Thursday morning a few weeks ago, 30 of the most promising applicants to the Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine arrived on campus. They’d come from across the country and the world for two days of interviews, campus and city tours, exploring popular Charm City restaurants and bars. Behind the scenes, the students,(...)
About Melissa Bowman
Melissa Bowman is a graduate student in cellular and molecular medicine. She enjoys explaining science to her grandmothers — and to anyone else who will listen.
Posts by Melissa Bowman:
Depression in Grad School: What You Need to Know
Jan 21, 2016 | posted by melissabowman | Perspectives in Research |
While graduate research is often stimulating, fulfilling and rewarding, most graduate students will also experience periods of high stress and frustrating experimental failures or obstacles. Lifestyle choices, such as a healthy diet, exercise, sufficient sleep or meditation, can help students manage stress. However, many graduate students also have symptoms of clinical depression, a serious medical(...)
Graduate School Interviews: It’s All About ‘Fit’
Dec 22, 2015 | posted by melissabowman | A Day in the Life |
The holiday season in Baltimore sees a flurry of activity on campus as graduate programs prepare to welcome prospective students for interviews in early 2016. Interviewees have not yet been accepted into a graduate program, but they have been selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, and as many as half will ultimately be(...)
Four Tips for Writing a Personal Statement
Nov 17, 2015 | posted by melissabowman | A Day in the Life |
It’s the season of graduate school application deadlines, and, for many applicants, writing a compelling personal statement can be unexpectedly challenging. How can you make your application stand out among hundreds of qualified candidates? Two first-year graduate students at Johns Hopkins were happy to share their top tips for a successful personal statement: 1. Don’t(...)
4 Conference Networking Tips for the Novice
Sep 21, 2015 | posted by melissabowman | A Day in the Life |
I finally watched last year’s action flick Pacific Rim, and its portrayal of research scientists —stereotypically socially inept — made me cringe. In reality, the Ph.D. students I know are friendly and socially astute. But we tend to think of these qualities as social perks instead of professional skills. In the academic idyll, we think(...)