Advice for a Research Interview

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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cheathac

cheathac

Purdue c/o 2021!!!
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Hey guys! I was invited for an interview next week with a husband and wife (both research veterinarians) about the opportunities they have in their research lab dealing with infectious diseases in mouse models. Anyone have any tips to score this opportunity? I really want to do it, but with my current jobs/class it will be hard to devote time. I want this to be something I focus on in the summer. That's what I said in my inquiring email. I'm hoping this doesn't rule me out if they are looking for someone to help out right now? I'm not sure if and how many other students they are interviewing. Any advice would be appreciated!
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Definitely read up on papers that the lab has published so that you understand what they do. Be able to articulate what your interest is in their research or even research in general. Do you know what sorts of opportunities? Volunteer vs paid?
 
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@lilylilac no I do not. The email that I received was pretty vague. They are looking for students to help and may be able to take me on. The interview is to discuss the opportunities they have available so I guess we will see! I will try and read up on papers they've published.
 
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Ok, then in that case, be prepared if the opportunities aren't as hands on as you wish initially. I'm not saying that you wouldn't get any, but some labs look for students to do more of what's considered "busy" work or helping others in the lab get stuff done. But any experience is good! It also shows great initiative on your part that you seeked out the opportunity. Good luck!
 
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Data entry for dayzzzzzz
 
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Haha thanks! Maybe that's more of what I'll be doing. I currently work as a lab animal caretaker and became interested in their study so I emailed them explaining how I was interested in their study with infectious diseases in mice. Either case it would be a great networking experience. Both vets are heavily involved at Purdue. I'll let you know how it goes!
 
I'm hoping it's more hands on... you now all have me scared :laugh:
 
Ahh don't be scared...you never know until you get there.

I had no interest in research until my advisor told me to get involved with a project as a resume builder for vet school. I went and talked to the PI and our conversation involved him asking me what my GPA was and my career ambitions and ultimately he offered me a job in the lab. Fast forward to now and I've never washed glassware (maybe cleaned out some containers for reagents?) but I have been reliable and hardworking, and in turn I've done a lot of awesome hands on things, developed my own protocols, and actually will be published as a co-author at the end of the summer. I've applied for and received grant money for what I'm involved in AND its veterinary research. What was a spur-of-the-moment resume builder that I never intended to be involved in long term has become a life changing experience and given me a more well rounded view of the sciences, veterinary medicine, and research.

So I guess my point is, yes it could be nothing more than cleaning and data entry OR it might be an amazing experience. Take all the opportunities you can get.
 
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mmmdreamerz said:
Ahh don't be scared...you never know until you get there.

I had no interest in research until my advisor told me to get involved with a project as a resume builder for vet school. I went and talked to the PI and our conversation involved him asking me what my GPA was and my career ambitions and ultimately he offered me a job in the lab. Fast forward to now and I've never washed glassware (maybe cleaned out some containers for reagents?) but I have been reliable and hardworking, and in turn I've done a lot of awesome hands on things, developed my own protocols, and actually will be published as a co-author at the end of the summer. I've applied for and received grant money for what I'm involved in AND its veterinary research. What was a spur-of-the-moment resume builder that I never intended to be involved in long term has become a life changing experience and given me a more well rounded view of the sciences, veterinary medicine, and research.

So I guess my point is, yes it could be nothing more than cleaning and data entry OR it might be an amazing experience. Take all the opportunities you can get.
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Yeah I got to do some pretty cool stuff during my UG research work. Even my paid job at the diagnostic lab had some good learning opportunities despite involving a lot of data entry work for me.

Glad someone already said read up on some of their work. Some past and some more present information about their projects would be good to know. I think having a nice conversation (and maybe questions if you have) about their research, your interest in it specifically, any contributions you think you could make to the project, and relevance to your career interest and goals from the job makes for a nice chat. Even if you only pick up a couple laboratory skills or some basic research knowledge, that's something to say you know to the next PI you'll potentially work with.

