2/3rds Over

The first year is 2/3rds over and I don't even have a T-shirt to commemorate it. How sad.

The rest of the year consists of a third rotation and 2 more core modules. After that, we pick our labs (or our labs pick us?) and we're done with the first year. It's weird to think it's that close...

But really... how do you pick a lab? Christine has been asking everyone what they think is important, and it really is a mixed bag of answers. Sure you need to get along with your PI, that's a given. But how well should you get along with other people in the lab? How much should you love the research? Should you consider what you may want to do after this? What if you join a lab and realize it was a mistake? What if...

Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Getting along with your PI is the most important aspect of graduate school. If you and your PI don't get along, you're never going to graduate and you'll be miserable the entire time you are here.

2. Think the research is interesting, but you don't have to love it. This is the part that kind of gets me. You don't have to love your project. You have to find it interesting enough to work on for 5 years, but you don't have to like it enough to stick with it forever. It's likely that you'll switch your field of research after graduate school anyway.

3. Worry less about most of the people in the lab, if you don't get along it's not the end of the world. While it's important to get along with your PI, being BFF with other lab mates is not important. Sure, you should get along with them. But they aren't all going to be there the entire time you are in the lab. Older students and some lab techs will leave, and new people will replace them. It's a cycle. You probably won't love everyone in the lab. That's okay.

4. Worry less about the future, and more about being happy now.


That's all I've got for today. I'm pretty sure everyone will end up somewhere that works for them, but until it's all settled, we're all a little on edge.