How many schools to apply?

mtlve
Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:01:47 +0000

EvoViro,

I also took several years off to narrow down my research interests. Unfortunately, it did the opposite and expanded my research interests vastly. That is why they have umbrella programs. If I waited to apply when I had decided on a specific area of research that I wanted to study for the rest of my life, I could have easily took ten years to start school again. No PI is going to hire you as a technician for 2-3 months so you can test whether you like that research area. The nice part about grad school is that you can do rotations to speed up the process of choosing an area.

Most people with defined research interests within biomedical grad programs switch fields of interests during their first year (seen it with my class and friends). Most people again switch fields for a post doc. A lot of the big shot PIs I know want students/fellows that have tried multiple fields, since it makes the science more interesting. A lot of the PIs themselves have worked in multiple fields, and they claim that this helps them become more creative scientists.

In summary, I disagree that people should have defined interests before entering grad school. Even my old boss, a national academy member, has switched fields ~4 times as a PI. I do agree that people should take time off before grad school. Time off adds a level of scientific maturity that would greatly benefit all entering grad students and it speeds up the time to graduation. I again say that you need to find the school that is the best fit, and this may take 10+ applications for some people.