<p>hey guys I am becoming a junior in UC Berkeley, and I am a molecular and cell biology major. I know that the research experience would be extremely important if I want to apply for grad school, and I do have a research position in one of Cal's labs. However, the biggest problem i have is that the research i have now is more about parasitism, namely more about integral biology, which is somewhat different from my major/intended grad school programs. Would that affect my grad school app if I want to get in really top grad programs?</p>
<p>The other problem is that my mentor is a grad student, and now we are pretty much working on his dissertation. my friends say that working for that is worthless. is it true? and btw, how hard is it to get published? I know getting published is extremely helpful for grad school app but is it hard for a undergrad to be published?</p>
<p>What is your intended grad programs? (What do you mean by “integral biology”?) If you have a grad student mentor and are working on his dissertation - how much can you really “own” the project? You want a project that’s yours. Do you know the PI enough? The rec from the PI is what really counts in grad school admissions. If you don’t think you have/can get a project (or piece) that you can have some ownership over -perhaps think of finding a new lab if you feel that you aren’t breaking a commitment you made to this lab (perhaps before the next school year starts - finish out the summer?? I don’t know what the lab expects of you). It’s hard to get published as an undergrad - especially in a respected journal. Having a publication by the time you apply is wonderful - but not many have any (but writing something like a thesis, presenting your work at an UG conference, etc. is great too and much more achievable as it depends more on you working really hard than getting publishable results that are accepted by review committees…)</p>
<p>LAC operon:
Sorry its “integrative” biology, which focuses on ecology, evolution, morphology, physiology…etc. My current aim is to apply for immunology phd programs, which is also my emphasis of the molecular and cellular biology major. </p>
<p>I have been working for the lab for over six months(spring+summer 2010). Mostly the work i’ve been doing is not bad for an undergrad, basically the same task(helping) as my grad student, but i rarely evolve in the ideas behind the work i am doing. Also I am not familiar with the professor(who i assume is who you refer as PI, sorry i am new to the forum) at all. (now i guess this is a pretty dire situation…)</p>
<p>the reason i havent been involved with research is the coursework has already taken most of my time. While I do have a nice gpa now(~3.9), my research experience is relatively scarce. do you think that i should switch my direction to be more research oriented?</p>
<p>Really LAC Operon thanks alot for your reply :D</p>