Hi there, I am asking for help to try to write a cover letter where i can highlight my teaching (tutor) experiences without boring the reader or minimizing my research experience. I was told by the director of the department who i meet personally that they don't have any positions to be filled at this moment but he still asked me to submit an application and all the paperwork just in case. I am not sure if i am inlcuding too much nonsense details or if they actually help to reader have an idea of how much pressure, work, and students i can handle. This is a draft, thus focus on the main idea and then gramatical errors. any help will be greatly appreciated.
Dr. Timothy Anderson:
I am writing to formally apply for a Faculty position in the science field at Central Texas College (CTC). I obtained my Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2008. As a National Research Service Award (NRSA) winner and author of numerous manuscripts, I believe I have the experience to help guide students toward successful careers. During our previous meeting it has been considered that my educational background, research, teaching experiences and commitment to teaching will tremendously contribute to the academic programs that CTC has to offer.
I attribute much of my educational success to the great teachings that I have received from patient, passionate and committed instructors. Inspired by these role models I decided to devote my spare time during my undergraduate and graduate training to serve as an academic and life mentor to my junior colleagues. During my time as an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico and a graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine, I actively sought out teaching and tutoring opportunities and took a prominent role as a teaching assistant in various courses. In these sessions, I worked with both undergraduate and graduate students at different academic levels to help them grasp difficult concepts. At the University of Puerto Rico I tutored undergraduate students, majoring in Biology, on a variety of courses and laboratories such as Biology I and II, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, General Chemistry, and Biochemistry. In addition, I served as a teaching assistant on a Biochemistry laboratory course where I taught and supervised the completion of experiments performed by a group of six undergraduate students. While at Baylor College of Medicine, I taught a Cell and Molecular Biology course for four years. There were six intense lectures each summer, with 10-15 junior graduate students per class. I also led discussion groups for graduate students who were in need of additional assistance on topics such as Molecular Methods, Organization of the Cell, Cell Division, Cancer, Biology of Aging, Genetics and Gene Regulation. Once I obtained my Ph.D. I moved to Okinawa, Japan where I joined University of Maryland University College (UMUC), Asia division, as an adjunct faculty. I taught Biology courses and its laboratory in a face to face format for over a year, and I continue to do so through the distance education program. These experiences not only have served to hone my communication skills but also expand my knowledge and ability to teach a wide variety of courses at both undergraduate and graduate level.
I believe my rigorous training as a Ph.D. student working under the guidance of Dr. Zhou Songyang has also well prepared me for this position. My thesis work was focused on understanding how proteins interact with each other to maintain the fidelity of signal transduction, important for normal cell function. I approached this problem by determining the specificity required for protein-protein interactions to occur. We developed a peptide based approach on an array format that facilitates large scale analysis of protein-protein interactions. This strategy was successfully used to map the specificities of a variety of interactions, including the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domain. Mutations on the BRCA1 gene account for approximately 80-90% of all hereditary breast cancer. Although the exact function of the BRCT domain of BRCA1 was not known, interestingly most BRCA1-cancer associated mutations are group to this region of the protein. We have demonstrated that BRCT domains can indeed mediate protein-protein interactions that are dependent on the phosphorylation status of their targets. In addition, I carried out cell-based screens and identified previously unknown proteins that interact with the BRCT domain of BRCA1. These discoveries are a major step in breast cancer research since understanding the functions of BRCA1 and its interacting proteins will further assist in the research and design of potential therapeutic approaches for identifying treatments and eventual cures for this lethal genetic disease.
I am confident that my teaching experience and training as a biologist and biochemist well qualifies me to contribute and maintain CTC's standards of academic excellence. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with you in the near future. I am enclosing my Curriculum Vitae, transcripts, and application as requested. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information.
Thank you for your consideration,
Hei Maria! :D
You seem to be such a beautiful and driven woman and that is something you want your essay to reveal. But, as you might already know, there is something more to teaching than where and how much you have learned and practiced. A job application will always require you to send a resume and this letter. Why do you have to send both? Because the resume is a boring piece of paper that actually can say very little about the person behind it. So, what the CV lacks you must reveal in this letter. I understand you must talk about these "cold" facts, but do mention what feelings you experienced throughout this learning process.
And I'm sure you know, that unless you're talking to a robot, communicating on an emotional level with someone can be way more powerful than any degree or diploma.
If you do write a new draft, perhaps it would be better to work with that one. :)
Good luck!
Thank you Ana for the compliments and taking the time to read it. You are probably right about mentioning a bit about how i felt through these experiences. Here is my dilemma, that at my young age ( i am only 29) universities see that as a disadvantage for not having "enough" experience for a undergraduate or graduate faculty position :( so i wanted to emphasize that but even for me sounded boring :| but i knew something was missing and there is a bit too much of everything else ;)
thanks again
Maria
Hey, it is quite impressive, and if you don't get this opportunity there will be others. I want to mention, though, that the intro is -- uneventful. In that first paragraph you plainly stated your intentions and then used the word "tremendously" to assert what you can contribute. That is not the best way. You should instead think of a particular theme to use... a concept. Let the reader think about a concept with you in that first paragraph, and let that concept be your theme.
As for the fact that you are young, maybe they will discriminate and maybe not. But you can make a winning case for yourself here is you have the right theme.
In the second paragraph you show that you have been seeking teaching experiences, and that is good, but this essay won't be excellent until you find that inspired idea, that concept.
So... what is the theme for your career... ;-) What is the word that captures it?
