Jokes aside, this was a very interesting night where the herpetology club brought in a bunch of snakes of various sizes for everyone to hold and marvel at. I was fortunate enough to hold a few different snakes, and my favourite ones were the Corn snake and the Mexican Pine snake. This is the first time I have ever held a live snake before, and I was amazed at how soft and smooth they were to feel. I was under the impression that their scales would be much harder and rougher in texture, but I was surprised by their smooth, yet muscular feel. I also found it incredible how calm these animals were. For such a fearsome reputation, the snakes were very easy to handle, and they were very keen to explore everybody. Overall this was a great experience to have had such intimate contact which such a respectable predator, and is something I will not soon forget.
Author Archives: eab358
How to Nail a Job Interview
This week I went to the seminar on how to better interview for jobs or internships by GRF Seema. As I intend to go onto graduate/medical school, I would have appreciated a little more information on how to interview for medical schools, but the information Seema provided was still very helpful, especially as I do not have much formal interview experience. One of the main points that she stressed was to prepare for the interview. This could be by researching the company’s website, their social media sites, the specific employer, and/or looking up information about the position. This is useful to know, considering that in many of the interviews I have done (while rather informal) I have used a “wing it” strategy. Another point that Seema made that I thought was really great was to anticipate some of the questions that the interviewer may ask, and then to answer those questions in preparation. While this may seem simple, or even obvious, I believe it is commonly overlooked, and is a great way to prepare for an interview. Of course, you will not be able to anticipate every single question the interviewer will ask, but thinking of some of the more general questions they may ask could help you feel more prepared. This is something that I will certainly remember and utilize in the future, especially for open ended questions like “tell me about yourself” or “why do you want to come to X medical school”. I often have trouble putting some of these answers into words, especially on the spot in an interview setting, and I think that preparing this way would help increase my confidence, and hopefully improve my interviewing-ability.
How to Write a Standout Personal Statement
During the seminar on how to write cover letters and personal statements, GRF Sam broke down the key points to writing a good personal statement. As someone who intends to go onto graduate school, I found this seminar very informative about what makes a good personal statement. When I was writing my personal essay for college, I struggled to find a good balance between making my writing personal and conveying my accomplishments and goals. What I found most helpful about his talk that clarified this balance of personality and objectivity was the example essay that he passed around. The example was meant to be an average essay, with both positive and negative aspects, and I found this really helpful to reinforce what he was saying about the purpose of personal statements. The biggest takeaway for me though, was that a personal statement should generally start with a personal anecdote that is relevant to your interests, and culminate with how those interests/experiences have prepared you for the future. In addition to personal statements, Sam also went over cover letters. This was a new concept for me as I have never had to write a cover letter before. He used the analogy that a cover letter is similar to the first time you meet someone; you want to make it professional, yet also show some of your personality. Similar to the personal statement, I also found the example cover letter useful for illustrating these concepts. Overall, I found this seminar very helpful, and although I do not need to write a personal statement at the moment, I will definitely remember these important lessons for the future.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Employees.
In this weeks Rose Café, Mary Opperman came and spoke about what supervisors like and dislike in employees, and how you can be a more successful member of your organization. The most interesting takeaways from her talk were to be accountable for your own mistakes, do not make excuses, and do not shift the blame onto coworkers. I believe these are all good points, yet in my experience I have seen many of these basic principles violated in the work place. Over the summer, I shadowed a surgeon and his team on a weekly basis, and saw them do a variety of jobs. One thing that the doctor explicitly told me was that in medicine, the chief or head surgeon/doctor is never (rarely) wrong. If you are a resident, and your attending makes an error, they will likely find a way to make it your error. In general, the blame is commonly passed down the medical hierarchy until it ends up at the lowest level, which could even be the instruments, or even the patient (its their fault their sick etc). I found this interesting in light of Mary’s talk, because it shows how many doctors let their ego get in the way of their accountability. On the other hand though, I did see instances where there was a legitimate reason for mistakes, such as an actual faulty instrument. Thus, it is often hard to draw the line between passing the blame and giving a reason for a mistake. On the flip side, this common practice of shifting the blame keeps all the team members alert on focused on their work because they do not want to get blamed for making a mistake. In one sense then, this actually resulted in a better work ethic in the team because if someone makes a mistake, it could easily be passed to each team member, and overall reflect poorly on the unit. To avoid this, all members were very diligent in their work, and put in 100% all the time.
