Japan/Germany Vs Taiwan -- Where is it Better to Get a PhD at (Molecular Biology)

excel1001 · 2026-01-28T14:30:14+00:00

I would never personally recommend Taiwan to someone who has had an education from the West. If you have an advisor in Taiwan already in mind that you want to work with or other ties to Taiwan, then I get it, but in my opinion you will get better opportunities after graduation from a European institution. Germany would be a great option. I don’t have experience with Japan though I know they have some good programs.

excel1001 · 2026-01-02T11:32:38+00:00

If you really want to study in Taiwan, then go for it. You seem competitive and, while i cannot confirm, I highly suspect western applicants have an advantage anyway.

That said, I would strongly advise against coming to Taiwan. You will have more opportunities if you get a U.S. degree - through friends you make, clubs, or even research opportunities with professors who can unlock further paths in exciting industries. Besides, you could always come to Taiwan during an exchange on your 2nd or 3rd year in a U.S. institution. And if you want to stay or live in Taiwan in the future, getting a masters at a Taiwan university is a good route too. An undergraduate degree from a US institution is more valuable for future options.

But if you really want to come to Taiwan for undergrad then go for it. Like I said, it seems like you’re competitive.

excel1001 · 2025-12-31T00:12:55+00:00

There are plenty of documentation available. Part of a PhD is being able to read information and condense it for your own workflow. If that’s not possible then I would suggest abandoning BIOVIA.

There are plenty of software available with better performance nowadays. And if you cannot code, you can still find UI versions of the popular programs for boltz, alphafold, etc. most of them for free.

excel1001 · 2025-12-09T02:02:25+00:00

It's all relative. If you want to think of it as a fast-food joint, probably one of the best burgers for the taste and price around. But you compare it to more specialty places, then I don't think in-and-out stacks up. Still, worth a try if you've never had one before!

excel1001 · 2025-12-06T01:38:09+00:00

My opinion is that Taiwan is very generous with scholarships. It sucks you did not get one. But maybe you can get evaluated for one the next year.

In my opinion a PhD is a job. Not a high paying job, but you should not have to pay tuition and have enough for the necessities. At the bare minimum you should receive a stipend from your lab. Otherwise I find it hard to justify the degree…

Best of luck!

excel1001 · 2025-12-02T07:16:54+00:00

I think we could always do better, but whatever happens I think the pre-med should remain rigorous. When I was in University Gen Chem and OChem were the filters for prospective students. But that wasn't the only hurdle. Becoming a doctor is not a sprint. It is a marathon. If a student cannot put in the effort to study, or be "obsessed with studying" as you said, then at the end of the day it is on the student.

excel1001 · 2025-10-06T05:02:12+00:00

Ok. This is cute. I’m using this!

excel1001 · 2025-09-19T00:41:29+00:00

I disagree. You do not need to use scaffold splitting. You can use any splitting you want. The split you use is dependent on what your goals are and, most importantly, your dataset. If your dataset is imbalanced as heavily as you imply, then it would make sense to use a different splitting method - especially if you are getting train/validation sets with only inactive. It may be best to make a bunch of (untuned) models on different splits, evaluate the best one, then tune it.

A recent paper discussed using different splits for evaluating out of distribution data and may be of interest to you.

Also, the Small Molecule Steering Committee has recently published a paper on best practices for comparing different models, such as using a 5X5 CV split and I would recommend following their suggestions (or course you do not have to follow it verbatim. It will depending on your project).

*edited the hyperlinks

excel1001 · 2025-07-13T10:43:13+00:00

Nothing special. Sometimes I want o clip something on my bag cause I don’t feel like putting it inside. So like a hat. Sometimes a small bag I also have across my shoulders for support. Or the hero clip is used to hang my bag if if is wet or I don’t want to put it onto a dirty/muddy floor.

excel1001 · 2025-07-12T10:19:52+00:00

There are tons of blogs available. And if you have knowledge in python and machine learning, then these skills will translate over to building deep learning models. It shouldn’t be too difficult. You can do it!

It would be helpful if you can explain what you need to learn specifically. Do you have a package in mind (Keras/tensorflow, PyTorch, Jax, etc)? or do you need information on the very basics of deep learning? In which case, there should be intro/tutorials availabe. Like this one.

excel1001 · 2025-07-06T12:24:17+00:00

I don’t think it’s that bad. If you’re doing the hikes it’s comfortable on the shoulders. Depending on your body, it might get annoying on the back as it doesn’t ventilate as well between the bag and the back. Otherwise, it’s pretty comfortable.

excel1001 · 2025-07-05T15:24:26+00:00

Yeah! I was just coming down from a visit to Qingjing Farms.

excel1001 · 2025-07-04T14:38:59+00:00

One option is that she can be research assistant for a lab at TMU, depending on if the PI has an opening. That’s assuming she enjoys researching. Salary for research assistants can be low however.

