this is sound practical advice but reflects a bad system that can't be sustained. you kind of have to be Junior Patrick Bateman now. students scheming and figh

this is sound practical advice but reflects a bad system that can't be sustained. you kind of have to be Junior Patrick Bateman now. students scheming and fighting for UG research opportunities. this level of overachiever striving used to be reserved for people aiming for investment banking or McKinsey. it can be done and the students who do it can be very productive and actually do good research. but it's also now filtering for a very different personality type; less "curious" and more "do anything to win". not that the latter necessarily makes a bad scientist as long as they stay honest. but a field where almost everyone is like that will feel very different. ultimately, I guess, it is just supply and demand. it's in departments interest to only admit students who they are 100% sure will produce a lot of papers for 5-6 years no matter what the department does. and they can do this because a lot of people want to come.