A Different Goal
This summer, I was looking into different PhD programs that interested me. As I have been doing this research, my mentor and I were talking about how prepared I felt for a PhD program and we had a good discussion about other possibilities for me. Dr. Carter mentioned post-baccalaureate programs to me, and I have been looking into those as well as PhD programs. Post-baccalaureate programs are typically a one year program that focus on conducting research and developing professional skills. The programs have a mix of seminars, graduate-level courses, and workshops that help students develop skills necessary for professional work in the field, specifically in preparation for a rigorous, research-focused degree.
I think that doing a post-baccalaureate program will be better for me because I don't have a lot of experience doing scientific research. I've only been a part of Dr. Carter's lab for one year, and I've been studying biology for less than two years. Another reason I want to try one of these programs first is because I am trying to break some bad academic habits, and a year of prep-work before a PhD would be beneficial for that personal growth. I don't think I am quite ready for a PhD yet, and this type of program can help me fill in the gaps before I actually apply for PhD programs.
MidBrains: Midwest Regional Neuroscience Conference
So far this semester, I have been focusing on preparing for the MidBrains conference in October. MidBrains is an upper midwest neuroscience conference that is being held in Green Bay, WI this year. I will be presenting my summer research at the conference, so I am currently writing an abstract and creating a poster with my research partner. The cool thing about this year's conference is that it is being held in conjunction with the Upper Midwest Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. This means I can network with graduate programs and research training opportunities in the field of neuroscience, which can give me many ideas as I move on to graduate opportunities next year. Although I'm not a neuroscience major, a lot of the topics overlap with developmental biology, and research opportunities in one can often be an opportunity in both fields. I'm very excited about MidBrains this year, partly because I get to share my research and partly because I can meet other researchers and professionals in the field of neuroscience. It will be interesting to see the different types of neuroscience research that others are doing and what directions I could go in my graduate career.