Personally, I'd be judicious about the terms you accept as well. I know beggars can't always be choosers, but time is valuable. After the interview (or if you hear more about it first), consider if you're going to end up as a data slave or clean up crew, what you'll learn and take away from the experience, and whether you'll be paid or receive class credit for it. Is a line or two on a CV worth what other things you could've done? After some shadowing freshman year of undergrad, I never did anything without a good reason. I consider volunteer work to be a good reason; but other than that if you're contributing, especially if you're good at something, don't sell yourself short.
 
Thanks guys! I've been reading up on their work, it's been kind of hard to find, but they do a lot with vaccinations, more so on the human side which is so cool! It's a great networking opportunity that could lead to a LOR down the road which is what I need to start thinking about. This wasn't a posted position, just one I inquired and showed interest so hopefully it will lead somewhere. Thanks for all the advice!
 
Just an FYI (and you may already know this), but Pubmed or Medline are great sites for searching for scientific literature. But it sounds like you've already found some good papers!
 
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cheathac said:
Thanks guys! I've been reading up on their work, it's been kind of hard to find, but they do a lot with vaccinations, more so on the human side which is so cool! It's a great networking opportunity that could lead to a LOR down the road which is what I need to start thinking about. This wasn't a posted position, just one I inquired and showed interest so hopefully it will lead somewhere. Thanks for all the advice!
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What are you envisioning as hands on in a lab? Data collection can mean euthanizing large quantities of mice at once to collect blood/tissue samples and then processing those and doing data entry/analysis. Just make sure you're fully aware of what the job entails - definitely ASK what your primary responsibilities will be in their lab or what they're looking for in a new person. Some labs are a lot more hands-on in what they do but others are can be tedious data collection and then a lot of data entry/analysis.

Be upfront about your scheduling and understanding that they may need someone who can commit to the work moreso than your schedule may afford.
 
that redhead said:
What are you envisioning as hands on in a lab? Data collection can mean euthanizing large quantities of mice at once to collect blood/tissue samples and then processing those and doing data entry/analysis. Just make sure you're fully aware of what the job entails - definitely ASK what your primary responsibilities will be in their lab or what they're looking for in a new person. Some labs are a lot more hands-on in what they do but others are can be tedious data collection and then a lot of data entry/analysis.

Be upfront about your scheduling and understanding that they may need someone who can commit to the work moreso than your schedule may afford.
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@that redhead What I'm trying to envision is data collection work exactly what you're describing with euthanizing and collection of blood/tissue samples.. processing, etc and just how the whole process works from infecting the mouse with the disease to creating a vaccination. I will try and be upfront. My schedule allows for maybe a few hours a week at most, but I'm hoping they can take me on for the summer for more. I don't want to let this kind of opportunity slip away.
 
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cheathac said:
@that redhead What I'm trying to envision is data collection work exactly what you're describing with euthanizing and collection of blood/tissue samples.. processing, etc and just how the whole process works from infecting the mouse with the disease to creating a vaccination. I will try and be upfront. My schedule allows for maybe a few hours a week at most, but I'm hoping they can take me on for the summer for more. I don't want to let this kind of opportunity slip away.
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I would definitely let them know that although your schedule is currently limited, you would have the whole summer to devote to working in their lab. Be aware that many researchers can be wary about taking on pre-vet or pre-med students as they often use labs as a means to an end (resume/application boosting) and leave pretty quickly. Hopefully this lab is willing to work with your scheduling :) Good luck!
 
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As a veteran in the research arena, I feel a need to chime in here. As an entry level student in a research lab, you shouldn't be expecting an amazing experience right out of the gate. That's straight up arrogant. You have no experience, and aren't qualified in the least to do some of the 'sexier' work. Even with a year's worth of experience you likely won't be. In fact, when I took undergrads on to assist with my projects, I specifically designed their experiences that way. None of these volunteers were paid. They needed to put in their time doing the grunt work before I'd even consider them for increased responsibility. Some of them didn't like that, and quit. It was no skin off my nose- I was happy to see them go. If you're interested in research, I definitely support a student trying it out. If you're not really interested in it, and are solely becoming involved as a 'resume builder' for veterinary school admissions (or medical school, or whatever), this I don't support. Research isn't something that you dabble in. It's a serious time commitment, and the level of involvement you'll have on projects will vary based upon your supervisor and the nature of the work. To those who will have a publication by the end of a summer job, good for you. This isn't always the case, especially for longer projects. My empirical research took a year at the least just to collect the data, let alone do the analysis and write the paper. Going into a lab to get a publication is not the point. To the OP: If you're truly interested in this lab and the work that is done within, show that by having a knowledge of what type of science the research group turns out. Also, as for 'veterinary research,' I'm not especially impressed by that. There are a plethora of scientists who conduct in vivo experiments that have nothing to do with veterinary medicine. Guess why? There's very little money in it, and it's hard to secure funding. You want a research experience that is going to introduce you to the empirical scientific process. A vet school admissions panel isn't going to care one bit whether that experience was conducted 'on veterinary medicine.'
 
