Alumni Career Panels
Coming Soon
Senior Graduate Student Panel
On February 26th, Weill Cornell Graduate School hosted a panel of 6 current senior graduate students, hosted by GSEC Interview Host and current student Ben Allwein. The students talked about their life and experience at Weill Cornell and why Weill Cornell was the right fit for them.
Those who were able to watch the panel live had the opportunity to ask questions of the panel, many of which are answered within the video.
Below is the link to the video as well as the list of questions the audience asked and where to find the answers within the video as well as additional links to the Weill Cornell Graduate Website to expand on some of the answers:
http://bit.ly/WCGS-Grad-Student-Panel
Questions and Answers
Q1- If you rotate in a lab where you don’t necessarily have any background on, how did you learn and how long did it take to assimilate within the lab? Did the PI have strict expectations?
This question is addressed at the 17:00 minute mark, additionally, for many programs, like Neuroscience, there is a course where faculty come and present their lab’s research to 1st year students. This is a great way to learn about labs to rotate in.
Q2- Are students allowed to have a faculty member not from Cornell on their committee?
Students are required to have at least 3 members from Weill Cornell on their Thesis Special Committee. They are permitted to have additional members as well who are not required to be Weill Cornell faculty:
From the Nomination of Thesis Special Committee Form:
The Thesis Special Committee includes the candidate’s primary thesis advisor (also known as major sponsor) and two other faculty members selected by the student with the advice and consent of the major thesis advisor. Additional members may be selected upon request. Additional members are not required to be faculty of the WCGSMS, but must be faculty at another accredited institution. The purpose of the Thesis Special Committee is to provide expert mentoring of the student in completing the thesis project.
Q3- Are the faculty generally supportive of students wanting to explore careers outside of academia/are there resources for that?
Q3a- What experiences at WCM have motivated your career decisions? What resources are there to explore/try out various careers?
Q3b- Are there opportunities to gain teaching experience?
These questions are addressed at the 36:00 minute mark. Here are links to some of the mentioned resources and clubs:
–Aubrey Leukart, Ph.D., Manager of Career and Professional Development: one-on-one coaching, career and professional development events and programming https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/careerservices
-Science & Education Policy Association (SEPA)- https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/science-education-policy-association-sepa
-The Science Communication Club- https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/sci-comm-gsec
-Accelerating Bioventures Innovation- https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/accelerating-bioventure-innovation
Weill Cornell also offers “Launching Your Undergraduate Science Teaching Career” annually as well as TA opportunities both on campus and through the New York Academy of Science: https://www.nyas.org/mentorship-opportunities/
Additionally, Weill Cornell Graduate School is a sponsor of the What Can you Be with a PhD? Career Symposium, hosted in the fall every other year: https://www.whatcanyoubewithaphd.com/
Q4- Have any of you done industry internships, if so, was it through a specific program/initiative? Or did you search for the opportunity independently?
Though this question is briefly discussed at the 40:15 mark, none of our panelists had participated in either an internship or externship.
Internships and Externships are available during your time at Weill Cornell, in most circumstances you must be a post-ACE third year student or above to participate.
Internships are defined as training experiences that must be beneficial to biomedical science PhD training and advance the student's PhD dissertation work. They may be full-time and are typically off-site. (A student can also petition the graduate school to allow an internship unrelated to her/his thesis).
An externship is defined as a part-time training experience that need not be thesis related. All internships and externships must be approved by the dean.
Certain volunteer activities, such as mentoring high school students, teaching in People’s Education Initiative for incarcerated individuals, or participating in medical clinics for underserved communities, that are NOT primarily a training experience are allowable and excluded from the requirement to apply as an externship.
Q5- Could you discuss what’s included in the health insurance benefits? Does it include vision/dental?
Q5a- How is the quality of healthcare and mental health care? What is the usual wait time?
These questions are addressed at the 43:40 time mark and the 51:30 time mark
Additional information about the support and benefits for our students can also be found on the Weill Cornell Graduate School Website:
-Insurance information: https://studentservices.weill.cornell.edu/student-accounting/insurance-information
-Student Services: https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/student-experience/student-services
-Student Support: https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/student-experience/accessing-student-support-services
Q6- Do you have the time and the resources (i.e. money) to actually enjoy what NYC has to offer?
Q6a- What can you expect about life in NYC for someone who has never been to the US?
Q6b- For those of you who aren't New Yorkers, how was adapting to the city?
These questions are addressed at the 44:37 time mark
Q7- Was there any relocation or any technology support?
This question is addressed at the 43:00 minute mark
Q8- Could you please discuss whether there will be much pressure for graduation? Also, How long it usually takes to graduate?
This question is addressed at the 50:40 time mark. Additional information can be located about time to degree across our different programs here: https://gradschool.weill.cornell.edu/cngls
Q9- Has anyone present gone through the process of applying to couples and/or family housing, and can you speak about it if so?
Though none of the students on the panel were in family housing, we reached out to 3rd Year student Dmitry Meleshko to discuss the process:
When I was accepted to the program, I worked with the program coordinator to request family housing. In a few weeks’ time, I was offered 1-bedroom apartments [through Housing] via e-mail, and I accepted this offer. When I arrived, I was able to just picked the keys in Olin Hall and went to my new apartment. I live in Housing on 77th Street, everything goes pretty smoothly.