Which research lab should I join as a pre-dental student?

[CFKazu]

First of all, I don't know if this is the right section or not (should I post this under research instead?), but here we go~ Hopefully other pre-dentals who have done research and got into dental school can help me out here!

I am currently a senior in university. I have been accepted into 3 labs in the past 2 weeks or so, and these 3 labs all allow me to do BS/MS, where I would earn the BS in 2016 and MS, thesis-based, in 2017. I will be taking DAT the end of this year/the beginning of next year, and will apply for dental school in summer 2016.

Now the dilemma is which lab out of the three would be the most helpful in dental admission, as well as the best for my own personal achievement. I'll do a short overview for each of the three labs.

I apologize in advance for such a long post.

First lab.
A plant-based genetic molecular lab.
- Under the undergraduate school, biological sciences department.
- The PI is faculty adviser for my major.
- The PI have published over 200 papers, according to pubmed.
- They're currently doing a genome project that I would be a part of.
- The lab is really large in space.
- The lab also has a lot of people, as in there are a lot of other graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduates.
- The PI is nice to me, but seems a bit distanced, because I mostly will work for another supervisor under him.
- Plant model system.
- The lab is the hardest to get into. By hardest, I mean that they took a lot of time deciding if I am accepted or not. They gave me a quiz, asked for references, etc. Got the acceptance ~5 days after interview.

Second lab,
A genetic molecular lab as well, but focuses on psychiatric diseases.
- Under the medical school, department of psychiatry.
- The PI is an assistant professor in the department.
- The PI only published 20~30 papers.
- They're currently doing a gene-interaction map that will investigate ~170 CNV genes.
- The lab is relatively small, about 1/3rd or 1/4th in size compared to the first lab.
- The lab is relatively new, and not as many people.
- The PI is really nice, probably the nicest out of all three, and easier to approach probably because of size of the lab.
- Yeast model system.
- The lab is easier to get into. I probably did the best, interview-wised, for this lab. PI is really impressed with my young age. Got the acceptance at the end of the day, after the interview. No quiz, no references, just a couple of questions on lab techniques.

Third lab,
A genetic molecular lab/physiological lab, focuses on metabolic diseases (insulin/glycogen), metabolic cancer.
- Under the medical school, department of endocrinology, affiliated with veteran hospital next door.
- The PI is the chief in the department of endocrinology, school of medicine/health sciences.
- The PI published ~150 papers or so.
- There are a couple of potential research projects.
- The lab is as large as the first lab, maybe even larger, but is shared with other PIs, I think.
- The PI is really nice, but hard to get in touch with, probably really busy. Emailed him, and got the response back after a week.
- I like the topic for this lab the most.
- Different model systems depend on which project I will choose, including mouse, bacteria, etc.
- Easiest lab to get into. I didn't talk much during the interview with the PI, mostly just PI talking about his research. But I was accepted right there on the spot. It has the most paperwork, fingerprint, background check, etc. because it is also affiliated with VA hospital, which means I have to fill out paperwork as an official WOC (without compensation) federal employee under the department of US veteran affairs.

That's about it. I can't really decide which out of the three would be the most beneficial for me...

Thank you for your time reading this and giving me advises!

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[hoppingpre]

Pick whichever sounds the most interesting to you.

 

[deleted659902]

First of all, I don't know if this is the right section or not (should I post this under research instead?), but here we go~ Hopefully other pre-dentals who have done research and got into dental school can help me out here!

I am currently a senior in university. I have been accepted into 3 labs in the past 2 weeks or so, and these 3 labs all allow me to do BS/MS, where I would earn the BS in 2016 and MS, thesis-based, in 2017. I will be taking DAT the end of this year/the beginning of next year, and will apply for dental school in summer 2016.

Now the dilemma is which lab out of the three would be the most helpful in dental admission, as well as the best for my own personal achievement. I'll do a short overview for each of the three labs.

I apologize in advance for such a long post.