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Lab Vet said:
As a veteran in the research arena, I feel a need to chime in here. As an entry level student in a research lab, you shouldn't be expecting an amazing experience right out of the gate. That's straight up arrogant. You have no experience, and aren't qualified in the least to do some of the 'sexier' work. Even with a year's worth of experience you likely won't be. In fact, when I took undergrads on to assist with my projects, I specifically designed their experiences that way. None of these volunteers were paid. They needed to put in their time doing the grunt work before I'd even consider them for increased responsibility. Some of them didn't like that, and quit. It was no skin off my nose- I was happy to see them go. If you're interested in research, I definitely support a student trying it out. If you're not really interested in it, and are solely becoming involved as a 'resume builder' for veterinary school admissions (or medical school, or whatever), this I don't support. Research isn't something that you dabble in. It's a serious time commitment, and the level of involvement you'll have on projects will vary based upon your supervisor and the nature of the work. To those who will have a publication by the end of a summer job, good for you. This isn't always the case, especially for longer projects. My empirical research took a year at the least just to collect the data, let alone do the analysis and write the paper. Going into a lab to get a publication is not the point. To the OP: If you're truly interested in this lab and the work that is done within, show that by having a knowledge of what type of science the research group turns out. Also, as for 'veterinary research,' I'm not especially impressed by that. There are a plethora of scientists who conduct in vivo experiments that have nothing to do with veterinary medicine. Guess why? There's very little money in it, and it's hard to secure funding. You want a research experience that is going to introduce you to the empirical scientific process. A vet school admissions panel isn't going to care one bit whether that experience was conducted 'on veterinary medicine.'
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Disclaimer - this is not to insinuate at all that this is cheatac's thinking - but I wanted to agree with the above as a message to the many lurkers who may be thinking about research and their applications.

I've worked with both amazing students who wanted research as part of their future career, and mediocre students who were obviously just there to put the experience on their resume for med school. It is very obvious which is which. Don't think we fall for fake enthusiasm.

When it came time for letters of recommendation, I had no problem going on and on about how stunning my good students were. They were applying to places like Caltech, Johns Hopkins, etc and you had better believe I threw my weight (which isn't that much yet, but I have enough letters after my name right now to at least make it look so) around for them as much as I could.

The ones who were just kinda meh? They got meh letters. I'm not going to stick my neck out for you if I don't believe you actually gave half a crap about what was going on in the lab.

Honestly, the UGs who obviously aren't into it (or fake being into it) are more of a pain than a help, and we don't ask them back. We want people who we can trust, people who want to learn, not just people who want a bullet point on their resume or a letter.

The point of research experience is critical thinking, not just the mechanics of how to make buffers or wash glassware. No one cares if you can do that. Monkeys can do that. However, at the same time you need to prove you can do more than that. You're going to start off doing easy stuff until we know we can trust you.
 
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cheathac said:
@that redhead What I'm trying to envision is data collection work exactly what you're describing with euthanizing and collection of blood/tissue samples.. processing, etc and just how the whole process works from infecting the mouse with the disease to creating a vaccination. I will try and be upfront. My schedule allows for maybe a few hours a week at most, but I'm hoping they can take me on for the summer for more. I don't want to let this kind of opportunity slip away.
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Definitely keep emphasizing the summer work goal. A few hours a week at most isn't enough time to learn much of anything. Honestly, I wouldn't take a student unless they could devote at least 10 hrs a week. How many hours during the summer would you envision?
 
