Research Labs

[islandboy401]

For those of you undergraduates who work in research labs (for pay or for credit), how many hours a week do you work (during semesters in which you actually have class).

Do you think this is average, more than average, or less than average.

What subject area is it (e.g., physics, biology, chemistry, biochem, etc)?

How many credits are you usually taking during that time?

I just want to get an idea of where everyone is, and what will be required of me if I choose to do research next year.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Rcu]

I assume you mean doing research as an undergraduate.
I am a graduate student working on my Ph.D. in analytical chemistry. The undergraduates that work in our research lab usually work 3-6 hours/week (1-2 afternoons/week). I think this is average. All of them also have a full courseload, 15 hours at least. Most are honor students and have to present their research at the end of the semester.

 

[islandboy401]

Yes, I meant undergraduate. Sorry about that. I have edited the question.

 

[Pharmdapp87]

I work in research lab right now and the amount of hours you work while carrying your course load will ultimately be settled upon conversing with your PI.

I joined the lab and started volunteering at the beginning of sophomore year and shadowed for 9 hours a week. When the summer arrived I started working another part time job. At the very beginning of my junior year before classes started she offered me a job working 20 hours a week. Since then I have been carrying 12-14 hours a semester, not to mention extracurricular activities. My lab is in the pharmacodynamics department working on ways to treat glaucoma and I have a paper out and aiming for a second by the end of this summer before pharmacy school matriculation (mostly biochemistry studies).

If you get research anywhere I strongly recommend biochemistry related research for 2 reasons. A.) Because pharmacy school is a lot of biochem and B.) The calculations you'll be executing there will come in handy. I can assure you, you'll be very comfortable once you settle into pharmacy school! If you don't get into the biochem field then no sweat, any research in science related fields will help improve your critical thiking skills, time management and ability to think on your feet. I'm not sure how many offers you will recieve for getting a paid job in a research lab without any experience, so if you can even get a volunteering position I'd say take it.

Best wishes!

 

[ADN1226]

When I did undergrad research for credit it was 3credits and 3hrs per credit so 9hrs/week. So I basically went in the lab 3x/week. I had around 15credits not counting the 3 research credit.

I'm a P1 now and its hard to fit in research but I do 3hrs/week (volunteer)... its pretty nice bc I come into the lab and work on 1 or 2 experiments during the 3hrs then i'm done. In undergrad I would have to help out with making solutions etc. but now since I only have 3hrs... i'm learning new techniques and just working on my own experiment on my own time... then again, my PI is pretty flexible so that helps.

And yes, I def recommend doing biochem research bc its helpful... we've had a couple of lectures in biochem and molecular bio where we learn about lab techniques... and since i've done most of them... that was easy for me. Plus it got me really interested in cancer so i'm leaning toward working in industry or specializing in oncology but we'll see.

My undergrad research was on the etiology of melanoma... I worked on transcription factors and tried to find which trxn factors were responsible for melanoma. Now i'm working on troglitazone - a diabetes drug pulled off the market bc of increased in heart failure in patients... its pretty interesting. I'm looking at its interaction on a molecular level.

 

[Monalyce]

I spent one semester at school doing 5 hours/week for 1 credit hour.

Last summer I interned at St Jude Children's Research Hospital as part of the Pediatric Oncology Education Program. It is a paid program that provides housing. I did work in the Pharmaceutical Sciences department, and it was amazing! The upside of working full-time, even for a summer, was that I was given a lot of responsibility and was able to make decisions on how to proceed with the project. I'm going back this summer to work in Infectious Disease. If anyone wants basic science research experience, this and similar programs are a great option. My interviewers were always highly interested and impressed with my experience and I'm sure it helped me get into pharmacy school.

 

[mike36]

In the lab I do research in, we expect a lot from our undergraduates, 15-20 hours/week.

 

[fhx06]

Working in the lab carry different standards than volunteering. A person being paid to work is expected to maintain professionalism and completing the responsibilities given. There are set hours expected from people paid, whether as part of a work-study or off campus lab setting. Working in a work-study may be easier for a student because it is easier to alter the schedule around exams and major projects if the person who is making the schedule understands the situation.

I'm not sure how many labs take volunteers but generally the work is very limited and the experience gained is nothing particularly great, but that differs from lab to lab I suppose.

 

[ccpharmd]

I've been at a Neuroscience lab since the summer after my freshman year for both academic credit AND pay (luck). I do a lot of experiments dealing with isolating post-synaptic densities and monitoring glutamate receptors in neurons. Occasionally I have long experiments that will take about 9hrs, so I'll come in on weekends. After that part's over, I just come in for about 2-3hrs a day or several times a week to run gels and such. It really depends on what lab you work in and what your responsibilities are. My lab has a lot of undergrads in it but it's VERY chill and our professor is really awesome so we have a lot of fun hanging out around there whether we're running experiments or not. Plus they're not too strict on having us come in a set number of hours a week. WE schedule our own experiments and come in whenever WE'RE free, as long as we can collect adequate data by the end of the semester. I think working at the lab indirectly helped me in my science classes too because you obviously have to understand everything going around in your lab, procedures, etc. Plus it's an easy GPA booster for me (4 credits a semester!) + $$$ . Just find a good one and you'll get a lot of out it.

 

[Jammerdez1]

It's been a while, but when i did my undergraduate research, it was for 15-20 hours per week and 30 hours during off times (winter/summer break). It definitely depends on your courseload though. I had to stop my research once I started taking lab classes. Feel free to use your time as an undergraduate to hop around different labs, also. I ended up working in 3 or 4 different labs over the course of 3 years and am extremely happy I did, since it gave me a great feel for different areas that I liked and didn't like (hands-on is very different from what they teach you in the books).