<p>I'm an undergraduate student volunteering(nonpaid work) in a lab and it' winter break and as opposed to the school year, I have more time to spend in lab but I don't want to spend my life in lab over break. How many hours do undergraduates usually spend in lab over winter break? I'm thinking max. 14 hours and I'll come into two days? Or...? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot! :D</p>
<p>As an undergraduate you should be paid hourly, so I would check with your research supervisor (the professor or grad student to which you report). </p>
<p>If it’s minimally supervised work (where you only report findings), then use your judgment. If there’s a ton of work, go in the office; if not, spend less time there. If the professor isn’t in the office, spend less time; if he’s there every day then spend more.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily get always paid as an undergrad.</p>
<p>If you’re not getting paid, you should be getting course credit. If you’re not getting paid and you’re not getting credit… well that’s a bum deal.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about course credit. In my experience course credit is worth very little and you will accumulate it naturally.</p>
<p>Not really Banjo. It looks pretty good on your resume to say that you’ve done research as an undergrad, and unless the prof is a jerk you can get a good recommendation out of it.</p>
<p>Still money is good</p>
<p>How is it a bum deal? Most of my undergrads are unable to offer very much in terms of value at the outset; it means I have to actually invest more in training them than I can get back in terms of labor/output. After a year or two, it is a different story. </p>
<p>What undergrads can get out of it is a) research training, b) research experience, to discover whether they like it or have an aptitude for it c) a letter of reference from a recognized/known professor that can attest to their aptitude, and d) assurance for those on grad school admissions committees that the applicant has enough exposure to research to know what they are getting into. </p>
<p>Grad schools are looking for those that are into research because they are inherently interested in it. When grants make it possible, I pay my students and regardless, I go out of my way to give them developmental work (rather than mindless grunt work). But I have no interest in nurturing someone in my lab who is there just for the credit or money. I’m looking for future scholars and people passionate about research, who are considering future jobs as academics.</p>
<p>I’m not arguing that undergraduate research is a bad thing - I’m arguing that it’s a bad deal to work for no credit and no pay. Credit costs the professor nothing and incorporates the research into the academic record, so at minimum a student should be given that if requested. </p>
<p>It’s the same argument as an unpaid intern. Obviously internships (like undergraduate research) is immensely valuable as practical training. However, there is a convention that students are paid for their internship experience in engineering, so it’s a bad deal to accept an unpaid internship.</p>
<p>^ This entirely depends upon what school you attend. At the current university where I teach, I could not possibly personally hand out credits for research unless the student has prereqs/senior enough to take ‘independent study’ and we morph it into a course and submit a proposal. I would if I could and I can’t imagine why a professor would not if they could, but probably they can not.</p>