If you win a prize for your essay in the Dean\u2019s Competition, it can be accepted as thesis work. You will still need to conduct the oral defence but there is no need for a written evaluation. Basically the defence for you is more or less a formality. Now, if you place (grand prize, first, second or third place) at a URS (TDK) conference with your winning Dean\u2019s Essay, it’s an automatic 5 with no need for an oral defence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To get a student perspective, I reached out to Grace, a Norwegian final year medical student and former President of the PTE Emergency Society to get some intel on her experience participating in the Dean’s Essay and the work that led up to that. She was more than happy to share her experience, so let’s hear it from Grace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: Thank you Grace for participating in this interview. To kick things off, could you tell us how did you first heard of the Dean’s Essay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: I actually first heard of it through my supervisor.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: And what department did you work with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: The Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: Why did you choose this department?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: A friend of mine had completed her thesis with the Pharmacology department with my supervisor, Dr. Gasznern\u00e9 Vikt\u00f3ria. The topic I was interested in kind of built on hers and because she had a good experience, I decided to go for it as well.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: When did you start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: I started in my 4th year.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: So it was almost a year and a half of work then, from start to submission?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yes, exactly.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: What was your topic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: It was on the expression of TRPA1 expressing dorsal raphe nucleus in mouse model of chronic alcohol exposure.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: And what was the research process like? Did you have to do lab work or examine existing literature, distribute questionnaires, that kind of thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yes, I had to do lab work and there was a lot of article-reading. We worked in the lab with tissue collection from brains of dissected mice. It was super interesting actually to participate in this manner. We had to euthanise mice and prepare samples for histological examination with immunofluorescence staining. We also performed functional and neuro-morphological examination, densitometry and morphometry. There was quite a bit of computer work as well.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: How did you balance the load of research work with your academics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: I don’t feel like the research got in the way of my studies. You need to plan your day-to-day well, and for me personally the more busy I am, the more structured and efficient I am and the easier it is for me to get more things done.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: How much guidance did you receive from your supervisor? Was she there the whole time or did you have to figure things out by yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: She was a great supervisor. She was with me through the whole process for the year and a half of work. She was also the one that introduced me to the TDK conference and urged me to present, and by the time the Dean’s Competition came around, we had enough material for me to also participate in that.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: As I know you placed 3rd in your category, congratulations! What are the perks of participating and also of placing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: So if you place, you get to skip the thesis writing altogether. Technically, this serves as your thesis work, and you get an automatic 5. You’ll still have the oral defence, but without the questioning session. It’s a lot of work with an earlier deadline but looking back, I am happy I was able to do this because that meant I was done with everything concerning the thesis work at the beginning of 6th year. There is also a monetary prize for students who place.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: Do you have any tips for success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: I’d say you should definitely choose something you\u2019re interested in because makes the work more enjoyable, and if you\u2019re interested, the extra hours in the lab or doing some other work won\u2019t feel so overwhelming. “I’d say you should definitely choose something you\u2019re interested in because makes the work more enjoyable, and if you\u2019re interested, the extra hours in the lab or doing some other work won\u2019t feel so overwhelming.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: How long did you have to wait between submitting and getting the results back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: It was approximately 2 months from the submission deadline till the Awards Ceremony. You will present your work in one of the designated lecture rooms in front of the Dean, Vice-Deans and other distinguished professors. The results are announced in the same ceremony. <\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: Did you have to do anything special to get this approved as your thesis work- perhaps fill a special form or something of the sort? <\/p>\n\n\n\n G: No, I just needed to upload it the same way the regular thesis was done.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n There you have it! For the Dean’s Essay 2023<\/a>, the deadline was on the 13th of October 2023. So you can expect this year’s deadline to be sometime in the middle of October as well. You do have to have been a URS (TDK) member for at least a year to participate so take note of that. 5th years, it might be too late for you if you are not a URS member but 4th years and below, get into this now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One more perk I’d like to add- the Dean’s Competition is a bit less expensive than the thesis, being that just one copy is needed for submission, as opposed to the two for the thesis, and let me tell you, printing those isn’t cheap. If that’s worth anything to you, then time to get to work! <\/p>\n\n\n\n The good thing about participating in any kind of student research is that you can make your mistakes and learn from them with relatively low stakes. You get to work with a (hopefully) good supervisor- someone who can guide you through the process. You make your baby steps and correct any missteps. You also get a feel of what a life in research can look like and if it is a viable career option for you. Check out my friend’s blog post<\/a> on her experience participating in the Dean’s Competition in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope this has been somewhat helpful and will urge you to explore research as a student. Good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author’s note: My sincere gratitude goes to Grace for taking the time to share her experience with readers, and once again, our collective congratulations on her success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Dean’s Essay is a prime opportunity for student researchers to submit papers and gain confidence in the field. Grace, a successful participant, shared her experience: lab work, balancing studies, and the perks of placing. With an earlier deadline, it’s a great way to dive into research. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,9],"tags":[12,17,22],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extra-curriculars","category-miscellaneous","category-rotational-year","tag-cv-booster","tag-research","tag-student-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aulaconversations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Also, I recommend getting information and advice from upper-year students about different supervisors and their experiences. I truly can\u2019t emphasise enough how important the supervisor is. The thesis writing is new and can be quite overwhelming if you don\u2019t have anyone to answer your messages and guide you through the process.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/aulaconversations.files.wordpress.com\/2024\/02\/unnamed.jpg?w=768\")
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