Bio career center - SOP, Cover Letter, Resume , Guidance

For many aspiring young scientists, success and enthusiasm are dependent not so much on the project they choose, but on where and with whom they work. Students all too often select their area of research on the basis of an undergraduate project or dissertation which they have particularly enjoyed. You may have strong preferences for certain areas of research (or dislike of others), but these are often based on the skills and enthusiasm of a tutor or teacher rather than on an intrinsic interest in, or on the importance of a specific subject area. Such choices can become ever-more limited with movement up the career structure, and lead to a growing reluctance to leave an area of expertise. It is sometimes unfortunate that a single, short research project can dictate the whole scientific career of the rather narrow-minded or ill-advised young scientist. In reality, the subject area should not matter that much (within a broad subject area of science such as biology or chemistry or physics). The decision of what project to work on (at any stage in a scientist’s career) should be based on whether the project is an important one: i.e. does it address interesting and important questions rather than somewhat trivial ones; does it aim to understand or simply describe scientific phenomena (the latter are often referred to rather disparagingly as ‘stamp collecting’, but of course have value); and, importantly, is it feasible? Some of the most exciting projects are unfortunately intractable – they are simply too complicated to be solved. This may be obvious even at the outset. If so, they should be avoided. Perhaps the most important way to select a good Ph.D. project is to find the right supervisor, university and department.