Should I leave? - Undergrad research

Graduate School
1

<p>I would like people's opinions regarding the current predicament I have with the lab I have been working in since last summer.</p>

<p>I'm a sophomore undergraduate student studying chemistry, interested in eventually pursuing a PhD or MD/PhD. I'm working in a chemistry lab (pchem), and I really used to enjoy it, but now my research mentor is very busy and doesn't have anything for me to do any more. It's been this way starting at the end of last semester, but I was so busy at the end of the semester with finals and other things, that I didn't really mind when I would come in and she wouldn't have anything for me to do.</p>

<p>I feel like I'm wasting my time in this lab; I'm not working on anything. I feel like when I do get to do something, it's something very insubstantial and I don't know how to improve at anything if I have no opportunity to do so. I have expressed my concerns to my mentor (very lightly and it did not fully reflect how upset and miserable I am). For what I want to do, I need to show that I've been heavily involved in a project and maybe even publish, but the way things seem to be going, I don't know if that will ever happen if I stay. My research mentor is very, very kind and I do not blame her at all, and she is a large part of why I would rather not leave.</p>

<p>However, after I voiced my concerns, she gave me something to do that is totally unrelated to what she's doing and isn't anything important - it is literally to keep me busy. Maybe I should be more grateful, but when I talk to my friends in other labs, even the other, newer undergrads in my lab, they seem like they have more to do and it's something that could be published eventually. Even my lab's high school student has more to do than me.</p>

<p>Most people I've talked to think I should talk to the PI and leave. I really am pretty frustrated and I feel like I shouldn't be trying this hard when other people I know literally have projects handed to them after a semester of work. I don't even want my own project - I just want something to do that's actually useful.</p>

<p>TL;DR - I'm "working" in a lab with little to no guidance and have nothing to do. Should I leave and find a lab that will help me grow as a researcher or should I wait it out and hope it changes?</p>

2

<p>Are there other projects in the laboratory that might interest you? If so, I would suggest that you have a conversation with your PI about switching to another mentor/project. Even better, you could take the initiative and start your own project. I am not exactly sure of your situation, but as a note, research can occasionally be tedious and feel like “busy work.” This is an unfortunate aspect of the beast.</p>

3

<p>Instead of waiting for her to give you something to do, why don’t you ask if you can do something specific? I know it’s more difficult when you’re still a sophomore, but presumably you have a good idea of the kind of work the lab does and what kind of data you have access to. Propose a project that you want to do in the same way that you would propose an independent study project, but scale it to the amount of time you have and what you are willing to do. If your professor’s lab has graduate students or postdoc, ask them if you can meet with them and/or tag along with the stuff that they are doing, either to help you formulate your own ideas or to watch them do their stuff and help them. I know if an undergrad approached me and asked if I wanted some free help on my research, oh boy, I would have a lot that they could do.</p>

<p>If you like your PI and you like the work that is being done in the lab, I wouldn’t leave unless the situation became completely untenable. You’re not there yet.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input, bespoke and juillet. I think I will start asking to do more specific things and asking other grad students and the post doc if there’s something that I could do before I decide it’s time to leave. I really love the lab other than the fact that I haven’t been doing anything lately, and I’ve decided that I’ll just starting doing literature searches on days that I don’t have anything to do. </p>

<p>Do either of you, or anyone else, have an opinion on how it looks to admissions people for PhD and MD/PhD programs if I switched labs? Or if it’s better for me to do work in biochemistry if I really want a shot at MD/PhD? </p>

<p>Thanks again guys :)</p>