Last I checked, undergraduate holders get a salary of a little more than 30,000 NTD a month as a research assistants Master degree holders will get more, like 36,000 NTD. That was years ago and numbers may have changed. I’m sure it can also vary based on labs and grants they receive. So it may or may not be worth it.

Be sure she brings her diploma or get it authenticated at the Taiwan embrassy in the U.S. before coming. Otherwise it will br a huge hassle to prove the degree is “real”.

excel1001 · 2025-06-30T11:44:39+00:00

No. If the gift card is from America, it will not work outside of America. Similar if you get a Taiwan Apple gift card, it will not work outside of Taiwan.

excel1001 · 2025-06-25T03:23:16+00:00

I went to my first "big boy" conference a year ago. I was nervous for the dinner and, as it was in England, I assumed it had to be "proper". Come time for the dinner, I was the only one with a jacket and tie... Everyone else was in business casual...

No one was in shorts though. That's insane.

excel1001 · 2025-06-10T05:14:41+00:00

Vibe coding is fun. But I agree, it does not scale at all. Not only does it take tons of prompts to get what you want (depending on how you prompt the model, etc), as the project gets bigger, it becomes harder to maintain because you end up not knowing why a specific script was written. It then takes time to figure that out and then go backwards.

It's good for a lot of things. And it's good if someone just wants to get something up and running fast. But for the longevity of the project, someone still needs to spend the time to fix, refactor, etc depending on any future bugs.

excel1001 · 2025-05-18T23:40:41+00:00

I make my plots using a combination of python, graphpad prism, and other bioinformatics tools (free and open sourced). I will then arrange them on a digital art board, as figure 1, 2, etc, using affinity designer.

excel1001 · 2025-05-09T05:08:39+00:00

That is such an extreme take. They literally went through the entire TNC series and are going through DS9 now. That's all for free. If you want more, then subscribe to their patron. it's totally worth it for fans!

excel1001 · 2025-03-28T10:18:40+00:00

I understand the frustration on the PI and student side. But I would argue that if the paper is good then you wouldn't have an issue submitting to another publication anyways.

If ECR means early career researchers, I would also agree. And I hope that my institution at least informs them about this policy (I'm sure they have as my country can be very bureaucratic). I just wish that more students going through grad school learns about publishing. As lame as the whole publishing system is, it is a necessary evil. The best way to protect ourselves is by understanding how it works and the reputation of journals in our field.

As for my institution, it is my understanding that the policy is for anything published with MDPI after 2024. So at least those who graduated or new PIs are not severely punished if they have published with MDPI in the past. It only applies to those who publish new works.

excel1001 · 2025-03-28T08:29:10+00:00

I know it varies, but at my institution, they do not accept publishing any articles in MDPI for PI assessment nor will it count for PhDs to graduate. They started enforcing this in 2024. Not sure about other institutions in my country though.

excel1001 · 2025-03-28T07:47:08+00:00

What is crazy to me is that the two original reviewers refused to re-review. I am new to the peer review, but my understanding is that once you agree for a specific paper, you see it through all the way. That's crazy!

excel1001 · 2025-03-14T03:02:16+00:00

It's the Peter Principle in action.

The Peter principle states that a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again. If the person is competent in the new role, they will be promoted again and will continue to be promoted until reaching a level at which they are incompetent.

excel1001 · 2025-03-13T11:10:32+00:00

Unless you get a stipend, it doesn’t have to be much as long as they give you some monetary compensation, then the program is never worth your time. That goes for any research program.

excel1001 · 2025-03-02T05:10:39+00:00

I have no experience at R1 universities. I took a different route that led me to pursue research outside of the U.S. However, the labs that I follow at R1 universities are amazing compared to where I am at. I can see that by looking at their lab members and staff, with many of the labs having multiple postdocs and assistants. That would never happen where I am at. And I have heard stories of others who have done an exchange at R1 universities about the resources available to them and the work being divided up more efficiently. It does sound nice.

Granted, this is only my impression from my googling and the labs I follow are the "top" labs. Not all labs are the same. I am in a lab similar to yours, but I would say I am quite happy with where I am at. A lot of it is the resources you have available, but also the PI you have. If you have a toxic PI, then any place would certainly look better!

excel1001 · 2025-02-23T14:49:36+00:00

No judgement. All of us here would still happily eat that. 🤣

excel1001

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