BUMP

So... the B.U. Marine Program (BUMP: http://www.bu.edu/bump/) is why I chose to attend BU. All marine science majors are required to complete one marine semester-- some crazier people like me and three close friends signed up for it twice. This is how it works: instead of taking all of your classes simultaneously you take one class at a time, each four weeks long, eventually totaling 4 blocks per semester. Sounds easy right? I mean you're only in one class...?

What they don't tell you in the recruitment pamphlet is that you are committed to BUMP 24/7 for an entire semester and if you have other plans than that's too bad and you better cancel everything stat. You take a fast-tracked lecture course, must complete all required field work for the class, and then can start an extensive individualized research project which will be completed, analyzed, and interpreted within the four weeks. Each block acts as a mini graduate-level thesis and the point is very clear: you can either handle this now or a research career is not right for you.

Some run to the hills, some survive but decide to forgo grad school, and a few of us decide to live, eat, and breathe it until we physically can't anymore.