The SASS Blog

My Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

thesassplug

23 Feb, 2023

It was the Fall semester of my Junior year in College. I had began thinking about how I was going to spend “the precious last summer of College before you graduate“. Up until that point, my summers had been filled with adventure. The summer after my freshman year I went back home to Nigeria for an engineering internship in a bottling company. I made some good memories there and learned about how manufacturing plants worked. The summer after my sophomore year I studied abroad in Paris, France! (That’s a whole other blog post). But now I had one last summer, and this summer would be crucial to determine what opportunities I might have after graduation. Comment below if you’ve ever felt uncertain about a choice or the next step!

I knew that I enjoyed research from my short one semester stint of undergraduate research. A professor who knew my interests mentioned that I should explore summer research programs. Not only would it be a good opportunity BUT I could also get paid! That sounded like a win-win situation to me. So, I decided that I’d apply to both internships and summer research programs and see which would work out. Turns out that the summer research programs worked out! I was accepted into a few research programs for the summer and decided to go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for their summer research program (MSRP).

The Summer Research Application Process

The application process for these research programs were pretty straightforward. Here’s an example of MIT’s 2023 summer research eligibility: https://oge.mit.edu/msrp/application/ . It is important to check the eligibility to make sure you qualify before applying. You typically also need some short essays/ one large essay that addresses the prompt you are asked. Some of the questions are along the lines of : “Tell us about a research experience that you had” or “Tell us about how you’ve overcome certain challenges”.

You will also need to include your resume, undergraduate transcripts, and 1 or 2 letters of recommendation. Much like a graduate school application, the reviewers want to make sure you are a good fit for their research program. So, take these questions seriously.

My arrival on MIT’s campus

Aside from Texas Tech, in Lubbock, where I had gone to school until now. I had never really lived/worked anywhere else in the US. So I was pretty excited to be going all the way to Boston to work at MIT. My arrival on campus was pretty smooth. My research cohort of ~30 folks were put in small(er) groups to enable us to bond and form community. One of the students I met during the 10 weeks I spent at MIT became one of my best friends (and is currently an MD in an amazing residency program). As a cohort, when we were not busy in lab doing research, we spent a lot of time touring Cambridge and exploring what the Boston area had to offer.

PS. Boston in the summer is a breathtaking city.

Sunset over Lake Charles
Sunset over Charles River, Cambridge MA.

My Summer Research Experience at MIT

The research experience itself was unparalleled. I worked in a group with PhD students and postdoctoral researchers building kinetic models. Everyday I showed up to work, I was constantly challenged to push beyond my current skill set to work on the frontiers of science. I fell in love with this environment that constantly challenged me to grow and deepen my research skills.

Outside of my everyday research responsibilities, my cohort and I spent some time diving into a separate unfamiliar research fields. The idea was to dissect the intellectual basis for a paper within a week, and then present your findings to the general group i.e. acting as the arbitrator of the research. As a bonus, because I was in proximity of other high achievers, there was no lack of stimulating conversations! At the end of my summer, we got to present our research to the entire MIT community which was a great way for us to network.

From Summer Research to Graduate School Applications

By the end of that summer, I had a strong sense that I needed to apply to graduate school my last year as an undergraduate. One of my biggest concerns prior to that summer was that I would be unhappy as a graduate student. However, at MIT I met so many different kinds of graduate students who seemed genuinely pleased to be there. I also got to experience what it was like to spend the majority of your time doing research, and I realized that I liked the freedom and autonomy that came with it.

As a bonus, during the summer research program, I got tips and tricks on how to prepare a strong graduate school application packet. These tips helped prepare and empower me to take on the graduate school application process. And as you know, here at the SASS, our services are designed to empower you too to take that next step.

Overall, my experience at MIT’s summer research program provided me with a unique research experience that has since opened many doors for me, even after graduate school. Take a chance on yourself today and apply to that research program!

P.S. For Nigerian Students reading this before March 1st 2023, there’s an amazing opportunity to apply for a summer research program in the US. Check out the research application here.

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Multiple Graduate School Admissions Offers; What now?

thesassplug

19 Feb, 2023

One of our most common questions this quarter has been, “How do I pick which school to go to from my multiple admissions offers?” So we wrote this blog post to provide you with answers. First, congratulations on making it this far into the school admissions process! It is such an exciting time and we are proud of you.

