Talking to a Professor

ADVICE: Before ever talking to a professor, read some relevant and recent publications by that professor or some of their current grad students! It shows you know what you are talking about, and a sincere interest in the field.

I talked with Dr. Shawn Rowe today at Oregon State. It went really well! He was incredibly helpful in describing the different areas that I could pursue at Oregon State. The first big piece of information that made this helpful was that he pointed out that the Environmental Science program is an interdisciplinary program, drawing on students and faculty from three academic areas of ecology/biology, policy, and education. While this may not be what other students are looking for, this sounds great to me. I am far more of an interdisciplinary student that anything else. I love biology, but anyone who knows me knows that I bounced around to 3 other majors (and was undeclared for a period in between) before landing on biology. An interdisc program sounds FANTASTIC to me.

If I were to go into this program, I could obtain a Ph. D. in about 5 years. Dr. Rowe said that 5 years is a realistic expectation. Some students come in wanting to complete their degree in 3 or 4 years, but the expectations of workload for graduate students is significantly higher than what people expect, so 5 years is a more realistic goal. The breakdown looks like this:

• 2 years of coursework (dependent on the sequencing, so it would be difficult to speed this up regardless of how good someone may be)

• During this time, I would be working on pilot projects and assisting in smaller research projects to get experience in full-fledged research as well as lead to ideas for my dissertation

• Upon completion of coursework, taking qualifying oral exam with committee
• If successfully pass, then write a research proposal and present this to committee (exams and proposal takes about a year)
• Start collecting data (about a year)
• Write thesis (about a year)

However, if I started all of this while I was 24, then in theory I could complete a Ph.D. before I'm 30. That's exciting!

So, in order to be a competitive candidate for this program, I should have a very strong statement of purpose that illustrates that going into a Ph.D. program is the next clear, logical step in my life goals, not simply a ploy to stay in school. :) Dr. Rowe encouraged me to spend some time thinking about and journaling about what it is in science that fascinates me so much that I would want these questions answered irregardless of if I'm accepted into a program. The desire to learn and research these questions are going to be the driving force behind my application. It will also help me figure out what direction I want to go for my dissertation! 

I should also have a strong academic background (including some psychology classes), work experience, volunteer experience (meaning I'm definitely doing whale watching this winter!), and a solid understanding of what this degree entails. This is a research degree, not a teaching degree. 

I've got my work cut out for me! Next up, starting a really good statement of purpose. I highly recommend Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher  for your essay writing. It includes exercises to help guide you in what to write, and how to polish your essay to make it stand out to an Admissions committee. This book and the Kaplan GRE Premier study guide just became my new best friends.

Until next time!

Grad School!

Hello everyone! So, I've decided to start keeping a blog to document what I'm doing for graduate school. I have been blessed to have so many people in my life who are interested in where I'm going and what I'm doing. Yet the curse of that is that I can't remember to update everyone consistently, especially since people are living in Oregon and Washington and Colorado and British Columbia and China and Mexico and the Ukraine and who knows where else! But, I am so thankful that you are all so interested in where I go, and I definitely appreciate your support!


Just to give you a small update for now, my biggest challenge at the moment is getting in touch with potential faculty advisors. Since I want to go into marine biology (of some sort), I need to have a faculty advisor agree to take me on as a graduate student before I am officially accepted to any university. I can go through the application process as much as I want, but if I don't have a faculty member who agrees to supervise and fund me, then I have no shot at going.


I've emailed professors at Oregon State, University of Hawaii, University of Maine, and University of Washington. I think I've emailed 6 profs total so far. I'm also looking at programs are Western Washington and (maybe) University of British Columbia. The exciting part is that I've heard back from one at OSU and I'm talking to him on the phone tomorrow! His focus is not marine biology per se, but on science education. If I were to work with him, I think my direction would be something in environmental tourism and how people learn through other avenues such as whale watching. If you're interested in looking him up, his name is Dr. Shawn Rowe at Oregon State University.


I actually got in touch with him through one of his current graduate students. This might be one of the most valuable things I have done yet, and I highly recommend to everyone looking to go to grad school. Find current graduate students of the professors you want to work with, and send them a friendly email asking for advice, information about the program, and information about the professor. The grad student I emailed, Michelle, has been SO helpful. She told Dr. Rowe that I would be sending him an email and she offered to let me come visit Corvallis in November. I can't even tell her how helpful she has been, but I think I'm going to try and send a thank you card. :)


I plan on making regular updates so that you guys can follow this epic quest, and hopefully glean some useful information if you are also looking to apply to graduate school. If you have advice, I am MORE than willing to accept it! Thanks for your support!