The Biodiversity Institute/Centre for Biodiversity Genomics is the IB departments best-kept secret, in my opinion! There are endless opportunities available if you take initiative.
Guelph was actually one of my top choices for my undergraduate degree. Having chosen a different university to do my undergrad, when applying for graduate school, I knew I wanted to attend Guelph to continue my studies! The CJPP program appealed to my criminology background and my work experience in the criminal justice system.. I knew this was the program for me!
To future graduate students, it is important to keep a clean, legible, and logical lab notebook! Also remember that your brain is your best weapon to succeed in graduate school and it functions best when it is well-rested; only pull all-nighters if necessary. Learn to manage your time and try not to do multiple things at once; multi-tasking in the lab can lead to errors in experiments. Finally, enjoy your time and get all the food and freebies from conferences and other events!
I loved being a PhD student here. My advisors and labmates were all very supportive of my research endeavors. I enjoyed being in charge of my own research project.
The University of Guelph is a small family in itself with a lot of support to facilitate different types of lifestyles. My ability to feel safe and learn without worry is something I have admired.
To any undergraduate student that wants to pursue graduate school, my best advice would be to study hard, celebrate your academic victories, and don't get caught up on your failures. Everybody has a story of a course they wish they did better in, or a midterm/exam that was an unexpected curveball, but as long as you learn from your past and keep pushing forward, things will work out for the better.
Graduate studies are a great experience. In my experience, it was much more practical learning to equip you with skills to use in work settings. You also get to meet so many people who are in the same field and diversify your network.
In addition to providing a stable funding guarantee, the department and college offered a number of additional travel and research funding opportunities that contributed substantially to the quality of my work.
