Charlotte has leveraged her on-campus work experience to build out her research portfolio and explore potential post-grad paths.
In what ways has your campus job contributed to your personal, academic, or professional growth and aspirations?
I’m very fortunate that my campus jobs align very closely with my professional goals; after I graduate I will be working as a Research Assistant in Boston, and I intend on continuing in the research field and potentially pursuing a PhD. I have worked in Dr. MacQueen’s lab since my freshman year, and I’ve learned many essential molecular biology techniques, I’ve learned how to properly write about and present on my work, and I feel that I have become a much more diligent, well-rounded researcher throughout my time in the lab. This experience also prepared me to take on full-time research my summer of 2022 through the Wesleyan CIS program, and my summer of 2023 at UCLA through the Amgen Scholars program. The independence that my Wesleyan research experience allowed me made me a competitive applicant for research assistant positions, and I feel confident in my abilities going into the workforce after I graduate.
How do you manage to balance your campus job with academic commitments and other activities?
My hours in the lab are fairly flexible, which makes it easy for me to spend a lot of time in the lab, since I can structure it around my other commitments. This also means I can spend more or less time in the lab depending on my work load for the week (but I also still need to keep in mind what needs to get done in the lab!) Keeping a written calendar of what needs to be done each week in the lab helps keep me on track so I can figure out when I can be in to finish things, and when I may need to take some time to do work. I am also very fortunate to have the assistance of other people in the lab to take things out of the incubator or set things up for me when I can’t be in lab, and that collaboration is incredibly helpful in getting things done on time.
What advice would you give to students who are seeking or starting their campus employment journey?
If you’re considering joining a lab, look up the faculty in your respective department, and reach out to them individually expressing your interest in their lab. Go to lab meetings for multiple labs, not only to give you more options but also to give you the experience of hearing about different types of research (you may be really confused at first, but ask questions! It will make you stand out as someone who is engaged in the research they’re doing, and listening to multiple people presenting on their work will make things easier to understand!) Wesleyan is great because you will get a lot of guidance and support from many of the PI’s and graduate students, given the smaller size of the labs and the quality of the professors here, but regardless you should prioritize being a part of a lab that will provide you with the type of mentorship you’re looking for. Put yourself out there, being a part of research here is a lot of fun and incredibly fulfilling!
Give your campus job supervisor(s) a shout out – what did you love about their mentorship?
Shout out to Karen, a research associate in our lab. She has been instrumental in my growth as a research, and I’ve come out much more diligent and disciplined because of her guidance. I am incredibly thankful for her patience with me after I continuously mess up certain protocols and experiments, and her guidance has never led me astray!
Updated May 16, 2024
