Q: Is your experience so far what you were expecting, and what things are different?

A: I don't know how much I was expecting from graduate school. I expected to be working in a lab, taking classes... I actually expected that it was going to be less time demanding than undergrad, only because I pushed really hard in undergrad, and actually it has been.   But in terms of what I could have expected to get out of it so quickly, I really wouldn't have guessed. I've learned a lot from my classes, and I think that the transition from being an undergrad working in the lab, from doing what other people told me to do to actually being prepared for making my own projects and learning about the field and the people in the field, it's been a great transition.

Q: What's a typical day like?

A:  It begins with a short commute on the T.   I start my day off with Spanish class three days a week, and then usually arrange my classes in blocks so I either have classes in an afternoon block or morning block.   That way it leaves me a ton of time for lab. After classes or before the afternoon starts I go to lab and set up experiments.   If there is waiting time I either go ahead and do other experiments or I do some homework on the computer.   I usually try to be out by 5 o'clock from the lab, give or take depending on the day, and then I go home to the rest of my life, do some homework and actually get to sleep.

Q: While you are actually in the lab, how much do you work with the other graduate students, the post-docs and your principle investigator?

A: I'm in Venky Murthy's lab, and when I was doing my rotation here he hooked me up with another graduate student, who has since graduated, and basically when I have questions about the project or I need insight on how to do the project she is the one that I talk to.   If I just have questions about the lab in general I can go to her or any of the other graduate students that are in the lab. Everybody in the lab is very friendly and they don't mind if you interrupt them with a question. Venki is very busy so he's not always in his office, but if he is in his office he doesn't have a problem with you knocking and saying can we talk sometime. Or you can send him an e-mail. He comes in to the lab and check to see how everyone is doing. He'll ask you really quick just to keep up with things, and with the post-docs I think it's the same thing. Actually I had a question about a thesis idea of mine and was asking one of the post-docs at lunch and we've talked a little bit since then.   They have actually been very helpful.   It's kind of casual, it's not specifically that day "OK help me figure out my thesis," but its really nice to work in that lab.

A: Yeah, that's one of the reasons that rotations are really nice, because you can get a feel for that kind of stuff.   If you are a person who really wants to have a lot of attention from a PI then that's something that is very important to you, and that's something that you look for.   Or if you just at the very least want somebody to consult with from the lab, whether it's a post-doc or grad student, then that's something else that you can feel out.

Q: Are you in the Genetics and Genomics Training Grant program?

A: Yes.

Q: What kind of interaction have you had with OEB?

A: For the most part, the interaction that I've had with OEB has been through class, specifically our BS 205 class (genomics) that we were required to take last semester. From what I understand, though, this semester OEB is going to start movie nights, and they are inviting MCB and maybe even the Chemistry dept to go, and then you can actually meet people on a social basis.

Q: Is it going to be science-themes movies only?

A: I don't know what they showed last week but this week I think it was a comedy.   So it's not really a science thing per se, it's just a time for people to get together and be social, which I think is a really great idea and I'm glad that somebody took the initiative for that. There is also the symposium which we haven't started organizing yet, but we're gonna work together, OEB and MCB students.   Within the next week we're supposed to start thinking about ideas and actually working on the symposium.

A:  I had so much fun. I think coming here, only being here not even a couple weeks and then going to the retreat... even though for some people its kind of a weird situation because your brand new here and then you're around all these people, I think it was a good chance to get to know people, and it's still fresh enough to break the ice.   Versus if you had a retreat, say, six months later, the ice is already kind of broken. [laughs] Its nice to be able to go and hear the professors talk and get familiar with them because there are a lot professors here that do a wide variety of research and are actually very important in their field. It's good to know people by name and to actually walk up to people and be able to talk to them and to get to know them in person, and unfortunately because of the way the rotation schedule worked out the retreat didn't necessarily help much as far as picking some of your rotation choices, but it is nice to know for collaborations, classes or just to know who the face is walking down the hall. It's also great to bond with the G1's and to get to know the G2's. The G2's kind of look after the G1's.   I just had a lot of fun.

Q: It seems like that's a tradition here, that the G2's look after the younger kids on the block.

A: I think they do a really good job of that and I think it's really important, especially because the G1's tend to aggregate together since that's all they know, and that becomes even easier to do if nobody else is looking out for you. But with the G2's looking out for you, if you have problems then they say "why don't you go talk to this person," or "why don't we see what we can do about it," or "have you thought about this?" They are good advice-givers.   Otherwise you may not know where to go.

Q: Now that you've joined a lab that is its own community, in what ways do the G1's as a group stay connected?

A: Sometimes we see each other in different classes, before or after class, and talk to each other. We also see each other at TGIF, especially now that we are responsible for running it.   I've noticed that I and a couple of other people who didn't used to go to TGIF are actually going now just to be there for our classmates, and to see them. We're also planning some events together. Eric has movie nights at his place, and some of the G1's will show up. This past weekend we took a trip to Salem and we decided to make a monthly thing of going out on trips and just doing things together, to get to see each other, because now that we're in lab and we don't have a required class where all 13 of us have to be there, we want to find ways to stay connected.

Q: In general how would you characterize the social life of the department, and is it what you expected?

A: When I came here for interviews I had interviewed at about 6 schools and I found Harvard to be the most welcoming and socially inviting because I think people here try to get out of the lab.   When they are in the lab they do their lab business and for the most part everybody is very studious and diligent, but they realize it's good for your mental and general health to get to know who else is in the department, to actually have some social life.   So things like TGIF, or whenever we have receptions, or volleyball at the beginning of the year, I think these are all great things.   In general socially the department has done a good job and has lived up to what I expected. The interviews here were super fun and the graduate students are really outgoing, but you kind of expect that for interviews cause they're trying to recruit you, so you don't necessarily know if it's going to be the same level of activity once you're here, but I think that it has actually lived up to that standard.   Within the lab, people are social: they do their work, but, you know, it's not just somebody else who works in the lab with you, it's a friend and I think that's very conducive to a good working environment. I think that's pretty much true for most of the labs here.

Q: What's been the evolution of the research that you've been interested in since you arrived?

A: Yes: "Come here!"   [laughs]   I really like it here.   When went to interviews I heard some bad talk about Harvard from other universities, and all of that was dispelled within 24 hours of me coming here for interviews. People say it's big and impersonal, but I think it's quite to the contrary: the labs tend to be small and pretty cozy, but not too small.   I think the classes are an excellent size, the teachers are great for discussion and you really get to know people on a personal level, and I think it's conducive for a great working environment as far as science goes. MCB has a lot to offer to everybody, and once you're here they will try to accommodate you in some way or another.   They listen to our concerns, they try to change our classes if we have complaints about them, and if you just have questions there's always somebody that we can ask.   So, it's definitely worth the time to consider Harvard.

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