Sure, all the schools that have admitted you are great, but which should you really choose to attend and spend the next 4-5 years of your life? The tips below are in no particular order (we do mention which are our dealbreakers 😬). Graduate school is going to be a significant and transformative time in your life so pick and choose which factors make the most sense for you. We will cover six admissions decision tips which you can remember as R2C2FL.

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Three things to unlearn as a Ph.D. student

thesassplug

23 Jan, 2023

You’ve just started your graduate program. Congratulations! I bet you are excited and eager to embark on this journey that will most likely change your life. If you went to college here in the US and excelled, you are hoping to rinse and repeat all the techniques you developed that made you a great undergraduate student. Unfortunately, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but that will simply not work! Being a graduate student is very different from being an undergraduate student. In fact, the experiences are so different that we’ve decided to create a blog post to help you figure out which undergraduate tactics to “unlearn” and which to keep in order for you to be a successful graduate student.

If you recall, in our optimize your graduate school list article, we mentioned that the overall goal of a Ph.D. student is to become an individual contributor by the end of your degree program. It is important to keep the goal in mind as we discuss some of the techniques that will not serve you well in graduate school.

Technique to unlearn #1: Focusing on your GPA.

Making A’s in classes is NOT the most important thing as a graduate student. As a Ph.D. student nobody cares about your GPA. We recognize that this is really hard to believe. Especially, since you, are most likely a high achiever who has worked really hard to get to this point. You probably made all A’s during your undergraduate years, or a mixture of A’s and high B’s, and are so excited to repeat this in your classes at graduate school.

Here is what would most likely happen if you attempt to go down this part. For some of you, making A’s will actually be a breeze. So feel free to skip to the next point. For majority of readers though, you are going to exert so much energy into making A’s in any class that you might get burned out in your first semester.

Be average, or a little above average in classes. We understand that it sounds weird. But most graduate programs require that you finish a class with nothing less than a B anyways. So as long as you do about as well as the whole class (average), or a little better, you will be just fine. Some classes will come naturally to you, and you will make an A in them. Others won’t, and that’s okay, as long as you are average you will make a B in these classes. In no time, taking classes will be a thing of the past and you can get on with your graduate school career. So, don’t sweat classes.

We don’t want you feeling like this

Technique to unlearn #2: Over-involvement in extracurricular activities.

You do NOT need to be involved with extracurriculars on campus to “pad” your resume. Your time as a graduate student is finite. You will inevitably spend most of it in the lab trying to get experiments to work, or trying to troubleshoot your code. So you don’t need to be involved with nearly the same amount of extracurriculars that you were as an undergraduate. The earlier you unlearn that, the better for you.

Instead, you need to be selfish with your time. Only get involved with activities that you are passionate about. Before you say yes to anything extra outside of research, ask yourself Why? Why should I add this to my plate? Is this something I’m going to care about when I have a deliverable for this activity but my experiments need more time? What skills will I develop in this extracurricular? If you can articulate answers to all these questions, then it is something that you should definitely jump into!

Technique to unlearn #3: Being the smartest person in the room.

You do NOT need to be the most brilliant person in the room. While as an undergraduate it might have been helpful to be the smartest person in certain rooms, it just doesn’t serve you as a graduate student. For one, research is about venturing into the unknown. By that definition, no one ever starts out as the smartest person in their research field. Even those at the peak of their research careers are still searching for new knowledge and answers to questions. So you need to learn to embrace being a small fish in the big pond of knowledge.

If you ever find that you are indeed the smartest person in the room, then you need to find a different room or take on a more challenging project. More than likely, you will quickly learn that there is a lot you do not know about research. So go along for the ride with humility.

That’s all we have for now! If any of you current graduate students have any other tips, leave them below!

thesassplug

18 Jan, 2023

The SASS Blog

Everyone loves Jan 1st! It’s the preview of exciting things. You get to write your story afresh. So many endless possibilities. If you play your cards right you could become the president by the end of the year! Or you could quadruple your net worth! Better yet, if you are in college you could change your cGPA from 2.5 to a 4.0! Or you could publish 10 papers at the end of the year if you are a graduate student! Notice the theme in the goals we just mentioned? They are all overly ambitious! Ambition is a good thing, don’t get us wrong. Being overly ambitious on the other hand, is a recipe for disaster. So as we all spring into this new year, we want to offer you tips on how to actually embrace the New Year and set realistic goals.

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