During the last application period I did not get into a PhD program like I had hoped. I posted about
that. I cannot move around the country because I am an older student with roots and a husband with a job etc. The programs around here are very competitive and difficult to get into. Plus the budget in california makes it worse.
So I offered to volunteer at UC Davis in the psychology lab. This was in hopes that they would get to know me and next application time, I will be more than a piece of paper, but will be a living breathing person who they know and trust. I met with the professor with whom I wanted to work and discovered that my schools (undergrad and master's) were not good enough for them. I did not have a chance unless I volunteered. She left the country right after we met and we talked back and forth on email. I said I could start volunteering in mid July and then she told me there was a paid position open in her lab and wanted to know if I was interested in it.
She talked to my references when she returned and I am interviewing for the position with her grad students and her on Wednesday.
I am really excited about the opportunity. If I commit to this and then get into a phd program, it will be a minimum 6 year committment. I keep wondering if I can do 40 hours a week. But I was doing much more than that during my master's program - it was just unstructured. I could come in and leave whenever I wanted and could work from home on evenings and weekends.
Pray for me this week. I have been having a lot of pain from the botox injections (another long story) and have been having extra trouble sleeping, which makes the fog worse. I do not want to look like a dingbat. I am applying for a position as a researcher.
Sue