<p>Help me out guys.</p>
<p>So I applied for the maximum 3 applications, waited for a week, no news and I started to get worried. Sometime last week, one professor asked for an interview. I was a little relieved until I saw the number of interviewees competing for that few spots. Got worried again because I haven't heard from anyone else.</p>
<p>Then this week, I received an offer from another Professor, saying that the primary RA investigator position I applied for was filled since last year (I guess maybe they were worried that the RA they have can't continue, so they were open to apps), but there are other things I can do for them (they already sent me the Learning Contract and are waiting for my response).</p>
<p>The interview results are not out yet and I have a learning contract waiting for me to sign on the other hand. So I'm at a loss right now.</p>
<p>I have friends who participated in URAP before and what they do for their PIs are wash petri-dishes, test tubes and things like that. The one which already sent my a learning contract is something like that, where I won't get to see data or the research process at all. HOWEVER, the one I interviewed for, I would be participating in the research process and seeing all the action happening. But then again, interview results are not out yet and with so many interviewees, I can't be overly optimistic.</p>
<p>BUT think about it, imagine you were in your future endeavors, and you were going in for an interview for either with graduate school or a job and you mentioned you did undergraduate research before. "So tell us more about what you do in undergraduate research?", "I washed test tubes, but I got to know about the research....." And there's no lying, because you would probably be asking for a rec letter from your PI who would describe what you did.</p>
<p>What do you think? Wait or be glad I'm offered a spot and sign it?</p>
<p>Btw, how many units are you doing for UGIS 192? Or is it something we should talk with our PIs before signing?</p>