Student blogs

Hi everyone! I wanted to share with you the third installment of my semester reflections during the two years of my Master’s programme in Molecular Techniques in Life Sciences (MTLS). It is a very unique experience where each of the first three semesters are conducted at a different school in the 3 participating universities of the Stockholm Trio: Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm University (SU) and KTH. Today I will be sharing specifically about the third semester at KTH, speaking on:

• Changes in structure from the previous two schools
• Doing hands on research in a lab group
• Final moments before starting on the thesis/degree project in the next semester.
• Advice for the past me!

Remember to check out the programme description for any changes made since my own experience here!

Adjusting to the changes in schedule and structure of the courses

Every semester in our joint programme invites change in the most obvious way: changing schools. Yet this third semester at KTH brought the most changes in our schedule and structure. Unlike the semester at KI and the semester at SU, this semester is the first one to have two concurrent courses, split into two distinct periods. Previously, there were only slight overlaps, but the timetable primarily kept to a single course at a time. Ironically, the previous arrangement initially took its own adjustment and yet once I had started with simultaneous courses again, I started to miss the single courses timeline.

On top of having this new timetable structure, we were also presented with the option of choosing courses for the first time as electives. Having spoken about this before in previous blog posts, I will not go into details. Prior to the beginning of the academic semester, you can choose two out of three courses to attend for the second period of the semester: the Project course, Drug Development and Systems Biology where I picked the first two. In having different options, it is natural that the class members also rearranged for the first time. You can now have a course either with classmates from a different major (Drug Development and Systems Biology) or you would be conducting research as a member of a research group (Project Course).  

Learning hands on research

Probably the most notable change in the third semester is the 10-week research project. Many aspects were different: people, setting, expectations and workload. Do not let the large number 10 fool you, those 10 weeks fly by quickly especially considering that those 10 weeks include the Christmas and New year weeks.

Rather than learning from a lecture slide or a textbook, I could properly learn hands on research techniques. While I have had previous research experience, the project I sought took me to new practical and technical realms. I had consciously aimed to bring the new theoretical knowledge I learnt from the classes (like Applied Proteomics) into the laboratory setting. Here, I was not only looking at Mass spectrometry produced data from online databases but producing my own Mass spectrometry data. Was it easy? Not at all. Amidst the mistakes, conversations with my supervisor, the lab meetings and zooming into the Drug development class in long incubation periods, I was undeniably learning.

Savoring the “last” moments in the second year of the programme

While the KTH semester is technically just the third semester out of four in the two year programme, the end of semester carried with it a sense finality as well. It did not end with the fanfare of a last celebration or any mass farewell because in theory we had more time. Right? Yet, the finality seeps into quiet moments of appreciation and perhaps even in hindsight. It was the last time I would have regular classes with my classmates that I had seen almost every weekday for over a year. It was the last time I would even have lectures in this programme at all. There was a solidarity in both thriving and struggling together on the same exact topic and being able to express a problem that 33 other people knew exactly which slide I was referring to in the lecture.

Advice to the me in August: Find the equilibrium between “firsts” and “lasts”

Writing this blog made me notice the balance of both beginnings and ends in the semester. Just as there were “firsts” in this semester (like learning new techniques), there were similarly lasts. In a parallel and cyclical nature, those two will always coexist.

In between the stress of making mistakes or taking time to learn a new protocol for the new project course, find the comfort of familiarity in doing a lecture based course (something you’ve been doing for more than a year) for the last few weeks. On the flip side, during moments of savoring the last classes with friends, take the time to plan for the next “first”, such as reaching out to research groups or planning for post-graduate options.

We must dedicate attention to both states. In times of stress and anxiety in one state, find reprieve or excitement within the other state.

Hopefully, this offers a snapshot of my thoughts on the KTH semester of the MTLS programme. If you are just interested in any of KI’s Master’s programme, I hope that this blog also offers a reflective exploration of a 2^nd year Master’s student’s experience. Check out other blogs that talk about their semester reflections from different programmes as well like from Wendy or from Luis!