<p>I wasn't sure where to post thing exactly. </p>
<p>I'm currently a sophomore right now. I have a formal interview with my prospective mentor tomorrow about the possibility of me internship at his lab facility on a research project over the summer. It's in a field that I'm pretty interested in (molecular biology/ biochemistry). Can't say for sure that's what I want to major in b/c I am largely undecided at the moment.</p>
<p>However, my prospective mentor kinda told me (during a quick phone call) that based on my profile (a bunch of essays I wrote), he couldn't put a finger what exactly I was interested in because I was too unclear. His fear was that I was simply doing this for sake of getting an internship and wasn't going to get anything worthwhile from the experience.</p>
<p>I admit I have a tendency to be a little [intentionally] ambiguous and seemingly apathetic about most things, thus the difficulty in expressing my interests. How do I show him that I really do want this and I am interested in it? (It's a weird question - I know, given you can't really fake interest.)</p>
<p>Also, any interview tips or things I should expect from a research internship?</p>
<p>Kinda freaking out....</p>
<p>Hummm…you say you’re a sophomore, and you “think” you’re interested in this field. You picked a major, I assume. Seems to me you need to do some good self reflection to figure out what you want to do. Where do you see yourself heading? What does it take to get there? Are you committed enough to go for that? </p>
<p>Thing is, you can keep kinda busy and poke through a lot of stuff in your life trying to figure out what you want to do. You’re better off picking one area and really going for it. Become an expert in that field. You might be thinking, “is this THE one I want?” It’s not necessarily the one field that makes it a “perfect field”, but that it’s your entree into the REAL world.</p>
<p>Same thing about most decisions: given the information you have, you’re making the best decision. You can always change later, but start by really choosing one thing. Don’t become “a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none.”</p>
<p>As for those interview tips: research the job, the studies, the labs where you might work, etc. REALLY research them. Don’t do it half a$$ed. Then tailor everything you’ve done around how it fits into what they are looking for.</p>
<p>You’re getting an interview so there are clearly things that he likes about your submission but maybe he would like to match what he has available with what you’d like to do. In many cases, a student can do a variety of research jobs but we all usually put in the best effort at things that are interesting to us.</p>