Today I will finish up my application to Big Northern University, my last grad school app. After my sad rejection from a program I thought would be ideal for me, BNU has become my first choice. Three years ago, I never would have thought I would be working with someone in BNU prof’s particular subfield. But paper after paper out of her lab has grabbed my attention due to nuanced synthesis or clever modeling of old data. My work has slowly come to incorporate more and more of the modeling techniques and her work has driven my interests toward the interface of ecology and evolution. After meeting BNU prof earlier this week, I’m even more excited about the science – and the culture of the lab.

Writing about why I want to work with BNU prof is a particularly appropriate way to spend Darwin Day (and a wonderful excuse to bake one of my favorite cakes).