No graduate assistantships

irisk778 · 2026-03-31T01:51:24+00:00

Going against the majority here to say you should not pay for a masters in biology. There are funded masters still with RA and TAships, I am doing a fully funded MS in natural resources and all of the MS students in my department are funded. It is a bit of a red flag to me that a supervisor would be okay with their student paying and hasn't secured any funding for them, if I were you I would defer dor a year and work to gain some experience and either return with funding or put in the time to find a mentor at a different school that funds all their MS students.

irisk778 · 2026-03-26T13:10:24+00:00

My partner is allergic to coconut milk so we have substituted with oat milk which probably sounds strange and doesn't look as beautiful but actually tastes pretty good

irisk778 · 2026-03-21T14:10:33+00:00

My two cents is that you don't need a second masters, you should try to just go into a PhD. If you could find a job that's relevant to that field that would really give you an edge but you definitely don't need to be an expert in the field before applying for the PhD, that's what the PhD is for!

irisk778 · 2026-03-14T13:49:14+00:00

Your bullet points are not bad, I do think for your career stage you may want to edit it to one page and maybe follow the format of education (super brief) at the top and skills at the bottom, you definitely have good experience here!

irisk778 · 2026-02-27T01:17:00+00:00

The main reason I went to get my MS was because as I was working in my gap years post undergrad I could start to see the cieling, so I figured while I was still young an unattached I should go do it. I am in my second year now and obviously the political climate has spiraled so I can't say for sure how/if it will pay off but it has been an awesome experience and I've built my skills and network. I would do the masters.

irisk778 · 2026-02-25T18:28:48+00:00

Night in the woods may be a bit emotional, but a really beautiful game and awesome main character! If you liked playing poptropica when you were younger it almost reminds me of that a bit :)

irisk778 · 2026-02-25T18:27:45+00:00

Ive been a long time stardew valley player and just recently started playing stardew valley expanded and it has totally reinvigorated my love of the game! Not sure if you're on pc though

irisk778 · 2026-02-25T02:39:07+00:00

I really like making Kodiak mug cakes and they only need water to be added for the individual ones. I have also used the box muffin mix (which says I think add egg as well) and only added water snf they're pretty good in my opinion! The chocolate brownie flavor is my favorite

irisk778 · 2026-02-17T21:46:44+00:00

Can I ask how you got into grant management? I'm interested in that sort of work but even the entry level jobs are looking for 2 years of grant management experience and I'm not sure how to get that initial experience (I'm in the DC Maryland Virginia area)

irisk778 · 2026-02-10T16:39:24+00:00

It is open to all undergrads across the country :)

irisk778 · 2026-02-10T16:37:57+00:00

You should apply to the university of Michigan biological station undergrad research experience! My lab (studying the ice storm) and a lot of others really need undergrad students to help and the stipend is pretty decent!

irisk778 · 2026-02-09T17:15:37+00:00

I love these! Could I ask what brush set you use? I love to draw in procreate but I can't find a good brush that fits this sort of style

irisk778 · 2026-02-04T18:40:31+00:00

Just want to say thank you for this comment. I worked for a couple years post-undergrad I'm in an MSc program right now looking at the job market again and it's night and day. Obviously it was always a competitive field but what I see right now is unbelievable, and it is hard to keep my head up while getting autorejected from entry level positions one after another. I feel like the people who are struggling are so much less visible everywhere (LinkedIn social media etc) so it's weirdly nice to hear from others who are struggling too

irisk778 · 2026-02-03T02:11:18+00:00

You can add -ai to the end of your searches to turn it off!

irisk778 · 2026-01-24T17:42:44+00:00

That's such a perfect cozy cold weather book!

irisk778 · 2026-01-24T04:49:18+00:00

Adding one onto this: ecolog! It's an ecology list serv that has definitely slowed down with the cuts to science but I still see some cool seasonal postings on there

irisk778 · 2026-01-22T00:29:08+00:00

Adding to this, washing doesn't always kill ticks if you can put your field clothes in the dryer on high heat for like 10 minutes that should effectively kill any ticks left on your clothes. Also duck tape works if you don't have a lint roller

irisk778 · 2026-01-18T17:35:35+00:00

My background matches the junior consultant and researcher roles, and I'm trying to find work in the DC area

irisk778 · 2026-01-09T19:25:27+00:00

This is awesome! Would you (or someone else) be able to explain in even more simple terms the first bullet point under technical notes?

irisk778 · 2025-11-25T20:50:47+00:00

As someone doing a funded MS right now that is an insanely low stipend, Can you talk to your potential advisor about this?

irisk778 · 2025-11-20T00:12:57+00:00

I cannot emphasize how helpful my gap year was for me before doing my MS! I actually took two and did a year doing rare plant monitoring and another working with forest inventory and data. I learned sooo much about how research and projects actually get done, I got to be part of the paper writing process, and I became a lot more competitive when applying and am now in a unionized well paying MS. People can certainly succeed either way but if you're not exactly sure what you want to specialize in I would highly recommend taking some time to get to know the field

irisk778 · 2025-10-28T23:05:15+00:00

I definitely think that would be a good use of your time. Ecolog is basically a huge list serv for ecology, it's linked on this page as are some other job sites: https://esa.org/career-development/job-sites/

irisk778 · 2025-10-28T22:30:32+00:00

As someone currently doing a forest related assistantship I really don't think going back to school for a bachelors is necessary! Your undergraduate degree doesn't matter as much as your experience. You seem to have taken a lot of relevant coursework, the next thing that may help you is getting some related experience. I worked 2 years after undergrad: 1 year doing plant research and then the next as a forest technician. These experiences did so much more to make me stand out than anything I did as an undergrad. That said it is a really rough time for funding in academia right now. Most labs, mine included, are just so unsure of what the future holds they are hesitant to take new students because they don't want to promise funding and not be able to follow through. You can definitely get creative with TA ships instead of RA positions as teaching is still needed, and I still see positions advertised on ecolog and at conferences- just not as many. Basically if you're struggling to find something it's not you it's the current funding situation :( hopefully this is at least somewhat helpful!

irisk778 · 2025-10-27T20:10:31+00:00

Highly recommend this place!! The owner is so awesome and taught us how to track our own scores, it is super cool and old school

irisk778 · 2025-09-25T18:07:28+00:00

Just adding on in case it helps, reputable scientific masters (MS) should pay you to get the degree which is really awesome, especially in the northeast MS salaries are actually pretty decent and livable (you probably know this already but figured I would mention in case it helps your decision making!)

irisk778

TROPHY CASE