csbi prospective student interviews
March 15th, 2006 by Lawrence David
got to host some prospective csbi phd students today. it was quite exciting – i sat on my very first grad student panel. dinner was also fun (although embarrassingly implemented). it seems that no one was sure who was actually in charge of organizing the outing. luckily, on something of a lark, i had made dinner reservations for 15 at the midwest grill – a local “meat palace” where they serve an all-you-can-eat brazilian bbq. i didn’t think anyone would be interested in gorging themselves, aside from jesse and i.
ultimately, it turned out that more than half of the prospective students chose to eat there. surprising, given that their other option was a swanky dinner in boston. the turnout gave me confidence in next year’s class: i’ve generally equated meat-loving with upstanding character.
i noticed that i especially enjoyed dinner (for reasons aside from the unending stream of meat). it was just really fun to try and help out the prospectives figure out what kind of graduate program would fit them well. i myself agonized over that same decision exactly one year ago; i found it somehow fulfilling to act in the opposite role.
as a bonus, the prospectives forced me to do a lot of introspection; they kept asking: “was i happy here?” i called this a bonus since i realized that indeed, i am really happy here. i would go sofar as to say things are borderline blissful: i get to take interesting classes, hang out in labs, and chill out with christina at night. life is good. heh, i must’ve come off as such a cheeseball.
