Toxic Academia | Part 2: Getting into grad school
I cannot share my experiences without sharing about myself… context is important for understanding my story.
I grew up in a small town with supportive parents, and went to college studying... a field in life sciences. My high school sweet heart went to college with me, and we got married young. Special shoutout to the love of my life and my support system. Yes, some people do marry young and make it, okay?! During college, I took some classes which made me interested in more of a computer science direction. Additionally, I conducted research as an undergrad under a wonderful PhD student mentor, which made me interested in research and one day, graduate school.
After a year of earning pennies as a lab tech with my B.S. degree (no, getting a college degree will not ensure you will be successful unlike what our parents told us), I decided to go to graduate school, doing non “wet lab” work. For anyone unfamiliar, “wet lab” is the traditional “scientist lab” stuff you imagine with the white coats, the chemicals, and the fancy equipment. I wanted to do “dry lab”; essentially, work on a computer from anywhere. Like a computer scientist. I got accepted into an MS program, got into a lab with a famous PI, and the rest is history. If you’re not familiar, a PI is a Principal Investigator. This is the professor who runs the lab, the big boss, the one in charge of lab funding, editing papers, mentoring students and teaching classes.
Starting my MS degree was hard. I didn’t know how to code, and about three weeks in I cried so much over an assignment I thought I was going to drop out. Long story short, my class mates all felt the same way and we all did perfectly fine. Imposter syndrome is real, and to anyone with similar experiences, continue to believe in yourself! Anyways, I was given the opportunity to do research in a lab with a well known PI in the field, and gosh did I feel grateful. I did as I was told, I made friends in the lab, and my MS passed by so quickly and I enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted more. Silly me. I asked my PI if I could stay for a PhD, and after saying “No, you’re not ready”, I made it my mission to change his mind over the summer of my MS. Spoiler alert, I did change his mind. He secured funding for me through a collaboration with another lab at another university, and my project would include working for my PI, plus the Co-PI through the collaboration.
That’s the quick and dirty background on me.
XX Rosie Frank
