Have I made the right decision?

A new student arrived this week to the lab. I showed her around and for the first week or so she is expected to basically shadow all of us, learning the main techniques that we use.  Just like me, she is a foreign student, coming from a much kinder weather (I am looking at you negative-double-digit temperatures!) and with no family here. It was heartbreaking for me when at the end of the first day she asked me: Do you think I made the right decision coming here?

In academia, we are encouraged to go do every degree in a different institution and if it can be in another country, it might be deemed even better, since you will learn not only different techniques but different ways of living. As my family put it when I left Colombia “it is easier to do this when you are young because you are still very adaptable” … And still what no one seems to talk about is that sinking feeling of knowing if you made a huge mistake.

To move here I had to go to a lot of hoops, just to get my visa and study permit, a process I had to repeat at least 3 times in my almost 7 years living in Canada, without counting the process of residency. Being in Colombia I sold or gave away almost all of my stuff, I said goodbye to ALL my family and friends left with two 23kg suitcases. I was excited and terrified. I was moving to a new country, going to work on a lab that mainly worked on my 3^rd language and I had never before looked for an apartment on my own. My first crisis came about 2 weeks in, when I made a fairly silly mistake but my confidence plummeted and as it so happened I hadn’t had the time to re built a support net…that night, in my apartment, I cried.

As a foreign student, or even a someone who would’ve moved across the country, you are put in a position where all you want is to have those who have always been there for you (be it family or friends, or both) but when you finally get to talk to them, it’s extremely hard to say anything to them. You don’t want to make them worry. People, I am telling you, besides the long hours and the frustration that come to ANYONE in science, the hardest part for me has been being away from my family.

So when this new girl asked me that I told her the truth: I cannot answer that to you, all I can say is that it has been hard, but I would do it again. To be fair, she is mostly afraid of not being up to level, which if you ask me, is a good fear because 1) means she cares, and 2) is probably a sign she will do her darn best to catch up. But behind that fear, I know there is the “what if I left everything behind for nothing”.

I’ve mentioned some tips on how to choose a lab but besides the institution or the lab’s reputation there is something that you should always consider and it is yourself. How comfortable are you in a completely foreign environment? You might realize that there is comfort in being in the lab itself when thing become mechanic, but what about when you are out of the lab, or just not doing an experiment? If your family is very far away and you know you will need to see them at least once a year, take that into consideration: is your pay going to be enough to cover yearly travelling? Is the type of research your envisioning, flexible enough to allow for you to take more than 2 weeks off? A former student at the lab always took a month, because getting to her family alone would take more than a week of changing planes and buses. Are you comfortable enough with the local language/culture to have a life outside the lab? How long is the program you are considering and what is the mean length of it in the lab you are going to (in our institute a PhD is supposed to be a 4yr program, but the reality is the mean length of this specific program is 5+yrs).

Is it worth it? You will only know with time. I was extremely lucky with my master’s project, results wise, and even luckier to be have found great friends and in-law family here, which helped with the fact that my PhD proved being more taxing than I expected. But I’ve learned a lot because of my decision to move here. About me, about science, about academia. So as I told the new student: I would do it again. It has been hard in a lot of levels, but I would still do it again.  

What other considerations did you take into account when (if) you moved to a different country for your studies?

Choosing a laboratory

http://www.lessonplanet.com/article/elementary-science/preschoolers-and-science-skills

Independent of the type of research you want to do there is something that you HAVE to do and that is choosing a lab. This process can vary a lot: there are institutions that will have lab rotations (mostly during your masters) while there are others in which, in order to register for the program, you have to be accepted as part of a single lab. My institution makes part of the latter.

So today I will tell you how I chose my lab, just to give you an idea of the process in general. Please keep in mind that policies might be very different wherever you are planning to study, so always do your research.

1. Find a topic that interest you

This one applies to any case. You wouldn't go to study to a university that has a strong history in Ecology if you really don't care for it. So, first and foremost, take some time to think what is it that you want to study. Start with the broad topic (Molecular Biology, Ecology, etc) and then try to go as specific as you can. This is just because is not the same thing to work on MolBio in zebra fish, than in flies, for example. Once you find your topic (not your thesis topic; that comes later) you can pass to the next step.

2. Find someone who works in the subject you want

For this you have multiple resources such as PubMed or even Google Scholar. Try to check who is working on what; what are the details of their work and obviously where are located. If possible, consider how long has it been since they have published and what was the type of last publication they had (review, research article, letter), since you can see then the type of work that is being produce in their lab and to what rate/extent. Not only that, but this can also determine the type of financing that the lab is receiving, which inevitably will affect your project, shall you decide to work with this person.

3. Contact

Now I am going to start talking a bit more specifically to my case in particular. When I had found my possible topics, and hence advisors, I contacted them through e-mail. A word on this: they might not have posted in their site that they are presently looking for students; even so, if this is the lab you are really interested in you should contact them. Worst that can happen is that they will say no, but on the other hand you might just be the perfect candidate for an opening they were going to have eventually. I initially contacted 4 professors, of them only 2 answered at first. None of them was looking for a student at the time I contacted them. Both asked for more information (grades, recommendations, etc) and in the end, I was accepted in my present lab.

Some professors will ask for an interview, either by Skype or if possible in person. This was not the case for me, but a lot of my friends at the institute were.

4. Try to talk to other students

Whenever is possible, talk to prior and present students. In a way, you are also interviewing your professor, to a very different level off course, but none the less. Is the professor good at guiding new students? What about mood swings? Anything in particular you should know? This is important, because you are considering spending a lot of time under this person's tutelage and if she/he has a particular character that you don't think you can get along with, it might be a very long PhD indeed. This part is not always possible, but with the amount of contact tools we have nowadays you can at least try.

5. Get informed about payments

Not all programs will pay you as you are doing your PhD. But you need to know this in advance. Are there scholarship programs? Are you eligible? I once met a PI that would only accept students that arrived with their own scholarship. Some others will pay directly the student. Again, this is just so you get all your info before making a decision. At least in science, a PhD is more than a full time job, is long hours, weekends in the lab and taking a lot of work home. Make sure that you will be able to cover you basic needs (food, transportation and off course housing) and for how long. This might sound horrible, but trust me, I've met students that weren't being paid, which meant they had to find a part time job; this has a nasty effect on your research and obviously in the time it takes you to finish.

Those are my 5 points to check when choosing your future lab. I would love to hear the ones you considered too. Let me know in the comments, and in the meantime, keep working on good science ;)