<p>I feel like I'm just too slow, dumb, and incapable compared to other members in my lab.
I'm not worth being a research assistant.
I feel sorry to other members and my PI for deciding to work in the lab in the first place, because I really don't know what's going on almost all the time and I don't have interest in my project or other research going on in the lab.
But it's too late to quit now.
I have no problem sucking it up for the rest of the summer, but I'm afraid of getting embarrassed and giving others hard time due to my poor performance in the lab.
Is there a way to become better and be less incapable?</p>
<p>Before starting research for the first time this summer, I thought I would want to end up publishing papers in my undergrad career, but now that I actually am into research, I realize I won't have what it takes to be like such rare undergrads who get to publish during undergrads. I'm not even understanding my project very well or making any progress; I'm just getting nowhere. It might look ridiculous at this point to even think about wanting to publish a paper.
I'm really depressed..
I just feel I'm not fit for or have the right brain for research.</p>
<p>It's okay to feel like you're less experienced than the other members of your lab. You're an undergraduate who just started working there--you are less experienced than the others. And the people who chose you to work in the lab know that. They expected that they'd have to train you.</p>
<p>
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Is there a way to become better and be less incapable?
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The only way is to keep at it. It wont be long before you're comfortable with what you're doing.</p>
<p>Research may not be where your career is headed, but if you want medical school to be where your academic career is headed then doing some kind of research is practically a necessity from what I understand. I may not be a very experienced member yet but I have gleaned some information from those who are and I have had some of the same thoughts as you about research.
Honestly, only by working at the process are you ever going to improve. I know it sounds lame like one of those things you tell fourth graders who don't want to do their math homework but we tell them those things because they work!
If the techniques are what is stumping you then ask for assistance, if the materials are hard for you to recognize and tell apart do a google search and learn about each of them. In fact that second piece of advice might be good for the first problem as well. But if you are just nervous about the process you'll have to push yourself into it anyway.
Some kind of research will help your medical school application. We know that it would be better to have significant and meaningful research experience but I would just say to keep at what you are doing.
On another note for your own research publication goals, think about what you are interested in. Then think the scientific process yourself and see if there is something you would like to test in a controlled study. Talk with an advisor about working with you. If you are interested in the material and you take the proper time to plan things out it will be a lot easier to get to the point of doing real research. If you take thirty minutes to make a list of goals and why you want do do each step and what each of them means before you begin an experiment I have found that can make even complex problems simple.
For instance, if you are beginning a basic chemistry experiment you might start by listing what information you have now and what information you want. Then list each of steps you were going to do to get to that information and explain each step to yourself and what new information it gives you. Then go through each step again and write down each piece of equipment that is needed for that step and how it is used. If you are the one writing this out it will help you immeasurably because you will get used to the process.
Most of all just try to stay positive and keep working at it.
Good luck!</p>
<p>though I sound like a broken record by now i'll suggest it (again) anyway....</p>
<p>try clinical research</p>
<p>....BUT I think you should stick with this for the rest of the summer. </p>
<p>When I started my current research job (epidemiology not lab) I was quite overwhelmed as well even though I was a grad student and was getting paid! So imagine the amount of pressure i felt or the amount of expectations I thought my PIs had of me. However I eased into it...as you will too....also as you learn more in class things will start clicking. The learning curve in research is truly exponential if you're a student. Just hang in there and calm down...the people in the lab are aware what you are and aren't capable of and you will certainly improve quicker than you expect.</p>
<p>You don't need research to get into medical school. Only research-strong medical schools will care. There was another thread on this subject, where the OP there was specifically asking about high-research-ranked schools.</p>
<p>relax, you're an undergraduate working in a lab for the first time....it's expected that you mess up sometimes!</p>
<p>The only way to become "capable" is to practice and be patient with yourself.</p>
<p>As far as interest in the project...maybe do a bit of reading about the application of the project, maybe you'll strike a nerve and suddenly find a new angle on things.</p>
<p>I think its good you feel this way; shows you have a conscience and that the resume is not your focal point. </p>
<p>That being said, pretty much every undergrad at my school who did not have previous lab experience was inept. Its not that they were stupid or dumb, but that they just lacked experience and confidence.</p>
<p>I had the same feeling when I started doing research. I felt that I was incompetent compared to the other students (ugrad and grad) in the group. As time goes by and you gain more experience that feeling will go away.</p>
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what exactly are you doing? if you're doing pcr and running gels all day then that's a matter of technique as opposed to actually thinking.
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I heard that most undergrads who just start out in research begin by mostly doing the techniques instead of having to do the thinking part. Isn't that the norm? How can newbies be expected to do the thinking when they haven't mastered techniques yet?</p>
<p>it depends on what kind of research you're actually doing. all i'm trying to say is that the OP's difficulty might not actually be a difficulty. if he/she is doing manual lab work, then practice makes perfect. it would be a different story if he/she was expected to, for example, write a piece of code that analyzed a specific data set in a certain fashion.</p>
<p>You can always do clinical research. But I would not give up on bench research. Give it some time. I would say a year maybe. Then decide. That way, you'll see a lot of stuff in the lab and see if its interested. it may also be the topic. Maybe you find the topic boring.</p>
<p>Lol yeah dude sorry.
My friend has it, and I go through a lot of work taking them to appointments and such. She had the same mentality as you, that she can't conquer things you know? And she does ask a lot of advice and ways to conquer it.</p>
<p>Having depression doesn't mean you are a retard.</p>