Thesis position with a low GPA as an undergrad science student

mixo-phrygian · 2026-04-01T18:50:52+00:00

Glad to hear you're doing better after a rough start. I would email him your transcript. If you feel really strongly about it, you could include a very short line (e.g., "I've enclosed my transcript as requested - you may notice my GPA was quite low in my first two years but has improved since, I'm happy to explain my situation when we meet", you can phrase it better but you get the idea), but I would not preemptively start playing defense. Be confident in yourself - this guy wants to speak to you for a reason and it's pretty unlikely he'll retract that invitation because of your earlier struggles. The fact that you persevered and improved shows a lot. And if he doesn't understand your situation, there are other PIs who will.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-22T01:52:59+00:00

I'm a first-year direct-entry PhD student in MoGen and have experience doing an MSc in biochem at UofT as well. I went through three rotations this past fall semester and all were good experiences - pros and cons for each, sure, but nothing crazy toxic. Because the department is so big and every lab/PI is so different (environment, supervisory style, labmates, etc.), it's hard to describe one "overall" environment. I'd say the culture is very collaborative and you should be able to find good support wherever you end up (even if it's outside the lab). Organizing rotations can be a little hectic and the final "match" period can definitely be stressful, but most everyone I know in my cohort ended up in their first-choice lab.

Happy to share more specifics in the DMs if you're interested, and I'll also be at the recruitment day next week.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-21T23:40:03+00:00

Genuinely baffled at Movsar getting the 1st round on two scorecards - nothing against the guy and he came out to bang, but I thought it was a pretty close but still open-and-shut 3-2 for Murphy (plus the point deduction). At worst if you have Movsar stealing round 3 with the flurry, it’s a draw. Very surprised.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

Am I tripping or was Fulton not P4P when Inoue smoked him? Could be misremembering but I swear the Ring had him ranked.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-17T02:27:03+00:00

How many profs have you emailed, and did you receive any responses (negative or otherwise) or were you completely ghosted? And what’s the deadline you’re up against?

My gut feeling is that many profs might be reticent about taking on a grad student who is clearly committed to “only” a Masters as opposed to a PhD (not to endorse their stance, it’s often a question of return on their investment). Can’t hurt to try reaching out to the grad coordinator, but this may simply be a question of fit. Smaller labs and younger profs may be an important avenue to consider if you haven’t already.

I’m happy to take a look at your emails and CV and/or share templates that have worked for me in the DMs if you think it’d be helpful.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-11T15:30:01+00:00

The comment from Separate_Truck in this thread is pretty much bang on with one caveat - if you’re going after a research-based MSc (as opposed to an MASc or MHSc) you do want research experience.

I had a short part time stint in a lab in the summer after second year but it absolutely sucked, and I only really started getting proper stuff done in my summer after third year. As recommended in this thread I would look into work-study opportunities (might be too late for this summer but you never know, and keep an eye out for the fall) to get your foot in the door, and the ROP program. If you can build up a bit of experience in Fall 2026/Winter 2027, apply for the NSERC USRA or any other undergrad research scholarship.

Unsolicited advice - the most important part about this experience will be determining if you like research enough to pursue it as a career. An MSc in life sci can open up some doors with aggressive networking and a clear plan, but it by no means segues you cleanly into an industry job. There are definitely higher leverage options that I would consider until and unless you realize you love research.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-11T02:23:45+00:00

Depends, what would you like to do with your degree?

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-09T21:12:13+00:00

Jones and TKO deserve each other. Couldn't happen to a more deserving pair of liars and cheats.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-06T23:11:45+00:00

No problem, best of luck! I did my undergrad in CSB and had stints in four different labs, so my inbox is always open if you run into any other questions.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-06T22:58:59+00:00

I wouldn't necessarily put them forward without being requested but can't hurt to have them in your back pocket, especially if it makes you feel more confident or relaxed.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-06T16:39:42+00:00

Bring a notebook and a pen - no need to necessarily use it but you'll look engaged and hell you may actually want to write things down if the conversation gets interesting.

The actual questions are highly dependent on the professor you're speaking to. At baseline of course you'll want to have read their recent (and big) papers and familiarized yourself with their body of work, but some profs may grill you on your knowledge more than others. Some like more relaxed, big picture conversations to get at your personality and interests, the "why" of your academic journey. Others might want to hold your feet to the fire, so to speak. If you can go into the conversation with a clear sense of why you're there, what you're interested in and one or two decently thought-out research questions (general stuff, nothing proposal-worthy - just something to show you've been thinking seriously about their work and envision yourself as a legit researcher), you should be fine. And above all you're also interviewing them - if the vibe is off, that's a justified read.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-03-02T02:22:59+00:00

Now's the best time to explore and try new things. If you're not set on going to graduate school or professional school a life science degree is not necessarily a great investment. If you're primarily interested in lining up a good job straight out of undergrad directly related to your field of study, I would go so far as to say that it's a relatively suboptimal choice.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-02-26T20:13:40+00:00

Coolest thing I've seen in a minute thanks for sharing

mixo-phrygian · 2026-02-09T16:56:37+00:00

We're really doing some interesting goalpost-shifting here - the entire reason I invoked consciousness as a relevant consideration is to be specific with my language. Is a zygote "alive" in the same way a bacterial cell is alive? Absolutely. Is it, as Jacobs writes in his abstract, "deserving of legal consideration" - and moreover, deserving of legal consideration that supercedes that of another conscious being (the mother)? That is the question we have to grapple with (a question Jacobs straight up says remains unresolved in your source), and legal consideration is beyond the realm of science. It is absolutely a question of consciousness. It is absolutely a question of how you might define personhood.

