I’m a freshman and I have an opportunity to work in a lab for 2+ years already. However, this lab is not run by a professor but a graduate student. I was wondering if the credibility of working in a lab would be lower and if grad schools would rather have students work in a professor’s lab and not a TA/grad students lab.
Thanks!
I strongly doubt that the grad student is running the “lab” independent of any professor. (Grad students just don’t have the academic horsepower or the funding to do so.) The grad student is likely running his own thesis research project as part of a much bigger research group. I promise you the grad student has supervising professor somewhere. You should probably find out who that is before making any decisions.
But to answer, your question: undergrads often work under the direct supervision of a grad student instead of a professor It’s quite common , esp. in big research groups.
One suggestion: when you go to get a LOR from the lab experience, ask the grad student to write it and the supervising professor to co-sign the letter.
Yeah, literally zero chance the grad student is “running” the lab.