Nicole Coates
What people do and how they think has always interested me. I was also curious about my own development, specifically of the brain (I was born at 27 weeks). It wasn’t until I applied to colleges that I seriously considered what to do with my interest in studying people. I was a Neurobiology major at UC Davis in hopes of becoming a neurosurgeon. Not only did I love studying the brain, but I also wanted to be there for the anxious families and loved ones of my patients. I was sure of the pre-med route until I entered a psychology lab my second year.
The Human Memory Lab, directed by Andy Yonelinas at UC Davis, was a place I looked forward to going to multiple times a week. Not only were the lab members wonderful, but I also loved everything from the research design to writing up the results. I stayed in this lab for nearly 3 years, and it was this lab that inspired my change in major.
After many Google searches of what major would combine my interests (psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics…) I found that UC Berkeley had a major called Cognitive Science. I started to draft my own Cognitive Science major to present to the staff in the College of Letters and Sciences. To my luck, during the week I was drafting my major, Cognitive Science became an approved major at UC Davis. I had the most fun my senior year when I switched my major. I was certain I wanted to pursue a career in it.
My GPA was very low from undergraduate coursework. I didn’t do so well in lower-division chemistry, math, and physics, but somehow did better in my upper-division coursework. In hindsight, besides not finding what felt like community at Davis, I excelled in classes in which the professor (or I) would make clear the importance and bigger picture of the class. I knew I wanted to pursue a Ph.D., but my grades wouldn’t allow that to be possible.
In 2018 I started work as a lab manager in the Infant Cognition Lab, directed by Lisa Oakes. This was an incredible job because I gained experience being both a manager and a mentor. I also got insight into what it is like to be a graduate student and a PI of a lab. After a year in this lab, I was 100% certain I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. I decided to get my master’s degree first, to show admissions that not only can I do research, but I can also do well in graduate-level work. I enjoyed my time at San Jose State University and did well in my courses, too. During this time I applied to Ph.D. programs, fully nervous for the outcome, but excited too. When I started to research schools and professors, I was broadly interested in learning. It wasn’t until I read through many lab websites that I narrowed my interests. I had been working on narrowing my interests for about 2 years, making sure I would enter a Ph.D. program fully loving what I would be studying. Children are fascinating and incredibly fun to work with, and their minds are a lot more interesting than one might think. They are rational, curious, and excellent problem-solvers. Children have the ability to ask great questions and come up with novel ideas and solutions. I couldn’t be more excited to move from California to Massachusetts to work alongside the brilliant minds of the ECCL and the broader MIT community.
Besides conducting research, I enjoy reading, cooking, and finding new music. I am also starting up new hobbies such as running, climbing, and film photography.
