gosh, i know how you feel. when I first started labwork, I feel like going crazy for the first four month, I can even do the normal routine protocol right...most of the time is because of simple silly reason. after one puzzle down, another one puzzle come to break you motivation down. It's not that bad. I love the working hours. postgrad (i'm doing MSc tho) is nice, feels liike being payed for studying.

Mine funded by government grant I believe. yeah, it's government grant. But my living expenses and school fees funded by uni itself. (i'm count? because i only MSc...lol)

Should not be a problem, my master thesis is sort continuation of my undergrad thesis + continuation of previous MSc students + whole lot of new stuffs that makes me feels so small cos i dunno so much.

Yeap, I'm doing research for MSc, I still want to study, but hate going for classes. yeah...i like "playing" the game too. My supervisor once said "Face ur fear...the reward is sweet".

Hmmmm,

as postgrad (still MSc) in IPTA, honestly, the perception that the lecturer/supervisor are pigs (lazy) not entirely true, four years spent in public, I only experience 2-3 lecturer that really pissed me off. They shouldn't teach, easy said. However majority of the academic staffs are respectable characters. I adore my supervisor, he's basically my role model.
Talking as biotech postgrad (VMSmith already explain on behalf IT), I'm doing research for master degree. Even tho public uni better funded, however, again, it really depends on the lab leader (normally here, it's the supervisor). I don't how my supervisor do it, he manage to ensure the lab well equipped. Still, we have areas to improve. Here in UNIMAS, choices for Master degree (research) quite a lot. We have from very upstream application (genetic engineering) to downstream (fermentation technology).

yeah, agree on that too...my mentor during graduate years complaining on how little time he spent for lab works.

LOL

anyway,

BS (Bachelor) =Bullshit
MSc (Master) = More shit
PhD = Piled higher and deeper

yeah, good, sadly is not original. Kinda well established joke in the english speaking countries.

Anyone here familiar with the PhD comic?

yeah, it's more to inside jokes for postgrad students. http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php a lot of postgrad students can relate to the comic and it's kinda a therapy to know you're not suffering postgrad alone...lol

just remember another lil joke, PhD=permenant head damage

another place to waste my time...and I have progress report to submit this friday...lol

thanks, agarose pic back when I'm doing my undergraduate final year project, use the pic as banner for the blog i make to help undergraduate with lab practical...and finally use it as my avatar. reminiscing on how hard to make agarose gel when i first started

so far how's the results? interested to know

The thing about public uni in malaysia, they like to rush the student. Grad A.S.A.P, I feel rushed when i'm doing my undergrad study, one sem, I have too many classes to attend, sometimes i don't have time to eat until almost midnight.

About time, student should take their time (not too long of course). The thing with research study, the subject have mind of their own....results like chipsmore, sekejap ada, sekejap takda. I think two years is adequate for research (MSc) however, this does not include writing. IMO, 3 years for PhD is too short.

hehe, yeah, i you can finish it early, then it's a good thing. But don't be too absorbed with the study/ research. There's alot more to learn during postgrad study.

Like my lab colleague, she supposed to finish her MSc research around this time. Somehow, my supervisor still want her to do more work, they working on upgrading her MSc to PhD.

One of my senior, he takes such a long time for MSc writing. He finish his research more than a year ago. But, I think my supervisor is okay with it.

Well, actually Unimas not that flexible. They have the same kind of rules that UKM have. But for biotech, research mode MSc only available. I think because of that, eligibility for conversion can be a bit subjective. My lab colleague a bit skeptic about the conversion. She said the process might take too long that she convo first before they approve it.

Yeah, our lab didn't have postdocs too, so the new MSc will learn from the more senior MSc, usually only 1 years difference. Our lab not so lousy i can say, but I think most of us (in that lab) are child of the 80's when it comes molecular biology technique. I still use the old school ways to do stuff, that really helps with understanding the fundamental of the particular protocol. I still use 1st generation PCR machine. Furthermore, it's cheaper compared to depending on kits all the time. Try to teach the undergrads under my supervision/care that it's not all about the results, but acquiring the skills and techniques, apparently, they don't get it, they are too pampered.

If it were up to me, i also don't want to upgrade, because i like to do my PhD overseas, after all, i'm still not ready for PhD level of responsibilities.

Of course. Talking about conventional spectrophotometer, I rarely use it, most of the time i rely on agarose gel image and deduce from that. After two years doing lab works, I learn the accuracy and precision sometimes not really that important. I use my laptop on the bench all the time, because the postgrad room didn't have wireless connection. Never heard of nanodrop spectrophotometer before...

*Google 'nanodrop spectrophotometer' and go "oh~~~~"*

This post has been edited by Sargeant Pepper: Jul 14 2010, 09:06 AM

hahaha...where you got that from?

LOL...here master students need to publish at least two papers to graduate you see (not sure other uni). Conversion to PhD actually helps them (supervisor and students) in a way. It saves time and cost. The continuity helps the research too. If supervisor can get a PhD student in 5 years after undergrad study, compared to master (2.5years)+ phd (5years) then only get a phd graduate, surely the supervisor supports the conversion. The only problem is whether the administration approve it or not. Supervisors are human, I know some supervisor can be mean, but a lot of them also caring, they even help with getting accommodation in uni. They do give a shit about the students.