<p>Hi everyone,
I'm a junior in undergrad right now and am strongly considering doing a Ph.D in either biology bioengineering. I have a good GPA in bioengineering and am expecting to do well on the GRE when I take it because I had high SAT scores in high school. I also had an internship this past summer at a big biotech company and will likely go back there next summer, so I have some research experience. However, during the school year I haven't done any research. I understand that it looks better to do research and it helps in terms of getting recommendations, but am I really doing myself a major disservice by not doing on-campus research? Is it worth it to sacrifice my social life and possibly a few points off my GPA to do research, or will it not help that much? Any advice is much appreciated.</p>
<p>If you are doing quality research at a company, you could always ask for a recommendation from someone there, as well. All letters don’t have to come from your professors, although usually at least one or two should. However, if you would like to add more research experience to your CV (it sounds like you only have roughly 3 months of experience from that summer), you might consider doing something during the school year as well if you find a project you are interested in.</p>
<p>You’re doing yourself a disservice by only doing research during the summer. The off campus experience is good, but you need more than 2 summers worth so you should find something on campus (or off campus, it just needs to be more than a few months during the summer). You should definitely ask your supervisor/PI at the biotech co for a letter of rec as well.</p>