It is a big challenging to go back to school.

2009.9.23

I officially quit my job at Children's hospital and started my full-time study at UC.  The timing worked perfectly for me.  I am really thankful for God's provision and I always believe that he has a plan for my life.

  

I started to work at Children's in June of 2006.  My title was research assistant III.  Basically, I helped Dr. Xiang with MEG data collection, analysis and recruitment and published one first-author paper, etc (Pubmed).  Since I never studied in U.S.A, I always wanted to get my highest degree in the U.S.A.  I started to prepare for the TOEFL and GRE exams in 2008.  I got a great TOEFL score but not an ideal GRE score, but I did not want to wait any more.  So I applied to UC anyway using my current TOEFL and GRE score.

  

I need a change and a challenge after working as a RA for three years.

  

In the beginning of 2009, I got interview calls.  Dr. Christy Holland, the graduate program director of the BME department at UC decided to give me an interview chance.  Fortunately, It turned out that I knew two of the three professors who interviewed me.  One professor is Dr. Douglas Mast.  I took his class in my spare time when I was still working at Children's.  He is a real nice person.  I liked his biomedical image processing class, which directly led me to apply for the BME program at UC.  The other professor is Dr. Scott Holland.  I knew him through my work.  Dr. Holland is a world famous researcher in fMRI neuroimaging field.  When I worked at Children's, I often met him at various meetings.  Although I did not work with him directly, his articulation and great leadership left me with a deep impression.  He has amazing personal charms which unite people together and work for him.  I dreamed that one day I could work for him and sharpen my skills.  (Well, now my dream came true)  Although I did not know Dr. Christy Holland who interviewed me, she is Dr. Scott Holland's wife.  How small the world is!  All three interviews went well.  However, the poor economic situation made the funding budget very tight, I was concerned that I might not get into the program in 2009.  I did not get the official offer letter till the end of June, 2010.  (I did get an oral offer from Dr. Scott Holland in March, 2010)  During the waiting period, my friends were praying for me and myself too.  Eventually, everything worked out fine.  Thank you, my LORD.

  

From H1-B to F-1

I had to get my visa changed which involves fees, documentations and etc.  My visa status was officially changed to F-1 from H1-B on September.11.2009.  Some of my friends thought I was too crazy to do that.  That is life.  When you make a decision, you might lose some benefits.

  

2009-9-23 --- 2010-6-12

During this time period, I successfully finished all the courses required for Ph.D candidacy exam.  This summer, I have to discipline myself and write the proposal for qualification exam in October.