Davis Garner is a current postbac in the Inflammation Biology Section of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology under the supervision of Joshua Farber, M.D. Davis speaks about his experience of successfully reapplying to graduate school and everything that comes with this journey faced by many postbacs.
At NIAID, I am researching the roles of various chemokine receptors in differentiated T cells during SARS-CoV-2 and influenza infection in both humans and mice. This upcoming fall I will begin my Ph.D. as part of Harvard University’s Ph.D. Program in Immunology.
I’m excited to have been admitted to graduate school, especially since when I first applied to Ph.D. programs as an undergraduate senior I was faced with disappointment. I knew I was a competitive applicant by the fact that I got invited to the interview stage at various programs, which in hindsight gave me a boost of confidence when faced with the prospect of reapplying. I took time to recognize where my weak points were, and it occurred to me that I faltered at the interview stage. This came down to small mistakes I made, such as mentioning why I liked another school so much or why I really wanted to go into one niche subfield, but overall I lacked sufficient preparation for the interview stage. As an undergraduate, I presented my research multiple times at research conferences, and therefore felt that I knew how to talk about my scientific research. However, I found that the one-on-one setting felt more intimidating, and I stumbled on my words and got caught up on questions rather easily.
During my second attempt, I was determined to build on what I did well and improve my interview skills with more diligent preparation. Like my previous applications, I put a lot of time and effort into choosing schools and writing respective personal statements. I took advantage of the resources at NIH by seeking help on rewriting and improving my personal statement from the NIAID training postbac coordinator, Dr. Jennifer West, and advisers at the NIH Office of Training and Education (OITE). Once I reached the interview stage, I felt excited but didn’t want to lose focus. To prepare, I practiced how to explain my current and previous research experience on my own and with my principal investigator. I focused on how to discuss my experiments, what the data meant, and what the future direction could be. Additionally, I did mock interviews with others (inside and outside of NIH) who had extensive experience interviewing Ph.D. applicants. I felt more comfortable and confident at the interview stage my second time around—I credit the effort I made to practice beforehand. Additionally, I sought to be more proactive in driving a conversation during the interview stage.
"Professors will always ask about your research and career ambitions, but I found they were more engaged when I actively brought up potential research projects and ideas."- Davis Garner
Through this, I think I successfully conveyed my creative and critical thinking, which played a positive role in my admission.
For any postbacs who are in the position I was in a year ago, I would like you to know that you’ve already taken a giant step in successfully reapplying to grad school. NIH is the best place to get more research experience and has great resources to help you prepare a competitive application. One thing that I had to keep in mind is that I already had a strong application and that anything I did from here on out would only strengthen it. Being rejected from graduate school is a tough blow, and so it was hard to feel enthusiastic about trying again. I found a lot of support and motivation in meeting with Dr. West once every couple of months to gauge the actions to take in reapplying. She had great advice and motivating words for me each time we met.
I’m currently split between pursuing a career in academia or industry, but either way I’d like to be involved in research. During my postbac experience at NIAID, I did a lot of career exploration and even connected with researchers in various biotech roles. While I have time to decide which direction I ultimately want to go, I’m confident that my persistence to reapply to doctorate programs will lead to a satisfying scientific career.