{"id":2478,"date":"2010-10-22T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-22T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mlmlblog.wordpress.com\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2010-10-22T09:00:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-22T17:00:30","slug":"grad-school-pep-talk-tales-from-the-other-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/2010\/10\/22\/grad-school-pep-talk-tales-from-the-other-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Grad school pep talk: tales from the other side"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Making it all worth it: Kyle's thesis work on hydromthermal vent snail reproduction makes the cover of Biological Bulletin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kyle Reynolds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Kyle Reynolds<\/a>, Benthic Ecology Lab<\/p>\n

In the midst of all the daily rigors of grad school life (endless sample processing, data analyses, literature reviews, etc.), forward progress seems sometimes to move like a snail through molasses.\u00a0 One rarely gets the chance to step back from it all and gaze upon the big picture.\u00a0 Instead, you\u2019re usually so exhausted after yet another 14 hour field day, 8 hours of microscope work, or weekend spent studying for exams that you tend to forget that there will in fact be fruits of your labor\u2026<\/p>\n

Well, my bug-eyed, brain-frazzled, bone-weary grad school friends (and those of you students-to-be), I\u2019m here to remind you to keep your eye on the prize and enjoy the ride.\u00a0 Science is one of very few professions that encourages pure creative thinking, allows for raw discovery, and, in the process, envelopes you into a tight-knit community of passionate, like-minded people.\u00a0 Brick by brick, its process and results expand and add to the conventional wisdom of humanity.\u00a0 Of course you know this\u2026 it\u2019s what attracted you to this pursuit to begin with\u2026 but I know how easy it is to lose sight of this fact during the day-to-day \u2018drudgery\u2019.\u00a0 Well, let this be your public service reminder:\u00a0 you are so lucky to be part of this!<\/p>\n

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Grad school got you feeling bug eyed? You'll get to do other things you love again - when you graduate. (painting: K. Reynolds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can say this now, one year after graduating from Moss Landing Marine Labs.\u00a0 Now that a chapter of my thesis has been published<\/a> and become an actual contribution to our knowledge of how the world works.\u00a0 Now that I\u2019ve had a chance to slow my pace, get in some painting and gardening and realize\u2026\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0 Wait! \u00a0I need another fix!\u00a0 I\u2019m not ready to get off this ride yet (or ever) \u2013 this stuff is addictive!\u00a0 There really are no words to describe the feeling of finally seeing your hard work published and, yes, even referenced by others in your \u2018community\u2019.\u00a0 This must be why there are very few ex-scientists out there.<\/p>\n

And so, here I go, back into academia to get my next fix.\u00a0 Much like Michael Corleone, \u201cJust when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.\u201d\u00a0 Only willingly\u2026 very willingly.\u00a0 Don\u2019t look at me like I\u2019m crazy.\u00a0 You know you\u2019ll do the same thing.\u00a0 Keep your eye on the prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kyle Reynolds, Benthic Ecology Lab In the midst of all the daily rigors of grad school life (endless sample processing, data analyses, literature reviews, etc.), forward progress seems sometimes to move like a snail through molasses.\u00a0 One rarely gets the chance to step back from it all and gaze upon the big picture.\u00a0 Instead, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"MLML Student Life","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/student-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}