2019: Relearning How to Learn — Fall 2019

Fall 2019 was the beginning of the PhD. A bioinformatics bootcamp, a new cohort, and the slow, humbling realization that I was learning how to learn again.

Bootcamp

Every bioinformatics PhD student at UCSD goes through an intensive bootcamp at the start of the program. Statistics, programming, biology, algorithms — all compressed into a few weeks designed to level-set a cohort that comes from wildly different backgrounds.

I came in with a bioinformatics undergrad degree and two years of professional sports under my belt. I was neither the strongest coder nor the strongest biologist in the room. That was good. Uncomfortable, but good.

My Cohort

Your PhD cohort is everything. These are the people who will understand the specific frustration of a failed experiment at 11pm, who will celebrate with you when something finally works, and who will remind you that you’re not alone in the struggle.

Mine was exceptional. A group of curious, kind, ambitious people who I’m lucky to call my colleagues and friends.

What I Learned

The first semester of a PhD is less about mastering content and more about rebuilding your relationship with not knowing things. As an athlete, I was used to tracking progress — times, scores, weights. In science, progress is much harder to see.

Learning to be comfortable with sustained uncertainty was the real lesson of fall 2019.

Up next: 2020 — Converting learning to research →