Jarwulf

hi, i need to know on intuitive terms why roughly 68% of a randomly sampled population falls within 1 standard deviation of the mean and 95% within 2 sd etc. There doesn't seem to be any explanations on the web besides blurting out CLT or some hocus pocus with arcane calculus symbols. Thanks

Hi, I was wondering if anybody new of good (representative) practice sets of GRE questions particularly the Quantitative Portion to supplement the miserly materials offered on the ETS site. Preferably online and free with answers and explanations. Thanks

So I'm attempting to see if I can do some volunteering in lab. I have a degree already and some research experience. Someone said visit them in person but another says they'll get annoyed if you don't email them first and find out if its okay. Different things annoy different people but I assume that overall its safer to email first. The problem is I email profs and I get no response over and over again. Yeah they're busy, but when I was still in the research scene that was never an excuse for me and I'd get raked over the coals for even appearing to take to long to reply, plus the professors back then got back to me. I sent to the account of a student friend and they got the message so it doesn't appear to be in the spam folder. I dunno, I keep hearing about how academics are hard up for money but it sure seems like everybody is wildly successful if they can't even be bothered to type 'sorry no' to me. Any suggestions?

Alright, I decided to try out working in a lab. I'm faced with the choice between several labs I know little about besides what little I'm able to glean off the net. Its far from certain that any will take me but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm interested in bioinformatics/computational in the context of biomedical type work. Unfortunately bioinformatics/computational stuff is the kind of thing that is too new to have many practitioners in most academic institutions. There's one place which focuses on computational studies and evo morphology. Not really interested at all in the evolution part. There's another place that fits the bill but from research appears to have no funding and perhaps no students either. Other than that there are three other labs which are more of your traditional wetlab biomed focused, one of them at least appears to have funding and a healthy team, the other one has a younger PI who as an advisor might be better positioned to help me, the last focuses on a topic slightly more to my interest but information about it is hard to come by and from second hand sources the PI may not be as approachable. I've been thinking about a decision and it isn't easy. I've heard horror stories about picking a lab with an ahole or one where you go nowhere. I keep worrying about bad consequences if I contact/reject too many and I'm caught between a desire to probe for as much information as possible and simply playing it safe and making up my mind sooner. Anyone else experience this sort of situation?

Hi, I'm about to enter the job market for the first time. I've done many procedures but I've been through so many academic labs that I don't feel I have been able to concentrate enough in any one thing. Plus most of my recent experience has been in dry lab theoretical settings rather than actual wetwork. I wanted to know what you guys thought about my 'work in progress' resume and any general suggestions you might have to help ease me into getting my first career. Thanks. PS Sorry for the formatting. The uploading program is acting funky. http://picasaweb.google.com/genericperson12/Album#5322105148741738482

Alright, there doesn't seem to be a better place to post this sort of question. If there are any other grad students I'd especially appreciate your feedback. I am a grad student at a research university, I'm also the only student in my PI's research group currently. We mostly do theoretical/computer stuff, no wetlab. The problem is I've come in from a more wetlab background and am somewhat inexperienced in the heavier math orientation of this research. This would be all fine and dandy except that the PI is travelling often, and when he is around doesn't seem too interested in giving me one on one instruction or anything but the most general and vague directions about what he wants me to do. Because of this I'm not progressing as quickly as I would like or maybe he wants. It's difficult to figure out what he thinks of my performance since we aren't in contact as often as I would like. Even through email he doesn't respond as nearly as quickly as I wish he would. Even though he doesn't seem to be outright hostile or a bully I'm vaguely troubled by this disinterest. Normally I'd be able to rely on labmates but since I'm alone this is particularly difficult situation. I think there is potential for me to be able to chart a path to a research project that would suit my tastes in this lab if I can get this resolved. I'm worried though that this is an ominous sign that things might get worse. Because of certain circumstances I might have to soon get financial support directly from him. (dum dun dun) The last thing I want is to get kicked out or dropped by the wayside or fail in some other way. Any advice to extricate myself out of this pickle or mitigate the problems is appreciated.