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147. 2020: A Year in Review

It’s no stretch to say that 2020 was a hard year for almost everyone. It was marked by a global pandemic, social upheaval, and loss.

The word ‘unprecedented’ lost all meaning around March, and we navigated uncharted waters for the remainder of the year.

2020 was rough, but now that it’s over, it’s time to look back at what we learned.

What do we want to carry forward, and what aspects are we happy to leave behind?

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Snider Lab at UNC

029. Tenure Tracker: Choose a Mentor, Not a Lab w/ Natasha Snider, PhD (R)

Choosing a lab for your graduate or postdoc research is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Most people read papers and abstracts to find the coolest science.  Or they favor the big labs with lots of people and solid funding.

But those features can distract you from the real secret of scientific success.

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146. Ace Your Virtual Graduate School Interview w/ Dr. Beth Bowman

The letters of recommendation have been submitted, and review committees have assembled. But while this graduate school application season may seem familiar, the next steps will be wildly different from past years.

How will Universities conduct graduate school interviews during a pandemic?

And what can applicants do to prepare for these unprecedented times?

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145. Ten Tips from Hindsight: A PhD’s guide to a PhD

How many times have you said “I wish I had known!” or “Why didn’t they teach us this in school?”

If you’re a graduate student, you’ve probably said it a lot.

For some reason, from the moment you write your first application to the moment you get your hood and mortarboard, you’ll be re-learning what thousands of students have learned before you.

You’ll be treading a well-worn path, but for some reason, you won’t get a map.

Why don’t successful graduates take the time to help their successors along? Well, partly because they immediately get busy on the next stage of their career.

And partly because they may feel they’ve barely escaped the gauntlet of graduate school intact. “What advice could I give?” they muse. “I almost didn’t make it myself!”

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