Category Archives: lab/graduate school

why surgery’s not for me

It’s quite simple: blood freaks me out. No, really. Blood really freaks me out. During our first year of med school, we had these preceptorship things where we would once or twice a quarter shadow a preceptor that we are assigned … Continue reading

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as the (lab) world turns (episode 1)

Unsuspecting Super Bored Grad Student sits in her office surfing the internet as she does everyday. Dr. Grumpy Old Major Professor comes by with the latest piece of juicy departmental gossip that she really could care less about. She has … Continue reading

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so how exactly does this md/phd thing work?

Perhaps this whole MD/PhD thing deserves some explanation. Or perhaps I just don’t really have anything else to write about and am using this topic as a filler post. You be the judge. Let’s not go into why I chose to … Continue reading

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inspirational music for the graduate student 1.1

As promised, here is the next category in our inspirational music series. To be quite honest, no songs really instantly pop into mind when I think of my life as a grad student (unlike when I think of life as … Continue reading

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no wonder i’m so close-minded

Because I don’t drink coffee. Or tea, or really any other caffeinated beverage except for the occasional Cherry Coke/Cherry Pepsi (yum!). According to this article, consuming caffeine makes a person more easily convinced by arguments that go against their beliefs by … Continue reading

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how to infuriate me in seven simple steps

1. Wake up way too early to go to lab to do absolutely nothing after a not-so-restful weekend. 2. Arrive at lab to find out that I need to deal with some statistics for an animal protocol because my major … Continue reading

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procrastinators unite!

I’ve always been a procrastinator. And it’s always worked for me. Here’s why. Forget studying for that test! I need to clean the desk/study/house! Besides, the test is still a whole two days away. Don’t I need to turn in that … Continue reading

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how to ruin a brilliant scientific career

Get married! This article describes a study that found that scientific productivity decreases with age, but less severely in never-married men. “The productivity of male scientists tends to drop right after marriage,” says Kanazawa in an e-mail interview from his current … Continue reading

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goodbye, fellow lab scut monkey

Ah, the bonds that we lab scut monkeys form. Societal lines blur and disappear as we perform endless meaningless lab scutwork together—grad student, “secretary” (aka major professor’s personal bitch), and lab assistant—those titles are all surpassed by the bonds of … Continue reading

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why, oh why md/phd?

Now that we’ve gone over what’s involved in this whole MD/PhD thing, I guess it’s time for me to go into why exactly I chose this path. I first thought about what I wanted to be way back in second grade … Continue reading

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