Drexel Interviews

I had my Drexel interviews today. I had 5 interviews with people I knew already... those were a lot of fun. We did some catching up and talked about my return. Everyone expressed a lot of excitement about me coming back. They also all mentioned the glowing letter from my former PI regarding my labwork.

I had 3 interviews with people that were new and they seem great. There's a lot of changes going on right now. Old blood out, new (read: young) blood coming in. They hired 2 faculty that started last month, 2 that will start in October and they still have 7 slots to fill.

There's a money issue right now which may prevent me from returning until next July 1st. The university has already paid me my 2-years stipend. Typically at this point, my PI would pick up my pay... but my PI is in Hawaii now. So I need a new PI. In order to rotate, I need to convince the school to pay me another year. This shouldn't be a big problem, but they wouldn't do it until the new school year starts in July.

This may all not matter because the guy I want to work with has room for me and also has just secured 4 years of funding which would put me in a position to do my thesis without needing the school's money. If we agree that it's a good fit, I could start in January. That would be tricky since I haven't actually ever rotated with him... but he was my first choice last time and still is (he was just full last time... and this time he's full but he's likely going to graduate 3 Ph.D.s in the next 18 months.)

So all in all, things were great. I got some questions about my ability to do this with 3 small children but pretty much everyone agreed that I seem extremely capable and they all wished me the best.