<p>Well, I'm a Junior, applying to Biomedical programs next year. My problem is that I don't have any actual research experience where I get to work on a project. I've worked in a lab for a little over 8 months and I know I love the environment/etc. but I don't think any programs will give me a serious consideration without actually having worked on a project. So my question is, I don't have time for both, so should I quit the job since it's not doing anything for my application anymore and find a professor on campus to work with? This is assuming I can find one that has a project to let me work on. Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Really? Have you tried speaking to your PI about taking on a project? How about asking if you can work directly with a grad student or postdoc on their project? Maybe you could even propose your own project to work on.</p>
<p>Have you tried asking the PI of the lab you are in now if they would be willing to give you a small project? At least in my case, I was pretty persistent when I started in the lab to get more experience and once I built up my abilities in simple lab techniques, they were more than happy to give me a project. </p>
<p>If not, definitely find a lab where you can get research experience. It might help if you seek out your own funding (from university grants/scholarships/work study) so labs will be more inclined to take a student w/o experience. I know at my school the department advisers gave out lists of labs that take students so you might want to ask them. Also, summer internships are also a great opportunity to improve your stats for grad school committees, look to those if your school doesn't have many undergrad research opportunities.</p>
<p>Thanks, I already applied for the NIH SIP so hopefully that works out for a summer opportunity. I've brought it up to my PI before and he sounds like it might be okay, but then it never comes up again (and I barely see him). The problem I think is that it's a paid job, and with my primary responsibility taking up all my time (making gradient gels), I wouldn't have time to both work AND work on a project. He's already told me that everything besides gels is secondary, so I doubt I could get in on a project even IF he allowed me to. I can definitely bring it up again though and see how it goes.</p>
<p>Research experience during the academic year and during summer breaks is important for acceptance into competitive biomedical graduate programs. It is also important for you to see many different types of research environments. I would suggest checking out other labs to volunteer in during the academic year AND finding a summer position-hopefully within commuting distance of your home.</p>