I’m quite serious – beyond general “diversify your portfolio” and “cast a wide net” -type waxing, why would I spend the time writing a grant proposal that would require learning a new funding system, developing a “broader impacts” plan, carefully re-crafting my research narrative to be compellingly non-health-related (which it undeniably is), all for less money, when I could just write another R01?
You’re in!
How often, in this job, do you get to genuinely make another person feel happy? Though I like to imagine that my trainees are dancing on rainbows for a week after I give them a compliment, something tells me such a response is relatively rare. But there’s one time I know I get to make someone’s day, and that’s when I call to let them know they’ve been accepted to graduate school.
Of course, the debate of whether we should continue to create new PhD candidates rages on. But just for today, let’s feel the happy feels, and remember what it was like to get that call.
I was in my apartment getting ready to go to my job at Starbucks, when the Swatch Phone rang.
It was my soon-to-be thesis advisor, telling me I was being offered a position in the neuroscience program at [Classy Institution]. I was in total shock. I do not remember the conversation very much at all (I really hope I said thank you), but I do remember that after hanging up, I got on my bike and rode the fastest I’ve ever ridden down the giant hill to the swanky neighborhood where my Starbucks was, and burst in shouting, “I AM GOING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!!” It was one of the best days ever.
Your turn – I know you’ve got some good stories, so share in the comments!