u/Chemposer

Not sure if anyone here remembers the posts of the past but I think it’s finally my time.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a program director to tell they will be reopening their application window, I missed the deadline originally, and that I should apply.

I was told that I would have to find my own funding so I just stared emailing a bunch of PIs and explained my situation. Most of them told me they didn’t have space for me or just didn’t respond.

However, one person did and it changed everything. This person does research that is very similar to my clinical work and wanted to talk to me. We chatted for a bit and she seemed very interested but told me she wasn’t ready to take on a PhD student yet.

She did recommend a few people to reach out to. In particular one PI that was new to the area, is a world renowned scientist in our field, and probably would love to have me.

I reached out thinking this was probably another dead end. I mean why would someone like that want someone like me. A few days later he actually responded and seemed interested. So much so that he wanted to talk and gave me his personal cell phone number so we could talk over the weekend.

The day comes for us to chat and I am super nervous. This man has an h-index above 150! I talked about my background and goals and he went over how his lab worked.

Due to my situation it was unlikely that I would be able to rotate in any labs before my join. Everyone I have spoken to has said that I should be doing that and not just joining a lab. He said the same thing so I figured he wouldn’t be interested.

I was dead wrong. He offered to pay my stipend and let me rotate in others lab to make sure he is a good fit. This completely floored me.

I’ve been trying for years with no luck and this gift just dropped into my lap. I’m so happy and excited 🥹

TLDR: My dream might be coming true!