<p>I'm looking for research positions in energy, nanotechnology, and laser diagnostics. My goal is to get into a top tier mechanical engineering grad school and pursue a PHD. Would having 3 research positions at the same time be too much? My interest is in those 3 topics but i don't know which one I'm most interested in so I want to research in each area before I decide. but I also don't want to do one then quit then do the 2nd then quit and do the 3rd. I want consistency and have my application that I did the research for a consecutive amount of years? Is it possible to pull off 3 positions and maintain a high gpa?</p>
<p>I doubt professors would even let you have 3 research positions. Pick one and if you don’t like it, move on. There is no way you will be a good research assistant in 3 different labs. It will take you at least a semester to even be useful in one lab to be honest.</p>
<p>Almost certainly not. How could you possibly have that much time for the research?</p>
<p>let’s say I had enough time for 2. should i do it? and would it benefit my application to have more than one at the same time?</p>
<p>No. Having multiple at once won’t benefit anyone. You clearly don’t understand what goes into a research project. Do one position and get very involved with it. If you are lucky maybe you can get published. That is the golden ticket.</p>
<p>the one that i will be starting soon, i think, will be kinda weird. I’m not too sure what the professor meant but I think he said something about having me clean stuff until i acquire more knowledge idk. so i feel like that time might be wasted</p>
<p>For the most part, you won’t know enough to be actually useful.</p>
<p>So you’ll probably be cleaning stuff until you spend enough time around the lab, talking to other people in lab, reading about stuff going on in lab, sitting in on lab meetings.</p>
<p>Don’t think of it as just cleaning, think of it as a networking opportunity where you get to learn and be mentored by more knowledgeable people.</p>
<p>is cleaning considered research experience?</p>
<p>Yes. Everyone has to start at the bottom as an undergrad. Stop freaking out so much. You only need 1 position at a time and you will have to earn more responsibility in pretty much all of them.</p>
<p>I don’t think you understand research. It isn’t like ‘collect the set’ of baseball cards, APs, or whatever other mindset you have about building your resume. It’s quality over quantity. It’s how much you learned, who you worked with, how involved you got to be in the research itself (which only builds up over a long time period of experience), the quality of the work you are involved in, and ideally, possibly getting an authorship on a shared publication (NOT a requirement but that is the end point/ideal to give you some perspective here). That comes with a TON of work and hours, a huge investment on your part (not to mention a huge investment with low return from the faculty and grad students training you). Methodologies and labs vary a lot, but you know how long it takes from start to finish, for me to acquire a publication? (as a full professor, with 20 years experience and great grad students)? About 2 years and 1000s of man hours. </p>
<p>Looking to take on multiple spots is as silly as planning to get an PhD when you haven’t even acquired research experience yet to know what it’s about or whether you would enjoy a career in research. Approaching this from this kind of instrumental angle is just wrong. You know who makes it as a success academic? Those that uncovered a passion for pursuit to understand a particular domain - that only comes from experience- and that passion drove them to seek a PhD (and provided the fuel for the rest of their career). </p>
<p>Those going down this road for other reasons- unemployment or indecision, status, to please their parents, to get to the ‘highest’ or whatever- waste everyone’s time. They will not get very far along before they peter out. You can go into say finance and do very well being driven by external rewards; you can not be similarly successful in research if you aren’t doing it primarily for intrinsic reasons. That isn’t because of the pay (I’m paid very well actually), but because you will be left to your own devices for years at a time, without a boss, to be evaluated almost solely on what you produce at the end of many years. If you aren’t doing this through your own passion, you won’t have interest or ability to to sustain the necessary effort. </p>
<p>If a student came to me telling me their goal was to get a PhD, or that they didn’t want to waste their time cleaning because they had a resume to build, I would send them away because their motivations are wonky.</p>
<p>Without a doubt quality of research is what counts, not quantity. If you had 1-2 years of experience where you really stood out to your professor because you were able to focus and be strong at that one project, that is worth 100 times more than having 2-3 RA’s where you simply showed up and did some bi*** work.</p>
<p>^ Exactly!</p>
<p>I might as well ask this now…</p>
<p>But what about getting research turned into independent study. At my school we can replace a needed technical elective credit with a independent study.</p>
<p>I also would want to do two research positions. One research would involve a publication. But the other research position without the publication interests me more. So is it bad to replace one of them as a independent study. It’s my last semester so I thought I might as well.</p>
<p>Let me say this again. You can’t do two research positions. You are crazy and a bit selfish to think about trying. Pick one and run with it.</p>
<p>Well, if it was your last semester, you had a light courseload, each research position only required 10-15 hours a week, and you really needed the experience, I think it might be something you could do.</p>
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<p>I’m a big fan of independent study, especially if it replaces an elective. You can learn a lot. But you will just be treating it like a course. </p>
<p>As for “the other would be for a publication”, on what basis are you saying this? Maybe I’m misunderstanding you and you’ve already been working a few years with someone. Keep in mind that even if a professor was adding you as an author at some point, publications are not a sure thing at all.</p>
<p>Lol, 3 research positions? I have my hands absolutely full with just one…</p>