WhtsThFrequency said:
The point of research experience is critical thinking, not just the mechanics of how to make buffers or wash glassware. No one cares if you can do that. Monkeys can do that. However, at the same time you need to prove you can do more than that. You're going to start off doing easy stuff until we know we can trust you.
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Also don't take it personally, just because a task is monkey simple doesn't mean people can't mess it up. They can and will.
 
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Frozenshades said:
Also don't take it personally, just because a task is monkey simple doesn't mean people can't mess it up. They can and will.
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I know this just from orgo lab...improperly washing your glassware screws everything up :yeahright: I don't miss group work.
 
I agree with the previous comments. It does not really matter to an admissions board if the research is in veterinary medicine. What they care about is that you have deepened your understanding about the scientific process and attained the knowledge of a certain area and that you know the mechanisms and fundamentals that your research is based from. You will be helping to make a contribution to the scientific community. Also, it shows them that you have good organization and self-discipline.

Definitely read up on what kind of papers this lab churns out and, if it interests you, then go ahead with it. However, only being about to devote a few hours a week may seem problematic to them. I understand that you have the summer to do more with it, but you will have to see what they think of that. Overall, research is an amazing experience and it really teaches you critical thinking.
 
Also to stop cracking jokes...one school even told me that they value research in the soft sciences. So it doesn't even have to be chemical/biological work (unless it was only that one school that felt that way). Schools get good feels about someone who seems dedicated to furthering the medical community.
 
As I read their papers, I became more and more interested. They do a lot specifically with brucellosis in developing strains in mice and making vaccines, mainly for human use.. so very cool. By working in histology, I've become more interested in infectious diseases in general. I went to Haiti over winter break and saw a real need for the education on infectious diseases along with symptoms/treatments. This has become a passion of mine as of late. So I'm not doing this purely because it's involving vet medicine.. it's what I have developed an interest in. I am planning on shadowing a pathologist this summer too... I would definitely be able to devote 10 hours a week in this lab if not more. It's hard deciding what I want to do, I'm sure I can manage to fit what I want to do in. These two vets (husband and wife) are so involved in veterinary medicine at Purdue it would be an honor working and developing a relationship with them.
 
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WhtsThFrequency said:
Disclaimer - this is not to insinuate at all that this is cheatac's thinking - but I wanted to agree with the above as a message to the many lurkers who may be thinking about research and their applications.

I've worked with both amazing students who wanted research as part of their future career, and mediocre students who were obviously just there to put the experience on their resume for med school. It is very obvious which is which. Don't think we fall for fake enthusiasm.

When it came time for letters of recommendation, I had no problem going on and on about how stunning my good students were. They were applying to places like Caltech, Johns Hopkins, etc and you had better believe I threw my weight (which isn't that much yet, but I have enough letters after my name right now to at least make it look so) around for them as much as I could.

The ones who were just kinda meh? They got meh letters. I'm not going to stick my neck out for you if I don't believe you actually gave half a crap about what was going on in the lab.

Honestly, the UGs who obviously aren't into it (or fake being into it) are more of a pain than a help, and we don't ask them back. We want people who we can trust, people who want to learn, not just people who want a bullet point on their resume or a letter.

The point of research experience is critical thinking, not just the mechanics of how to make buffers or wash glassware. No one cares if you can do that. Monkeys can do that. However, at the same time you need to prove you can do more than that. You're going to start off doing easy stuff until we know we can trust you.
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I'm the same, WTF. I would move heaven and earth for a student who is invested in the work. Not so for the individual attempting to check off boxes for professional school admissions. I've had wonderful students work with me, and they've since flown away to their own fabulous careers. This is how it should be. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to play some small role in that progression- it's very satisfying. I, however, do not suffer fools gladly. Students should do some serious introspection before setting out on the research road. NO task is too mundane or unimportant, not even for the PI. You don't get to enjoy the mountain's summit without suffering the switchbacks first. The view from the top will be so much more rewarding when you have.
 
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Update: I was offered the lab position for the summer! :soexcited: They will be emailing me next week with details on hours and which project I'll be specifically working with (they are getting a pig and mouse project together). I'll meet with them again in person within the next few weeks. The interview went well they were just wanting to know my future goals and what I wanted to get out of working in their lab. I'm so excited!
 
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