Biophysical Society Bulletin | December 2022

Career Development

postdoc, and getting a job as a professor, their values and judgments about students are trusted by the admissions committee. For these reasons, the letters of recommen dation will be given a lot of weight. If you did research in a big laboratory and you mostly worked with a graduate student, postdoc, or technical staff member, that wouldn’t be the person from whom to obtain a letter of recom mendation. The admissions committee wants to hear from professors. Make sure that you have the person you worked with closely give the information on your work to the professor who runs the laboratory so that the profes sor can speak about your work. The best letters are from professors with whom you worked closely in research. These letters can tell the committee about your aptitude in research, which is your ultimate job in graduate school. Good letters are from professors with whom you worked closely in class. This isn’t as good as from those with whom you conducted research, because many professors have hundreds of students each semester. Even if you have a small class, you will usually be compared to the other students in the class, and there aren’t as many ways to prove your abilities in a class as there are in the laboratory. it is less useful to obtain a letter from professors with whom you had very little interaction, even if you did well in that pro fessor’s class. When requesting letters of recommendation, be sure to allow enough time for the recommenders to prepare them. Give them at least two weeks and provide them with a complete list of all the places you are applying with a link to all necessary information and the date the recommendations are due. Also, when you request a letter, make an appointment to meet in person. Bring your CV and a one-page document on your current or past research (or your personal statement) and have a talk about your goals, so that your recommender can speak intelligently about you. Think of this as coaching your recommender so that he or she can write the best letter possible. Friendly reminders via e-mail are appropriate, but remember that professors are busy! Finally, follow up to let your recommender know whether you were accept ed. They want you to do well and will appreciate knowing the outcome. Personal statement. This is your time to shine. It is your time to explain. So, where to begin? First, start with your career goal. What do you want to do? Next, explain why you need an advanced degree to have that career.

Then, explain why the field in which you want to do research is the right one to get you where you want to go in your career. Avoid personal stories about your childhood. The admissions committee cannot and should not make judgements based on the fact that Bill Nye the Science Guy or Mr. Wizard was your inspiration to study science. Also, quoting a poem or talking about looking at the stars will not be especially useful. For the admissions committee, your research is the most important aspect of this essay. The research you have done and the classes you took should be the main moti vator for your decision to go further for that advanced de gree. Include what you have done in research with enough detail that the professors reviewing it will know that you actually did it. Include examples of when you solved a problem on your own. You should have a letter of recom mendation from your research advisor to corroborate your statements. Don’t forget: summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) advisors can write letters— not just your home professors! This is where coaching is important, because you want to make sure that you and your professor are on the same page about what you did. If you don’t have research experience, try to bring up ex amples from your classes of when you solved a problem or overcame a difficulty. Perseverance is the top indicator of success in graduate school—much more than GRE scores. If you know with whom you want to work, you should include the names of those specific professors.. Make sure that you list more than one professor in case any of them do not have openings in their laboratories. Include subjects/topics on which you would like to do research. They should be subjects that are researched at the school to which you are applying! You should briefly explain any deficiencies in your applica tion, including any disappointing grades. Don’t make ex cuses and don’t dwell on any negative aspects, but make sure that the admissions committee understands why you received a poor grade or otherwise have a weak spot in your application. Finally, proofread your statement and make sure it is free from typographical errors. it is a good idea to have someone else read your statement—prefer ably your advisor, who can make sure that the science is correctly described. I hope that these suggestions are helpful to you. Good luck! You can do this! — Molly Cule

December 2022

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