Published online 17 June 2009
Postdoc journal
Befriending rejection
Sam Walcott
Sam Walcott is a postdoc in theoretical biophysics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Being rebuffed can be a source of strength.
A particularly memorable scene from the film Apocalypse Now — set in the Vietnam War — features Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, lazily articulating the line: "You must make a friend of horror." When I become wealthy and remake this film, I will set it in academia. In my version, Professor Kurtz says "You must make a friend of rejection."
Rejections take a variety of forms, from impersonal platitudes in a form letter to seemingly personal comments in a review. Since graduating from college, I have received many such rejections. At first, I took them personally. I wrote (but ultimately did not send) a vitriolic letter in response to the review that sunk my first paper. The year I had five different papers rejected was a low point, a time when I questioned whether I could continue in academia. But now, after I've eked out a few acceptances, I see that rejection is simply part of academia.
I recently started receiving responses from my faculty applications, and the hours of work I spent on those applications are being dismissed by a few sentences in a letter or a few lines in an e-mail.
But, just as negative reviews have strengthened my scientific writing, so will these rejections strengthen my job application. I will reword, rewrite and, above all, keep publishing. Then, I propose with confidence, I will find my job. Even without the advice of Professor Kurtz, I have made a friend of rejection.
Postdoc Journal Keepers 2009
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Julia BoughnerJulia Boughner is a postdoc in evolutionary developmental biology at the University of Calgary, Canada.
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Bryan VentersBryan Venters is a postdoc in biochemistry and molecular biology at Pennsylvania State University.
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Joanne IsaacJoanne Isaac was a postdoc studying the effect of climate change on biodiversity at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. She is now in the United States so that her husband can complete a postdoc.
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Sam WalcottSam Walcott is a postdoc in theoretical biophysics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