First lab.
A plant-based genetic molecular lab.
- Under the undergraduate school, biological sciences department.
- The PI is faculty adviser for my major.
- The PI have published over 200 papers, according to pubmed.
- They're currently doing a genome project that I would be a part of.
- The lab is really large in space.
- The lab also has a lot of people, as in there are a lot of other graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduates.
- The PI is nice to me, but seems a bit distanced, because I mostly will work for another supervisor under him.
- Plant model system.
- The lab is the hardest to get into. By hardest, I mean that they took a lot of time deciding if I am accepted or not. They gave me a quiz, asked for references, etc. Got the acceptance ~5 days after interview.

Second lab,
A genetic molecular lab as well, but focuses on psychiatric diseases.
- Under the medical school, department of psychiatry.
- The PI is an assistant professor in the department.
- The PI only published 20~30 papers.
- They're currently doing a gene-interaction map that will investigate ~170 CNV genes.
- The lab is relatively small, about 1/3rd or 1/4th in size compared to the first lab.
- The lab is relatively new, and not as many people.
- The PI is really nice, probably the nicest out of all three, and easier to approach probably because of size of the lab.
- Yeast model system.
- The lab is easier to get into. I probably did the best, interview-wised, for this lab. PI is really impressed with my young age. Got the acceptance at the end of the day, after the interview. No quiz, no references, just a couple of questions on lab techniques.

Third lab,
A genetic molecular lab/physiological lab, focuses on metabolic diseases (insulin/glycogen), metabolic cancer.
- Under the medical school, department of endocrinology, affiliated with veteran hospital next door.
- The PI is the chief in the department of endocrinology, school of medicine/health sciences.
- The PI published ~150 papers or so.
- There are a couple of potential research projects.
- The lab is as large as the first lab, maybe even larger, but is shared with other PIs, I think.
- The PI is really nice, but hard to get in touch with, probably really busy. Emailed him, and got the response back after a week.
- I like the topic for this lab the most.
- Different model systems depend on which project I will choose, including mouse, bacteria, etc.
- Easiest lab to get into. I didn't talk much during the interview with the PI, mostly just PI talking about his research. But I was accepted right there on the spot. It has the most paperwork, fingerprint, background check, etc. because it is also affiliated with VA hospital, which means I have to fill out paperwork as an official WOC (without compensation) federal employee under the department of US veteran affairs.

That's about it. I can't really decide which out of the three would be the most beneficial for me...

Thank you for your time reading this and giving me advises!

Are you that kid with a bunch of CC credits from high school?

Here's my advice. Get three pieces of paper and number them from one to three, each corresponding to a lab. Close your eyes and shuffle the papers. Take a nap. Shuffle them again. And whichever one you pick, join that one.

 

[Accordion]

If you don't enjoy the research you will hate yourself. Pick (almost) solely based on your interests.

 

[Mycoalwin]

What the rest of them said! With research you have to really like the material or else you'll be miserable and not learn much form it.

 

[nucshuc]

Pick whatevers most interesting to you! That said, I'd go with lab #1 as its most basic sciences (ie. broadly aplicable to your future)

 

[ncide]

I worked in a plant genetics laboratory, so my vote goes to #1!

 

[pgex2t]

1 and 3 seem like good candidates for getting published within a timely manner. Like everyone else has said, you should choose based on your personal interests otherwise it'll just feel like a chore.

 

[xkc9126x]

I vote for #3

 

[CCdental87]

I vote #2.

The size of the lab, publications the PI has, and to some degree the topic of research isn't really of relevance to you at this point. You need a PI that will be able to give you one-on-one time. I've worked for labs as small as just me and the PI themselves and as large as 50+. At the end of the day, the admissions committees, even if they know the PI, want to see 1) a quality, candid letter detailing how you learn and work independently and 2) that you show commitment. Liking the research topic helps to some extent, but in a research lab, science is science is science -- the lab techniques, especially if it's basic science will be no different (PCR, western blots, SDS-PAGE, cell/plant/tissue culture, IRB protocols, grants). To that end, your frustrations/stress (in regards to the actual lab work) will be more or less on the same level.