Chile Forum

I would like to attend graduate school at the University in Santiago, and I am planning on visiting Chile sometime in June with the idea of touring the school. I have a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Kentucky and if I am accepted to the University then I would like to stay there until school starts in March. To do this I would need a job to pay for room and board. Does anyone know of any labs that hire entry level researchers?? I know that sounds crazy!! I have excellent letters of recommendation and a good GPA. I plan on inquiring at the University also. If anyone has any other input please feel free to email me, the more knowledge I have the better.

Optimus70 wrote:...... excellent letters of recommendation and a good GPA.

And fluent in the language of the country where you wish to work?

Mi espanol es muy malo, hablo espanol como un nino.... conjugation leaves me spinning. Other than that I hope to improve once immersed in the culture. You must understand, I am from Kentucky in the US. While I try to practice my Spanish daily there is not much in the way of reciprocity aqui. I was under the assumption that classes at the University are taught in English, but if not Cellular Biology is the same in any language... just need the proper libros. If you have any suggestions as to labs or work for my field Patagoniax I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Optimus70 wrote:Mi espanol es muy malo, hablo espanol como un nino.... conjugation leaves me spinning. Other than that I hope to improve once immersed in the culture. You must understand, I am from Kentucky in the US. While I try to practice my Spanish daily there is not much in the way of reciprocity aqui. I was under the assumption that classes at the University are taught in English, but if not Cellular Biology is the same in any language... just need the proper libros. If you have any suggestions as to labs or work for my field Patagoniax I wou ld greatly appreciate your advice.

Sorry but why would one assume that classes in a Chilean university are taught in English?
If you insist on taking graduate studies in Chile in March I would seriously worry about upgrading your spanish. NaCl, H2O, etc. might be the same in any language but that does not mean that it will be easy if you do not speak Spanish. Force equals mass times acceleration in English and Spanish. That does not mean that I would feel totally comfortable working as an engineer in Chile if I did not know Spanish.
Also, what is the reason for pursuing post grad studies in Chile? Chile is hardly a chemistry superpower. Would a Masters from a US university not be more in demand?
If you knew Spanish at the very least you would be able to work teaching undergrad labs and stuff while getting your masters.
Genetics, Metabolism and Molecular Biology, General Microbiology, Physical Chemistry are some of the things that go into bioChem, no? I would try pharmaceutical companies, forestry companies, Bayer crop science, etc. I am sure that in some of the big companies a lot of English is spoken. But I would definitely get the Spanish up to snuff.
Best of luck!

University Austral in the south is where the action is at in Chile for those fields, if there is such a thing in Chile.

Never under estimate the power of ambiguity when it comes to language.

I was once asked to help edit a textbook on logic, translated from English to Spanish. In fact, that little favor to the director was what got me in to my grad program without going through the formal application process.

I discovered that things like ( X and Y), written as they commonly are in logic textbooks in short hand as (x y b) can be more than a bit confusing when "y" means "and" in Spanish. Now, I doubt any of the intro logic students in Spanish were going to blow something up because they did not recognize the "y" variable for the "and" conjunction, but you get the point.

PenquistaDeCorazon: the reason for Chile is that they are doing good work at Universidad de Santiago in the field of biochemistry. Their labs are well funded and the program I believe is ranked something like 270 in the world. The schools I applied to in the States did not accept me and instead of getting a job in industry and sitting out a year before reapplying I would rather just try to go there. I am 40 years old, so wasting a year in industry is like wasting five in my mind. That being said, I have to do what I have to do

If you knew Spanish at the very least you would be able to work teaching undergrad labs and stuff while getting your masters.

This is true once I am formally enrolled and taking classes.

Sorry but why would one assume that classes in a Chilean university are taught in English?

From what I have read, there seems to be a big push to teach English. Since English has overtaken German as the International language (no data to support that statement) and since UoS is an international school I would assume the classes are taught in English. I may be incorrect in my assumption. Like I said I am going to be coming there in about a month to visit, hopefully ski a couple days, and find out the particulars.

Admin: Austral University... I will check it out, but if I return to the states with a degree it has to be accredited. I haven't looked at their program, but I will. What I was hoping to find is some job to pay rent while I wait for classes to start instead of returning to the States and then coming back at the first of the year. I also was hoping that by acquiring a job in my field of study or similar would assist me in the application process for any visa I will have to obtain to stay there until classes started. I, unfortunately, suffer from the disease of poverty, but I am optimistic.

Okay.... Thanks for the background. Best of luck in your endeavours.
Anyways, lots of German pharmaceuticals in Chile. Bayer crop science and others as well involved in agriculture. So with persistence and a bit of luck maybe something will pop up as far as work.

Optimus70 wrote:From what I have read, there seems to be a big push to teach English. Since English has overtaken German as the International language (no data to support that statement) and since UoS is an international school I would assume the classes are taught in English.

"Big push" does not equal "big success" in Chile, whether it's in the area of language or another subject. It would be a mistake thinking that Chile is well on its way to effective bilingualism. In fact many of the public school "English teachers" here don't speak English at all. I know of one case where a Chilean physical education teacher, who knew no English whatsoever, was told by the school director that he had to take on the additional role of teaching English, because such instruction was mandated by, well, a government that failed to adequately plan and execute a teacher training programme. You're going to see a lot of that sort of thing here.

Just for fun I went to the USACH website to look for a button to switch the interface from Spanish to English. Still looking...

German as international language? Doch. That's a new one on me. I think that idea was given up in early 1945.

Unless a school programme specifically indicates that it will be taught in English, you might presume that it will be taught in an esoteric variant of Spanish that even native speakers will find hard to understand.

I am afraid you may be setting yourself up for disappointment in your expectations of Chile, particularly in the area of education.

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Sin embargo, debemos agregar algo sobre el tema del valor del supuesto bilingüismo acá en Chile

Según los expertos, el dominio de más de un idioma provee excelentes oportunidades laborales y profesionales a los chilenos en la actualidad. De hecho, desde el punto de vista curricular, es exigencia para optar a muchos cargos importantes, como por ejemplo el de Ingeniero en Gestión Higiénica (limpiador de baños), Despachador de Subproductos del Consumo (Basurero) o el ampliamente apetecido puesto de Eliminador de Excedentes Moleculares Urbanos (barredor de calles).

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Let me put it this way. My wife is a professor of international law at Austral University in the South, along with some other Universities around the south. As far as we know, she is possibly the only International law professor in Chile that is completely fluent in English. Definitely in the South of Chile. Most, if they speak English at all, have likly never studied outside the country.

So, you would think in that profession, speaking English would be required. Not in Chile.

By the way, Austral University has big big science money and reputation. They are the go to school for the forestry industry, the salmon industry, and other agricultural industries in Chile, and have a fairly respectable flow of kids and professors from Santiago and around the World (I seen a lecture by Hawking there a couple years ago ). So, they got big public / private budgets, and research programs all over the country specifically related to the chemistry and biology type science fields.

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Actually, he was there because a friend of his that teaches there had a birthday.

As for quality of research in Chile, it is crap by most international standards. In fact, Latin America overall has a terrible history of research. Too much waisted money, for too many generations, on the social sciences, theology, and existential southern European traditions. Likely an illness acquired from the Spanish and the Catholic church. Reason has never been considered an asset in Latin American academia. Lots of frilly neo-marxist feel good writing (thus why teachers and students are the first to start and first to be shot in when revolutions start in Latin America). Chile is just in the last few years started to put some money in to academic research and publication, but mostly going through the motions still.