I remember that, the criteria for getting in the famous HHMI investigator Yi Zhang’s lab was extremely high. There are many rounds of interviews —-

(1) Round #0: I need to answer a few questions raised by Dr. Zhang, most of which asking me about my career aspiration, scientific questions I would like to address. These were great questions!

(1) Round #1: I need to write two mokc NIH style proposals to Dr. Zhang, who pre-assigned the topics and game me 1 week for each proposal. 

(2) Round #2: I need to give a 1-hr presentation on my previous works. After the presentation, all current lab members have to fill in the 1-page feedback, at last, they have to say “Y” or “N”. Only the candidates passing a 75% of “Y” will be sent to the next round, the PI. 

(3) Round #3, Dr. Zhang will decide whether he wants to offer a position or not. It was a long decision. He told me to learn some techniques before giving me the final offer. So I stayed in a lab for >6 months learning all kinds of required experimental skills.

In the end, quite dramatically, I got the offer, and started to move to the US. I remember that Dr. Zhang told me, for graduates with the papers like me, he would not give any chances for an interview, however, it was my determination, my motivation and my strong interests in science that impressed him most, these are far more important than anything else. For that, I owe my deep gratitude to him.