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Advice for undergraduates considering graduate school
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by Phil Agre, UCSD.
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Customized Cover Letters
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You can generate all your math department cover letters in a snap using Mary Pugh's LaTeX files, now updated for 1997. You'll need to customize the address list. Hint: customize your cover letters by adding a custom content field or two to your address file. (To download this file, right click on the link and select " Save As... " )
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The Basics of Cover Letter Writing
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" 'In almost no time we can reject half our applicant pool just by looking at their cover letters,' says Susan Lord, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of San Diego. "
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Everything I Wish Somebody Would Have Told Me About Graduate School Admissions
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(and a few things that people did tell me but that I didn't really believe until after it was all over.) by Matt Lepinski.
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New PhDs.org Graduate School Rankings
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All new rankings of nearly 6000 graduate programs at 418 universities. Rankings include new data from NSF on where recent PhDs got jobs, how they were funded, and more.
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Cover Letters for Professional and Faculty Positions
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"A persuasive cover letter not only answers the questions 'Who are you?' and 'What do you want?' but also convinces the reader that you can exceed the hiring organization/units specific expectations and must be interviewed before you are snagged by a competitor." Tips from the Duke University Career Center
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Straight Talk About Graduate School
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Hard-won advice about applying to grad school. The suggested questions to ask are quite good.
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Writing the Personal Statement - The OWL at Purdue
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This handout provides information about writing personal statements for academic and other positions.
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The Commandments of Cover Letter Creation
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by Peter Fiske, Science's Next Wave. "I've always hated the term "cover letter." It implies that the letter you send out to accompany your rsum, the opening shot in your job-hunt campaign, is merely "decoration" for your rsum. A good cover letter does far more than just cover: It engages the reader and makes her want to explore your job qualifications more fully. A good cover letter also highlights your qualifications, guides the reader through the most important parts of your work history, and demonstrates your flawless command of the English language. That's a lot to cover in only three paragraphs!"
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Doctors Without Orders: Highlights of the Sigma Xi Postdoc Survey
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Results of Sigma Xi's survey of 7600 postdocs at 46 US institutions. Very interesting discussion of salaries, training, and administrative oversight.
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Science Salaries by Discipline, 2005
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Salaries of scientists collected from salary.com
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Ranking of US Psychology Ph.D. Programs by Area
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"This page contains links to U.S. psychology Ph.D. programs grouped by research area and ranked in quality according to the Princeton Review's 'Gourman Report of Graduate Programs'"
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Writing a Great Cover Letter
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by Search Masters International recruiter Dave Jensen. " A scientist or engineer beginning a search for employment must first master the art of writing a good letter of introduction--one of the most deceivingly difficult jobs of written communication. Whether you are stepping out of a graduate program and into your first job, or seeking to move up and out of your current position, the letter that " covers " your resume must favorably reflect your personality, your stature, and your credibility. That's a lot to ask of one sheet of paper. "
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Life Sciences Research Foundation
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"LSRF awards fellowships across the spectrum of the life sciences: biochemistry; cell, developmental, molecular, plant, structural, organismic population and evolutionary biology; endocrinology; immunology; microbiology; neurobiology; physiology; virology.... Three-year fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis to graduates of medical and graduate schools in the biological sciences holding M.D., Ph.D., D.V.M. or D.D.S. degrees. Awards will be based solely on the quality of the individual applicant's previous accomplishments, and on the merit of the proposal for postdoctoral research."
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Graduate Programs in Mathematics
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A list of links to mathematics departments in the US, courtesy of Harvey Mudd College.
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NIH Postdoctoral Index of Openings
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Current postdoctoral opportunities at the NIH
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The Real Science Crisis: Bleak Prospects for Young Researchers
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Chronicle of Higher Education , September 2007. "[F]or many of today's graduate students, the future could not look much bleaker. They see long periods of training, a shortage of academic jobs, and intense competition for research grants looming ahead of them. 'They get a sense that this is a really frustrating career path,' says Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. So although the operating assumption among many academic leaders is that the nation needs more scientists, some of brightest students in the country are demoralized and bypassing scientific careers."
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Salaries For PhD Physicists and Related Scientists during Spring 2004
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"This is a summary of the latest salary data for physicists and related scientists. It is based on a biennial survey of a sample of U.S.-resident members of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Member Societies conducted by the Statistical Research Center of AIP."
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The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings
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US Census, July, 2002. " This report illustrates the economic value of an education, that is, the added value of a high school diploma or college degree. It explores the relationship between educational attainment and earnings and demonstrates how the relationship has changed over the last 25 years. Additionally, it provides, by level of education, synthetic estimates of average total earnings adults are likely to accumulate over the course of their working lives. "
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The Cover Letter: Door Opener Par Excellence
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by Dave Jensen, ScienceCareers.org. "Let's face it, cover letters are read and resumes are skimmed. In light of this, why is it that so many of us put such little effort into writing the cover letter? For most people, this is because they incorrectly believe that the cover letter is a throwaway, and that the resume or CV inside that envelope is what counts. Although it is entirely true that the resume has to be well written and have good content, the cover letter's job is to point to what lies inside, and to make it more specific to that reader. Just like the cover of a magazine."
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Small Mistakes With Big Consequences
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Dave Jensen, ScienceCareers. "It is by reading about other people's successes and failures that you can develop a game plan for the continued management of your career. So, in this month's column, I'd like to use OPE to relate three small job-search mistakes that can have very big consequences."
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Salaries for new CalTech PhDs
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Salaries offered to and accepted by CalTech PhDs in academia and industry by discipline. Very interesting info.
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Practice GRE General Test
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A complete practice GRE General Test courtesy of ETS. "Contains one full-length paper-based GRE General Test, test-taking strategies, sample verbal and quantitative questions with explanations, sample analytical writing topics, and scored sample essays and reader commentary."
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Cancer Immunology or General Immunology training
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"[S]upports qualified young scientists at leading universities and research centers around the world who wish to receive training in cancer immunology or general immunology"
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Sell Yourself: Guidance for Developing Your Personal Statement for Graduate School
Applications
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"Its the night before the application deadline and Jamal has completed all application forms, requested transcripts, and asked for letters of recommendation from his professors and research mentor. One last piece needs his attention, however: the personal statements. One application states, 'Discuss how your past educational, research and/or work experience(s) will contribute to your proposed studies.' Another application asks, 'What are your career goals and how do you see our program supporting your goals?'"
