Brag About Your Blog

Looking to add more to your resume or cover letter, but too busy for another job or internship? Why not start your own blog? 🙂

Simple to learn and free (or cheap) to manage, a blog provides a fun way to express yourself as well as gain some professional experience. This CP&R blog is only one example. See two of my personal blogs below for some ideas:

Screen Shot 2014-05-09 at 3.26.23 PM

A more personal blog, StraightEdgeRuler includes stories about substance-free living, as well as newly added interviews from others about their experiences with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, and college life. I write it as a sort of journal, as well as a representation of my values and interests in life.

This blog does not directly relate to my vocational pursuits, but it has certainly given me an edge when I apply for writing or media positions. Many of these jobs require or look for applicants with knowledge of WordPress, as well as general social media outlets.

Screen Shot 2014-05-09 at 3.26.43 PM

But what if you’re not much of a writer? No worries– you can express yourself in another way. How about art?

Online my art gallery blog, I include relatively few words as captions for the photographs I take. Instead of spending hours on my writing, I invest my time in photographing and editing. That being said, this can actually turn out quite time-consuming. But since I only update once a week, I still save more time on this than I would at a part-time job around campus.

Most importantly, I genuinely enjoy reaching out to an audience where my words will be digested and put to use. Writing is fun, and I hope to continue along this pathway for many years to come.

What are some of your favorite blogs to follow? What kind of topic would you like to write about in your own blog? Comment below.

Ramblings from an ex-insomniac

All I had to do was click the little button that said, “CONFIRM” and my countdown to June 8 would begin.  Nervously, I stared at my screen for a good 20 minutes.  It was close to 5 am and perhaps sleep deprivation had gotten to me.  Thoughts and questions raced through my head.  What if I’m not ready by June?  Am I even thinking clearly at this point?  I took a deep breath, allowing my lungs to expand to their full potential.  Was I really doing this?  I let it out and simultaneously clicked the confirm button.  Phew!  It was all over.  The site loaded for what seemed like eternity.  What?  Another confirmation screen?  It was stressful enough to choose an LSAT location with no concrete summer plans.  Was it really necessary to make me reconsider what I had just done?

I slowly hovered my mouse over the submit button.  I closed my eyes.  Click. It was all over now.  Was this just a dream?

This was not a dream.  I officially enrolled to take the June LSAT.

Continue reading

Settling in for the ride…

With moving in and adjusting to a new schedule and new courses this past week I haven’t had much time to spend on job searching or GRE prep. I have, however, started to think about how all of my new classes will give me skills which are useful in the job market and in neuroscience research in general. In a lot of ways it makes classes even more exciting; in biostatistics I’m not learning esoteric ways of processing data, but learning real techniques that I will be using to analyze and assess my data before (hopefully) publication. In CS 5 I’m learning basic programming skills and ways to analyze step by step problems, which is sure to be useful later on in my career.

Thesis is the most obviously applicable course, since it is first hand experience doing research. One thing I’ve been trying to work on is presenting my research clearly and effectively. I’ve tried to practice on friends and family (when they’ll listen) figuring that it is important to be clear and confident when describing my research to potential employers. Today I had another great chance to practice at the JSD Summer Research Symposium. I get really nervous when speaking to a group, especially if that group is composed of people who have more knowledge about the topic than I do. In spite of that, I think my presentation today was at least coherent, and possibly even fun and interesting (I hope.) While I realize that it is a rare occasion that I will have to present a PowerPoint as part of an interview, I appreciate the chance to practice discussing my work in front of a friendly audience.

Continue reading