Cornell’s Gorges and Biodiversity
This week for Rose Café, Dr. Todd Bittner came and spoke of the natural history of Cornell’s Gorges, and the rock/lake formations of Ithaca in general. I was aware of some of the basic events that lead to the geographical formation of present day Ithaca before, but I did not realize the full extent of these processes. For example, I was amazed when he said the most recent ice age covered much of the northeast, and in some parts was 5000ft thick (in comparison Cornell is only around 800ft above see level). The most intriguing aspect of his talk was about the biodiversity in and around Cornell, and I wish he had spoken more about the topic. Being from New York I am used to seeing deer and other animals around, but I had no idea that deer actually cost Cornell thousands of dollars in damage to just the botanical gardens alone. He did mention that some predators such as Bobcats are on the return, but I believe we are a long way off before the deer populations will be naturally managed through predation. Until then keep on hunting (and driving)!
Networking at Cornell
This week for Rose Café Christa Downey came and spoke about the benefits of networking and how to go about expanding your network. I found it very interesting how both Christa and professor Avery encouraged students to go into office hours to not only ask their professors questions about course material, but simply to chat and build a relationship. This will certainly be difficult for me, because I only go into office hours for course help, and I do not think of this as a time for general conversation. Also, in many of the office hours I have attended, they have either been open to everyone, and so there are multiple students there all asking different questions, or they are by appointment only. In the latter case, I am hesitant to schedule office hours just for a conversation, especially if that means I may be taking away the professors time to help another student.
On the other hand, Christa also talk about building relationships not only with professors, but Cornell faculty in general. I think that this is great advise, because while the professors here at Cornell are very distinguished and can provide great advice on career pathways in their field, there are many other Cornell faculty that are very interesting and would make great additions to someone’s network. These connections can come in many different forms for different people, such as connecting with coaches, librarians, TA’s, or even graduate students and alumni. Personally, as a member of the varsity swim team, I have a weekly meeting with my coach. There is not a general focus for this meeting, and I enjoy being able to talk about anything that has been happening to me that week. While these contacts are great to have, I am going to take Christa’s advise and try to branch out my network in every direction throughout my time here at Cornell.
Trial by Jury and the Search for Truth
In the Rose Café talk, Defending the Guilty, Judge Scott Miller discussed his time as a defense attorney, and some of the experiences he had defending clients accused of serious crimes. Scott talked about how, despite the “presumption of innocence”, many times the jury, and sometimes even the judge, had an inherit bias towards the defendant where they believed they were probably guilty right from the start. He said that even he sometimes believed his clients were guilty and he was taking on a lost cause. It was interesting though, that after he spent time looking into their lives and all the good things they have done, his mind changed. This goes to show that a single event or trait, usually a negative one, can often define a persons entire existence, even though it shouldn’t. The most interesting thing I thought he said though, was that in his mind as a lawyer, it does not matter whether his client actually committed the crime – it only matters whether the jury believe they did. This is interesting because he is basically saying that the point of a trial is not to uncover the truth, but instead to establish a perceived truth; what is plausibly true, or seems true to the jury, but is not necessarily the absolute truth. I found this to be fascinating, not just about his career, but about our legal system as a whole because it shows that someone can be sentenced for crimes that they did not necessarily commit, but for which the jury believes they have committed. Although I do not have a better alternative for the search of truth, I am skeptical that this is the best and most just way to do so.