My two cents on taking the first to apply + the rejections I faced in the RA application/Academic opportunities

As we enter August 2022, I must reflect on how July 2022 has particularly been a month of celebration academically and a downhill personally (health-wise) for me. I have had a lot of great ‘acceptance’ emails to present at conferences to secure a remote volunteer research assistant position and to even give a talk on securing them, etc. While all this sharing of good news is great it can also cause a sense of complexity and doubt to the rest around, (especially those that are not in the same stage as me) — it becomes important to note the not-so-good parts of where I am right now.

I recently made a list of labs/opportunities that I had applied to last year and this year which I did not make it through— because (mostly) I did not receive any response or received a rejection.

TAKE THE FIRST STEP! In 2021 (The back story of this is written in my previous article about securing remote positions). I was so afraid of applying because of two reasons. One, labs started transitioning from remote to going in-person, and second, I did not come from a university that had research as its strongest suit. I did not even get to write — a thesis/dissertation in my final year. In my final year which was amidst the pandemic were forced to complete a “group research project” which was the closest thing, our batch did for research at the university.

With all the above? How was I to apply? I would not say I did not have anything on my CV. Like every person in India, amidst the pandemic, I ventured into some online unpaid long hours internships. Some were useful at the tiniest bits too but not enough for the field I was interested in.

I then soon emailed an in-person lab in India(blessed that I found it by using some keywords on google), hoping that the skills I learned from the spaces I interned or even the things I contributed to the group project would be useful and helpful for me to advance and enhance it in the future spaces. I soon got into a beautiful in-person lab that catered to research towards using of EEG and eye-tracker. Till this time, I was sure this is the path I needed to use even when applying abroad. It’s not about what you have on your CV alone that gets you into any space, it’s the tasks you conducted, skills you learned, and motivation and keenness to advance.

My application — Cover letter/Cold-email + CV was validated by a beautiful Harvard mentor (Emma Laurent, PhD student) through Harvard’s PPREP Program (which is designed to help students with RA + PhD positions from the underrepresented groups). They take a selective number of people and host a 2-day workshop with amazing sessions about the process.

P.S Cannot emphasis on how important it was to get your materials validated by someone around you. It certainly can boast your confidence level in applying. (Atleast that worked for me).

By Jan 2022, I assembled a new list of labs with the combination of some labs that I prior was rejected or got no response from. Below are things I told myself before applying to labs on the 10th Jan 2022.

Remember, your motivation, keeness, skillset, knowledge will be fruitful and worthwhile when communicated well. Look for labs for what they will offer you and wise versa and not the university’s name. You don’t need a lot on your CV to start with just be yourself and your true passion will speak volumes.

I sent my first email to Harvard and Stanford in Jan and received a reply anything between 5–9 days without a follow-up email. I also sent a couple of more emails to a few more labs (say around 2 more) just in case and received a reply from them too. Out of the 4 labs I applied to, around 2 came back positive, 1 was neutral (which was later a positive reply) and one was no response.

Why I am giving this information? It is important to apply and keep applying and following back. Out of a pool of spaces that have potential places to take RA/intern, you need to apply to many to get that few responses. Sometimes I would apply to many and get none and sometimes I would apply to many and get some responses. You won’t know the logistics of how much space one has in the lab until you don’t enquire about it or show your interest.

In 2021, I was devastated by how many rejections or no responses I got. I had no clue what went wrong and what I did was keep them from becoming a positive response. I started doing a lot of trial and error, from writing a certain way email, to structuring my applications, changing my CVs, and developing some skills.

It does take time and while I can hand you information about the process, and structure and be transparent about the process, you won’t need to spend 6 months the way I did but you will have to spend a few weeks to months in getting yourself to the places you want to work. Some things I want anyone interested in research also to know is — do you really want to work in a research setting? If yes, you will always figure a way out to make your application stronger and it will be visible in the way you craft it. But, if you are going with it because it sounds ‘fancy’? that will also reflect on your applications.

It is not the tools that matter all the time but how you utilize does! I always remember this when I know I don’t have a lot and yet I can make the best out of whatever I have.

Another amazing important thing above all of this is mental health! A thread that everyone reading this article should read on Twitter is by Munna R S (@MunnaRShainy) — here’s the thread. This thread is perfect for anyone who also needs to understand the aspect of mental health and how taxing it can apply, especially as an international student.

His story is pretty inspiring and he follows up on twitter with lot of such threads of mental health in academia, support system to learning programming languages. Do check out his website for additional resources on programming languages and his amazing academic profile :)

You can also look into resources on the above here on my website :) I keep updating my website with resources on application, RA position, CV, opportunities, PhD process, etc.

Feel free to reach out to me via Email: nikitaghodke04 [at] gmail [dot] com or Twitter: nikitaghodke04