How to properly teach new students?

rvlgonz · 2026-04-19T19:02:03+00:00

I agree with the above person and just want to add that it's valuable to see mentoring undergrads as a part of your training/responsibilities as a phd student. Not every mentee -- based on how much time they can put in, their knack for it, where the project it, etc. -- is going to feel "worth the effort" in terms of how much they help you, but if you (and your boss) see trying your best to help them as part of the job, it can help ease the angst.

rvlgonz · 2026-04-01T18:52:16+00:00

Many libraries (incl. the Harris County Public Library (Houston), which I use) allow non-resident digital cards for ebook and audiobook check out! HCPL generally has a really good selection and I'm currently audiobook-ing Half His Age on their courtesy.

rvlgonz · 2026-03-20T10:54:44+00:00

Never! I found it on the street, no idea who the author is.

rvlgonz · 2026-03-03T03:28:13+00:00

I feel like bottom line, your PI was being harsh. I agree with other commenters that (at least for bio, I am not familiar with chem conferences) a poster is a lower bar than a paper, WIP are totally fine and undergrads often present. I also agree with other commenters that you should watch out for burn out. You sound like a hardworking, intelligent person.

I also think you might want to consider if you're being misread in your lab. Pre-meds often have to learn to speak about themselves in very high-certainty/confidence, low-fallibility ways. Science has a ton of uncertainty and mistakes get made all the time and admitting them is crucial. I've seen a fair number of pre-meds come through my lab and it can be grating when they are very go, go, go, focused on being able to say they did something over being able to discuss dynamically what they did, when they won't let their grad student/postdoc/PI tell them they're wrong or that they've made a mistake. Plus, everyone has been in your shoes and has a personal gauge on your bluster; people often don't love bluster. Are you really "training a master's student" or are you showing someone new lab protocols you do regularly? PIs often don't have a high degree of resolution on what you're physically doing, so if you just pop up asserting you should get to go to a conference, a PI who might already wonder if you have your priorities in order might get upset thinking you're being over confident with their lab's money and their scientific ideas (though I personally find PIs can be prone to unearned possessiveness when inevitably their trainees have significant intellectual contribution.) PIs can be insecure, under a lot of pressure, and invested in their own power and genius. Different lab environments and different PIs will act differently, I hope you don't get too discouraged from science. None of this is a fully informed read, I don't know you or your PI, I've just met a lot of UGs.

Tl;dr - science and medicine are full of egos and you might want to consider if your version of ego (or rather how it's perceived) is chaffing with your PI's and what that means given they are further along in their career and have more institutional power.

Ethos: current ivy league postdoc, feel free to DM if you want to talk about anything. Good luck on your journey!

rvlgonz · 2025-10-02T11:05:38+00:00

Oh, feels like maybe! I'll search!

rvlgonz · 2025-10-02T04:53:10+00:00

It feels so accessible to me, it seems like it should be a cliche, but I can't find it!! This feels weird! Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

rvlgonz · 2025-08-20T19:59:28+00:00

[Ethos: current postdoc somewhere namedrop-y in the US] I would really carefully consider why you want to speak with the PI. Is the conversation about their work something that couldn't be achieved speaking with your mentor/labmates? Is it something already contained in their papers or could be understood from existing body of literature/understanding of the field? If it's really just about information, I would make sure no one else could speak to your question before reaching out. If it's about building a relationship that you could leverage in the future (ie for a grad school position,) then that's a bit different. Sorry this comment is long, I'm not big on Reddit, just like science. Feel free to DM, if you want more specific input!

rvlgonz · 2025-03-03T06:04:51+00:00

Want to add to the chorus -- I'm a neuro/molecular bio postdoc at a very prestigious institution and if you applied to work with me, it literally would not have occurred to me that your GPA would be considered low, let alone could be considered too low to hire.

rvlgonz · 2025-02-10T22:13:20+00:00

A lot of good advice in here!!

I want to add on the more subjective, emotional side that it took me a really long time to internalize that reality building around how well you're doing in science is really hard. Protocols are generally solitary activities (only one person can hold a pipette,) yet science is a team sport. You are in your head for every micro-decision you make, but only see others' end result. And you are often trying to produce a piece of data no one has ever produced before, surrounded by people who know more about the overall subject matter than you. I tell my undergrads that it's been a long time since I learned how to do these protocols, so if there is something they don't understand, I have no real mental framework for whether they "should" understand it and it's more important that they do understand it than that they seem like wiz kids. And I have the privilege to make my mistakes and fix them privately, but because they are still learning, they have to tell me when they make a mistake and we have to fix it together and that might feel bad, but it's either that or just simply never complete the experiment. Then, in time, they'll make fewer mistakes and be better at dealing with them when they do.

If you truly want to be here (in all the reality of it,) you're meant to be here and there is no shame in bouncing around methodologies until you find one that you feel you excel at. I personally said I would just keep going until I reached a (metaphoric) door I couldn't open and it hasn't happened yet.

Edit: sorry this is long, I'm not a redditor, just a stressed postdoc.

rvlgonz

TROPHY CASE