later realized it was because the lights were always off. My instructor left the lights on for the last class and I was unnaturally alert.). The lab was by far one of my favorites, and I've gushed to other students about how awesome the lab instructor is.

Math - You should take Calculus I, which will be decently easy if you've taken AP. Calculus II gets a little more dicey.

So that's the minimum you should take as an undergrad. But if your institution has a marine science major or marine science faculty, then you'll be lucky enough to take marine science courses. I had four required courses and some electives.

Intro Marine Science - In my program, this is the "Let's dabble in everything possible and separate the real marine scientists from the dolphin trainer wannabes" class. Yes, most of the class was on the dull side. I'm not terribly excited by the Coriolis Effect, and I hope to study plankton as little as possible from now on. But someone who is genuinely interested will see the relevance of all this and appreciate it. The ones who just want to swim with whales will give up - and about a quarter of this class did. We also had a lab on our marine science campus which introduced us to different topics. The includede pic is from this lab.

Marine Biology - Now it starts getting fun! This is what most people want to learn about, marine organisms. A bit dull at the beginning with smaller invertebrates, but you eventually get to the better stuff like corals, fishes, mammals, and birds. This class included my favorite lab, where we explored different local communities and ended by designing our own projects (on a small scale) which we later presented.

Chemical Oceanography - You know how I said earlier that you have to find the relevance to get by sometimes? Yea....that was this whole course for me. It was rough, it was so hard, it involved a cruise in which I spent most of the day in the fetal position on the deck of the research vessel. And personally, I can only learn so much about chemical processes in the ocean before I toss my hands up in defeat. But it was required. And this pains me to say it, but for the record: the lab was very relevant to my research internship....damnit.

Physical Oceanography - I'd put this class in the middle...not at "Chem O" level, not at marine biology level. This class focused on physical processes, and much of it focused on the relationship between the atmosphere and the ocean. Class material was a bit hard, but we could complete writing assignments for points, which helped me better grasp concepts. It ended with a large paper (not mandatory) where you chose 500 km of your favorite coastline and reseached every physical aspect possible. I must admit it was one of the more rewarding papers I've written on marine science.

I also took classes in...

Marine Mammals - The class to be in at my institution. Finally, we get to learn about dolphins and whales! My class was physiology-heavy.

Readings in Marine Science - One of the best classes I've taken. Every week we read on or two articles (My specific class was on diseases in marine organisms) and once a week we met to discuss and critique.

My only other advice would be to remain interested in other non-science topics. A lot of people in my classes liked to take the easy way out and focus solely on science. That's great at times, but I would rather be in an interesting class than a boring class. (However, PLEASE don't even take a 300 level philosophy class. Talk about testing my sanity!) My primary interests are in biology, but I also love art and history and took many classes in them (Alright, they were required gen ed courses but still). Hopefully you're a bit more excited now!

Next up - extracurriculars!