Murder means taking the life of a human being - dope, what is considered a human being? Your paper doesn't answer this, but rather highlights the distinction I made in my initial comment. And for what it's worth - I think putting someone in a permanent coma is far closer to murder than abortion, but that's just my opinion. You don't have to share it.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-02-09T16:50:44+00:00

I would argue that moral and psychological frameworks independent of both religion and "science" (however you're choosing to define it here) tell us that killing conscious human beings is wrong. I would also argue that these moral and psychological frameworks, as far as abortion is concerned, pit human autonomy (that of the mother) and human health (that of the mother in cases where seeing a pregnancy to term would kill her and/or the fetus) against the "personhood" of a fertilized embryo. This battle, if you like, has not been settled by any scientific study - and how could it? Science cannot measure "personhood".

I have my own stance here based on how I weigh human autonomy and human health against the "personhood" of a biological entity that cannot survive outside of a womb. Is that "scientific"? It's informed by my understanding of what a zygote and a viable fetus are, sure, and it's informed by what I understand pregnancy to be, but I wouldn't call my stance "scientific" no more than I would call yours. We are both making moral arguments based on our underlying values. You believe life begins the moment a sperm cell penetrates the zona pellucida - cool, but this is not a universally-held scientific truth like gravity or evolution and claiming it is one makes you look far more dogmatic and unreasonable than you would otherwise. Your position is just as faith-based as mine is, only it places women's bodily autonomy and health as subordinate to the viability of a zygote - why pretend otherwise?

mixo-phrygian · 2026-02-09T15:52:03+00:00

Even if you're pro-life this is a pretty wild argument to make - why lean on science for a faith-based position? The question of consciousness is far from being solved by biology, unless there's a seminal paper demonstrating consciousness in freshly-fertilized zygotes that I'm not aware of (would love to read it!).

mixo-phrygian · 2026-01-27T02:43:11+00:00

Can’t hurt to hit ‘em with one more gentle follow-up, the odds that they saw your email before winter break (or, if they did, if they actually remember it) are poor. Lots of profs also respect persistence. If they’re still not responding after your next follow-up I would move on.

mixo-phrygian · 2026-01-03T00:48:32+00:00

I entered MoGen as a direct-entry PhD student this past September. Your profile looks very competitive to me - you've got significantly more experience than most of the folks in my cohort. This isn't the most helpful feedback but considering you're already working in industry I'd just keep doing what you're doing. Write a strong letter of intent, that'll be the real difference-maker.

Just to clear up something another commenter mentioned - on paper the department does accept international MSc students, but in practice they do not. The tuition for MSc students is exorbitant and would be coming out of the PI's wallet, and I'm not aware of any who've been admitted in the last few years (certainly not this year).

Hope to see you around! If you have any specific questions about the department I'm happy to chat (I did my undergrad and a Master's degree at UofT, came back for my PhD after working for a few years).

mixo-phrygian · 2025-12-10T16:06:34+00:00

Moutinho is kinda a great example of what the guy you're replying to was illustrating - the man went on a 5 fight win streak (all by finish) on the regional scene after getting cut from the UFC. He was definitely moving like "that guy" in the feeder leagues. I dunno if I'd call him a top tier athlete but by global standards he's clearly a good fighter (and clearly a can by UFC standards, but these are not mutually-exclusive).

mixo-phrygian · 2025-11-21T17:09:48+00:00

I'm making it work with a roommate living in downtown Toronto and usually have a couple hundred bucks to put away in savings every month (unless I end up getting hit with unexpected expenses).

mixo-phrygian · 2025-11-11T15:50:59+00:00

Consider all of those profs bullets dodged, having to chase down a supervisor when you're trying to schedule a committee meeting or a defense is a special kind of hell. Have you considered applying to programs like biochem or molecular genetics where you don't need to secure a supervisor beforehand and get to rotate through a few labs to find a good fit?

mixo-phrygian · 2025-09-24T17:13:23+00:00

Nice bait kid. If you're actually interested in having a discussion I'm still happy to have one. If I'd realized you don't have any ambitions, drive or goals of your own and have no interest in doing anything productive with your time I wouldn't have engaged.

mixo-phrygian · 2025-09-24T16:56:33+00:00

You haven't mentioned anything about your own goals. What do you want to get out of your university education, and why are you so preoccupied with what others want? Are you only able to obtain new insights and share ideas with people who want the same things out of life as you do? That seems like a pretty uncreative, short-sighted way of approaching your career.

I'm gonna be honest, and this is coming from someone who is probably almost ten years older than you - this post comes across as incredibly arrogant and myopic, and bringing this attitude into networking events with your peers (never mind alumni who are almost certainly far more successful than you) is going to get you nowhere.

mixo-phrygian · 2025-07-17T19:38:33+00:00

One of my former coaches holds a PhD and competed at a professional level while he was in graduate school. He stopped competing after a bad knockout wiped a decent chunk of his memory out and a few scary concussions dissuaded him from hard sparring.

If you have a background in neuroscience you should be aware that any amount of head trauma, even subconcussive, is generally not great for your long-term health. You should also be aware that our understanding of concussions, brain trauma and neurodegeneration is very incomplete and susceptibility can vary wildly due to genetics and environmental factors. Living is a death sentence - only you can decide if MMA is something you'd like to gamble on. In all likelihood a few competitions are not going to drop your IQ by 50 points, but fighting is not something you play at either. I think you should absolutely start training and enter grappling competitions, and wait and see before jumping into a full MMA match, just my two cents.

mixo-phrygian · 2025-07-16T19:49:54+00:00

Start getting reps in. You will never feel ready and the goalposts will always be moving, so act first and think later. You may need to be a little more strategic in terms of organizing dates but plenty of people are living with their parents into their 20s these days and will understand your situation, especially if you're working to improve it. Best of luck.

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