<p>I'm in a biomedical science program where I am choosing a lab without doing a rotation. I'm stuck between two labs. </p>
<p>Lab 1: Know the professor, he is nice, involved with his students. I think he's reasonably well funded. I'm interested in his work, but not really amazed by it. His lab is in a new building away from the main campus, so you're kind of segregated from stuff going on in the main building (seminars, etc). </p>
<p>Lab 2: Don't know the professor. You never see him in the lab, but he's a bigwig in the apartment. He has a <em>ton</em> of research funding. His lab is in the new part of the main building. The lab manager apparently makes life difficult for those working with him and not many in the lab like him. I'm very interested in his work, more than lab 1. </p>
<p>Given this, anyone have any advice for which lab I should join?</p>
<p>What are the respective labs like? As much as it’s important to have a good relationship with your advisor (however hands-on you/your advisor prefer that relationship to be), the students, postdocs, and techs in the lab are going to be the people you interact with on a daily basis. If you can, it would be good to find out what the lab dynamic is like – are people friendly and collaborative? Do they like each other and work together well?</p>
<p>The situation with the lab manager and with members of the lab not liking the PI is a potential red flag for lab 2 as far as I’m concerned, but if people in the lab get along happily with each other, it could be fine.</p>
<p>I see my PI a couple of times a month. This is okay because there are senior postdocs in the lab that I use as mentors. If the lab were full of graduate students and techs, the absentee PI might be a problem. What is the make up of the two labs?</p>
<p>I was pretty much in the same situation and chose the Lab I wasn’t so amazed first. Finally it turned out, it was the best decision I had ever made. Professor was great, we had a very personal communication and I got everything I needed right on the spot. Work was great, and I was more than happy after I saw the folks in the other group :)</p>