Alma College

CORE Research Assistant

June - August 2023 • Alma, MI

What I liked

For college students in STEM, this is a really good balance of getting experience in your area of interest and making potentially important career connections. Weekly seminars with faculty and guest speakers provide a lot of insight about what academic and career pathways might work for you in the future.

What I wish was different

I would have liked upheld boundaries about when I was expected to work. Parts of the job as I was initially instructed to do them required staying or starting beyond the supposed 9am-5pm daily interval, with no additional pay.

Advice

Your experience highly depends on the professor you do research under.

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Biology Lab Researcher

August - October 2020 • Alma, MI

What I liked

Loved working with Dr. C.

What I wish was different

Nothing

Advice

Be on time.

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Grounds Caretaker

May - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I liked that the hours were flexible and that the boss was always very helpful in making sure everything went smoothly.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Biological research assistant

June - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

Working in the field collecting raw data, in the laboratory preforming experiments, and on the computer to process data for a number of different experiments was my favorite part of this summer job. I was able to get hands on with many different sides of herpetological science and continue working on two different studies which I had been lucky enough to assist with the previous summer and spring break. I enjoy the outdoors and wildlife so working with Ribbon, Garter, and Water snakes at the Alma College Ecological Center, as well as Lava Lizards the previous spring on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos were experiences I’ll never forget.

What I wish was different

Because both studies I assisted with are long-term and on-going, I have been unable to read the final professional papers concluding the research. This is typical of most morphological, movement, and growth studies.

Advice

Don’t be afraid to explore things outside of your comfort zone. I was an Integrated Physiology and Health Science student when I asked to help with a professor’s snake research two years ago. Little did I know it would lead to me changing my major, discovering my passion, and open the door to many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

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IT Technician

December 2017 • Alma, MI

What I liked

The work was honestly fun and kept me busy. Co-workers were great and the hours were too.

What I wish was different

Advice

Just be willing to learn. And don't be afraid to ask questions.

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Facilites

May - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I loved how flexible the hours were and how transparent the staff worked.

What I wish was different

Wish I would have been able to be paid more because of the labor aspect of the job.

Advice

The communication was not always on the same page, making it hard to follow urgent orders.

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Resident Assistant

June - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I got to look out for the safety of my peers and build meaningful relationships with other students that stayed on campus over the summer.

What I wish was different

Advice

I have learned that students will have a healthy respect for you as an RA if you begin the job by setting clear expectations and build relationships with them as the season goes. Let people know you are there to first and foremost do your job because you care about their wellbeing and their community atmosphere.

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Assistant to the Presidents Office

June 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I was able to grow my personal skills and begin learning event planning and executive assistant practices.

What I wish was different

More hands on with the President of Alma College in his day-to-day.

Advice

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Conference Moderator

July - August 2019 • Delhi, India

What I liked

I loved getting to experience a new and different culture.

What I wish was different

I only wish it hadn't been raining the whole time we were in Goa, but in many ways the rain made it more fun.

Advice

Bring a hat and don't be afraid to try the food.

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Grounds

May - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

Great work environment. Everyone is friendly and willing to help you get stuff done if needed.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Financial services intern

June 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

It was a fun environment and a good way to learn about my college and its surrounding community.

What I wish was different

I wish I would have had more diverse duties and new tasks.

Advice

I would say being organized is huge skill that might not seem as important as it truly is.

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Customer Relations Representative

May 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

My bosses and work environment

What I wish was different

Hour changes

Advice

Work at the rec!

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Lab assistant

June - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I worked on the Alma College iGEM team project and I learned a lot about synthetic biology, biochemistry lab procedures, and about iGEM itself.

What I wish was different

I wish the team was more collaborative and more student lead as we were promised instead of the professors claiming to have "executive power" and allowed only one person to work on the logo, wiki, and banner for the competition and did not allow the input of the rest if the team even though we did not agree with the artistic direction that represented the project we were working on.

Advice

I would advise that people coming into this to not expect to be including in the other parts of the project besides the lab work. If you want to work on the project then make sure you are ok with essentially being only a lab rat with no say in the creative aspect of the project and are ok with being told what to do in the lab each day.

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Lab Research Student

June - August 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I enjoyed getting to understand how genetic components can correlate to visible characteristics in an individual. Outside of lab, I enjoyed collaborating and getting to know more about my colleagues research opportunities at the campus. This facilitated friendships among individuals with common fields of interests in mind.

What I wish was different

I would have loved to have another student in the lab with me to bounce ideas off of when it came to challenging topics. I would have also loved to have had a stronger relationship with those on campus within the lab. Getting to understand different peoples projects/research outside of the lab was captivating. I wish the college would have facilitated more of a collaborative effort to bring researchers on campus together.

Advice

I would recommend to any student looking to get involved with on-campus research to put their name out there to professors. If you have an interest in a particular field of study, I guarantee there will be a research opportunity on campus revolved around it. Get your name out there and build connections with the professors/students around you.

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Research assistant

June 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

New learning experiences

What I wish was different

N/A

Advice

Assuming your experiments will follow the intended schedule is not advisable

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Research Assistant

June 2019 • Alma, MI

What I liked

Working closely with a professor on a project that we are both passionate about and learning new techniques in a chemistry lab.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Financial Services Intern

January 2016 - December 2017 • Alma, MI

What I liked

It was laid back and easy work

What I wish was different

It was boring

Advice

Have the intern do more to make it more relevant and less boring

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Research assistant

June - August 2018 • Alma, MI

What I liked

The hands on experience.

What I wish was different

Advice

Research opportunities like these help you figure out what you are and are not passionate in. I found I definitely do love hands-on field work but I don’t think I would want to do it on birds for the rest of my life.

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Conference Manager

May - August 2018 • Alma, MI

What I liked

During my time as a Conference Manager I was able to work independently in problem solving situations which helped me develop more confidence as a leader.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Facilities Worker

June - August 2018 • Alma, MI

What I liked

I was able to work 40 hours and make more money than at my job back home. I really liked the people I was with the entire summer.

What I wish was different

It was a little unorganized because other people weren't communicating to facilities the correct number of kids for each camp or where they were going to be housed.