First year CV advice (target: general relativity)

[YangMills]

Hello, I am an extremely curious first year student, who is hoping to get a summer research position. Earlier on in the year, I had a successful interview with a professor of General Relativity, whose grad lectures I had been attending. By "successful," I mean he said I could join his reading group, and that we should meet again to talk about other projects he is working on (the interview was done in a hurry, as he had a meeting to attend).

Now he has called me back, this time asking for a resume and my 'formal course background.' He is aware that I am in first year (having just recently finished), and that the majority of my knowledge has been acquired through self-study. I am uncertain as to what I should include.

Lastly, how can I go about asking for payment? I do not want to appear rude, but I also do not want the issue to go overlooked.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Additional information: I am studying at the University of Toronto, taking Engineering Science. I have average grades (3.0 gpa), which is mostly due to missed assignments and quizzes (from lack of interest), but is also the result of a unique problem solving approach. I have been too busy with the program to join any dedicated extracurricular activities, and have no "formal" related experience (although I have mountains of informal experience).

 

[seto6]

from what i been through, they don't expect much, a formal resume would do, i would suggest going to the UOFT engineering career center, they can help you with that, and a bit of a research on the subject would do, unless he is very strict.

Btw good luck :p, i am currently with a proffesor in the chemistry department, although i am in ECE, but i like chem and want to learn about variety of field.

P.S if i may ask which program did you apply though?

 

[twofish-quant]

Now he has called me back, this time asking for a resume and my 'formal course background.' He is aware that I am in first year (having just recently finished), and that the majority of my knowledge has been acquired through self-study. I am uncertain as to what I should include.

I think the main thing he is looking for is to figure out your level of knowledge. If you've done self-study, the thing to do is to include the textbooks that you have studied, and that should give a good indication of what you do and don't know.

I think the main thing that he would be looking for is what tensor calculus background you have.

 

[zif.]

I have average grades (3.0 gpa), which is mostly due to missed assignments and quizzes (from lack of interest), but is also the result of a unique problem solving approach.

Kinda off topic and I don't want to seem rude, but...

Get over the 'lack of interest' thing. Also don't mention that for being the reason. Chances are the prof you want to work with is planning on having you do the mindless, boring work that nobody likes. How do you think he'll feel about you if he finds out that you just don't bother with anything you're not interested in?

If he asks about the average GPA, just say, "I made some mistakes this year, but I know what I need to do next year to pull those up."


Also, just learn how to solve the problems the way the prof wants them.

Some profs like seeing someone try things a novel way and will award bonus marks, others hate it and want to be done marking ASAP.

It's your job to find out how your prof wants answers in the first couple weeks of class.

 

[YangMills]

Thank you everyone for your answers. I did not apply through a program, I just went to his office and asked him a while back (in February), at the suggestion of a friend.

The books I used for GR were 'Gravitation' by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler, 'Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications' by Steven Weinberg, and 'The Classical Theory of Fields' by Landau and Lifgarbagez. Offhand, I believe I have a sufficient understanding of tensor Calculus, in addition to algebraic topology (which the professor adores).

Also, just learn how to solve the problems the way the prof wants them.

Often times, this is very inefficient. As an example, in physics, we were once given a problem which involved a lot of variables (it was a combination of several bodies on ramps and pulleys, some connected by springs), with the ultimate aim to find the differential equation of motion for a certain element in the system. Using free-body diagrams and Newton's laws, it would have taken more than two pages to arrive at the solution. I found it was quicker to find the Lagrangian, and then use the Euler-Lagrange equations, which occupied less than half a page. I received 7/15 on the question, despite having the same answer as everyone else.

But I concede that marks may only be attained by using the established method, despite how tedious it may be. But need I follow this for summer research?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you'll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob.

The reason they are giving you the problems now is not because they really, truly want to know how far the block slides down the inclined plane. They are trying to teach you a technique. If you solve the problem some other way, you're not learning the technique.

There will be a time for cleverness, but first you need to ensure you can use all the tools in your toolkit.

 

[twofish-quant]

But I concede that marks may only be attained by using the established method, despite how tedious it may be. But need I follow this for summer research?

No. People don't care how the sausage gets made.

 

[YangMills]

Once again, thank you everyone. But I would still like to know how to ask about payment.

 

[Vanadium 50]

No. People don't care how the sausage gets made.

Yes, but.

I remember one case where a student came up with "a better way" than the one I told him to use. Which didn't work. It sure saved time, but he got the wrong answer. A smarter thing for him to have done would have been to discuss his ideas rather than just implement them without telling anyone.

 

[Choppy]

Once again, thank you everyone. But I would still like to know how to ask about payment.

Just ask if there is a stipend associated with the position, or if he or anyone else might know of one that you might be eligible for.