<p>Is it possible to get work done in a lab without staying every summer? That is, only working during the semester. Do lab PI's expect students to stay over the summer all the time. I wouldn't mind staying for one summer possible my junior year but I don't think I would want to stay every summer.
Thanks</p>
<p>Why do you want to do research? </p>
<p>What you take on is an agreement between you and your PI. They can’t force you to do anything but if their needs are different from yours, they will just someone who meets their needs.</p>
<p>Depends on what type of research you want to do. I mean, if you’re talking about research where you have to maintain cell cultures, that may be hard to do. You can deep freeze the culture when you leave, but it’s always better if you continue your research all the way through. If you’re actually working on a project, you could probably structure your work to finish all your wet lab work during the semesters and write up your article during the summer. </p>
<p>Additionally, if you’re just a research assistant/tech without your own project, you may be able to arrange that with your PI, since you’ll only probably be doing repetitive tasks that somebody else will be able to do when you’re gone.</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible, but make sure you’re up front about not being able to stay over the summer. Some PIs expect it and some PIs don’t. It depends on your project, how independent your project is (vs. working with a grad student or post doc), and how important what you’re doing is. When you’re contacting professors or looking for positions, ask if it would be acceptable for you to only work during the school year or look for positions that do not require you to stay for the summer. It depends on the situation, but there are students who arrange things like this.</p>
<p>However, if you want to get quality research done, it is much better if you can work during the summer. You can often get much more done, since you can work full time, which is why it’s advisable to stay if you can.</p>
<p>What would you be doing with your summers in lieu of this? Even if you don’t want to stay at your school over the summer, you should still try to do something meaningful with your summers.</p>