<p>I posted this question on Grad School forum but got only one response so I post her again!</p>
<p>I'm a rising senior majoring in chemistry and minoring in mathematics.
Eventually I want to get a non-thesis Master's degree in Chemical Engineering and work as a chemical engineer. I just like the macroscopic approach of chemical engineering rather than chemistry. I'm not interested in doing research for my career.</p>
<p>This summer I contacted a Professor and asked him if I can work in his lab this fall because I wanted to do something during academic semesters, preferably on campus. I can't get paid and can only get 3 credit hours because he doesn't have enough funding. My concern is that I have to be in the lab 20 hours per week, and also go to a weekly group meeint. It's a bit too time consuming to me, and when I talked about this the Prof. told me I can come less hours, though I'll be doing more of a grunt work in that case. Is this even a good idea to work in his lab? Should I try to find an internship in engineering? I feel like I'll be wasting time this fall if I don't do any of them.</p>
<p>I think I have two choices.</p>
<p>1) Work 20 hours a week and get a good recommendation letter from the Professor by doing this</p>
<p>2) Just work in the lab fewer than 20 hours, doing minor work as he suggested since I still can put it on my resume. Work another job that at the same time. Get a recommendation letter from the professor by taking his class (upper level chemistry)</p>
<p>Will having this one year of research experience be useful even if I want to get course-based Master's degree?</p>
<p>Please help me!</p>