2nd Draft of Application Letter

Hi guys! Here is the 2^nd draft of my application letter. Please copy and paste the url below to download it from dropbox.I am doing this because blogspot messes up the format of my letter ><.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11431641/Application%20Letter%20for%20ES2007S%20%28for%20blog%29.docx

Please take a look at it and give me comments =). By the way, I realize that the word "Enclosure" in my letter spills into the second page. If any of you can find something in my letter which can be shortened so that my letter is exactly one page in length, I would be grateful for your help. Thanks =).

First Draft of Application Letter

Elliot Meyerowitz

Professor

Division of Biology 156-29
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Dear Professor Meyerowitz,

CALTECH SURF Research Internship

I am writing to apply for an internship in the research project entitled, “Regulation of a Stem Cell Niche by a Diffusible Paracrine Signal”. I am very interested to work for you in this exciting research project. I am a second year life science major in the National University of Singapore (NUS), whose expected date of graduation is May 2013. I will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Life Sciences (with Specialisation in Molecular and Cell Biology).

At NUS, my life science modules have given me experience in laboratory work involving DNA transformation in bacteria. I am also trained in experimental procedures that are of relevance to molecular biology research. These are RNA analysis, performing reverse transcription and real time Polymerase Chain Reactions, constructing recombinant DNA molecules and performing DNA Sequencing.

Besides the above, I have been trained to utilize statistical programs (RExcel and SPSS) and tests (parametric and non-parametric tests) to analyse biological data. In addition, I am familiar with bioinformatics tools (PyMol, ClustalW, SWISSMODEL, etc) and techniques (homology modeling, protein/DNA sequence alignment and comparison, etc) that can assist me in performing computational biological analysis.

Outside the academic area, I have worked for two years as an administrative support assistant in the 2^nd People’s Defense Force Signals Unit (2PSU), Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). My work experience has taught me the importance of teamwork and effective communication skills. Hence, I believe that this experience will help me to carry out my responsibilities in the SURF internship effectively.

In addition, I have participated in a short research stint (6 weeks) at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Singapore. This internship has reinforced my lifelong ambition to undertake molecular biology research as a career choice. Thus, I sincerely hope that you would grant me this opportunity to work for you in this exciting area.

I have enclosed my resume and am looking forward to talking with you soon. Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely yours

Jonathan Ng

Enclosure

An Interpersonal Conflict Situation

I would like to describe an interpersonal conflict situation involving my mother and I when I was in secondary school. The background of this conflict is set during the four years of secondary school.  In school, some of my friends were in the habit of playing computer games in cybercafés every now and then. However, my mother was quite against me playing computer games with my friends in the cybercafé as she felt such gaming sessions were a bad influence on me. Her reasons were that she felt such activities might cause me to mix with bad company or lead me to suffer from computer game addiction. I on the other hand, felt that her demands were not entirely reasonable due to two reasons. Firstly, I was allowed to play computers games at home (so the argument that gaming in cybercafés would cause me to be a computer game addict does not seem like an airtight one). Secondly, in my opinion, my requests to go to cyber cafes with my friends were not excessive as I made them only once in a while, not every day.

The interpersonal conflict with my mother was basically a heated argument which I had with her over the above disagreement. Although it occurred in secondary school I cannot remember exactly when it happened. One day, when I came home, I mentioned to my mother that a couple of my friends were going out to enjoy a gaming session at a cybercafé. Next, I asked her for permission to go. From what I recalled, she replied in a rather agitated manner that she did not want me to go out with my friends. Considering that she had denied me several opportunities to go to the cybercafé with my friends in the past, I felt rather unjustly treated and I believed I lost my cool and started to engage in a heaetd debate with my mum. This unfortunately involved both of us shouting at each other.  The crux of our argument was basically me accusing my mother of being excessively controlling and illogical while my mother accused me of being disobedient. I believe I stormed off to end the argument.

Right now, as I look back, I believe that a possible solution (which is easy to say but hard to do) would be to do as Brad suggested in class. I need to be aware of the negative emotions running through my mind at moment just before the heated debate started and be able to modulate my emotions so that I can communicate my emotions and requests courteously (7CS of communication) to my mother.  Also I believe that showing empathy is important, as empathy is critical for successful interpersonal conflict resolution. Considering my mother loves me and desires what is best for me, I should have empathized with her viewpoint and let her know that I understand that gaming at a cybercafé has potential pitfalls and that I am able to manage such threats effectively in my personal life.

After reading this post, do you agree with my solution or do you think there are other things I should have done to avoid an argument and hopefully convince her to let me go out with my friends? In case you are wondering, this problem does not exist now as my mother gives me more freedom now than in the past (probably because I’m older). Hence she does not have problems with me gaming in cybercafés now.