I suck at lab

nikeshp said:

I screwed up a reaction today during my organic research, accidentally added some acetone to an anhydrous reaction. i pretty much hate myself for it. i like to think its because i have found that i prefer other types of research to this, but hopefully i don't just suck in general. am i doomed from getting into med school???






just joking about the last sentence, although i am quite disappointed with myself. when things go well, i cant be happier but i guess it will take a while to build my confidence back up in lab. also, i wouldn't care, but the reactant i used is quite expensive, and we are running out of it.

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thats why theres tuition

You can only learn by making mistakes. I wouldn't worry about it.

Nah, no worries man. Usually PIs account for mistakes and accidents in their grant calculations. Just consider it a learning process.

nikeshp said:

I screwed up a reaction today during my organic research, accidentally added some acetone to an anhydrous reaction. i pretty much hate myself for it. i like to think its because i have found that i prefer other types of research to this, but hopefully i don't just suck in general. am i doomed from getting into med school???






just joking about the last sentence, although i am quite disappointed with myself. when things go well, i cant be happier but i guess it will take a while to build my confidence back up in lab. also, i wouldn't care, but the reactant i used is quite expensive, and we are running out of it.

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I have worked with some PHDs who would have fired me for doing something like that, consider yourself lucky. Most would simply lose all confidence in you and make you do some trivial task for a couple months. Bottom line, whomever you are working with has probably lost some confidence in your abilities.

nikeshp said:

yes, this is the main reason why i feel so bad, along with the fact that i have lost a bit of confidence in myself.

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everyone makes mistakes; grad students, undergrads, doctors as long as noone gets hurt and you learn your lesson your fine. This is nothing to lose confidence over.

nikeshp said:

yes, this is the main reason why i feel so bad, along with the fact that i have lost a bit of confidence in myself.

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I would say that is not the majority...most PIs are forgiving. He's just being unnecessarily hardcore, like his MDApps.

I've broken tons of stuff, wasted lots of reagents, burned through grant money on failed experiments...yet I'm one of my PI's most successful students, churning out results after results. If you want to succeed in research, be prepared (and expect) to fail and make mistakes.

I basically spilled 50% of my product all over my lab desk 1 out of every 3 labs during Orgo I. It was miserable. My yield was terrible every time. There was one long lab project where part of our grade was based on % yield and purity tested via melting point. It wasn't pretty. Then I ended up TAing Orgo I, so go figure. Screwing up lab did not keep me out of medical school.

mterp45 said:

I have worked with some PHDs who would have fired me for doing something like that, consider yourself lucky. Most would simply lose all confidence in you and make you do some trivial task for a couple months. Bottom line, whomever you are working with has probably lost some confidence in your abilities.

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This is absolute hogwash from my experience working in a molecular biology lab--everyone from the post-docs who have 50 pubs to the most green undergrad makes mistakes and nothing would ever get done if they sat around feeling sorry for themselves or getting grilled for it

mterp45 said:

I have worked with some PHDs who would have fired me for doing something like that, consider yourself lucky. Most would simply lose all confidence in you and make you do some trivial task for a couple months. Bottom line, whomever you are working with has probably lost some confidence in your abilities.

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Bullsh*t. Just because you choose to live (and view) your life on edge at all times, no need to convince others that it is the truth. No PI would treat a student like crap just because they made a mistake. Sure, they may get upset, but they will not hold it against you. They were students once too, nobody jumps into research pumping out Nature papers on their first try.

Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!

Haha OP, don't stress it. I've been in a lab for a year and sometimes I still suck at it.

CTT said:

I'm gonna do it. There will be some people who are really angry at me at first, but who gives a damn.

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Link us when you are finished!

seraph524 said:

Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!

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So mature.

CTT said:

mterp, I'm disappointed. From most of your posts in the MCAT forum you just seemed really hardcore. Now I realize that you are one of two things:

1. A troll with way too much time on their hands
2. A really sour person

I might have to out you on the MCAT forum so that people stop asking you for advice about how you supposedly got from sub 20's to 40's on the practice test.

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lol all this, and now what? you must have some personal vendetta against me or maybe it's simply jealousy. You asked for advice, I gave it to you out of the goodness of my heart. You are disappointed? why should I care? I don't know you and have no desire to. I paid my dues, and have nothing to prove to anyone. Good luck with the application process.


and to the OP, I have been in research since sophomore year in high school, I am not saying that all are that bad for am sure most are not but yes, I have worked with a PHD that would literally leave undergrads crying, and quiting over cleaning procedures in their first week of work, another that would have had you running gels for a semester, and some that would have simply asked you to leave. I am sorry if I offended you or anyone else but I am simply telling the truth.

nikeshp said:

I screwed up a reaction today during my organic research, accidentally added some acetone to an anhydrous reaction. i pretty much hate myself for it. i like to think its because i have found that i prefer other types of research to this, but hopefully i don't just suck in general. am i doomed from getting into med school???






just joking about the last sentence, although i am quite disappointed with myself. when things go well, i cant be happier but i guess it will take a while to build my confidence back up in lab. also, i wouldn't care, but the reactant i used is quite expensive, and we are running out of it.

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For some reason, I really do not think you are joking!!!!

Hmmm...well if it makes you feel better I sucked at sucking in Organic Chemistry lab. I tried my hardest but for some reason I just could do nothing wrong!



































I'm just joking with you! best of luck to ya

mterp45 said:

I have been in research since sophomore year in high school

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Your High school has NIH labs too? I thought it was just mine. I was working on subatomic nanocircuits when I was a freshman in HS (also took geometry and CP physics!), what were you doing?!

chessknt87 said:

Your High school has NIH labs too? I thought it was just mine. I was working on subatomic nanocircuits when I was a freshman in HS (also took geometry and CP physics!), what were you doing?!

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I was already published in JAMA by the time I was 5 and in high school I decided to focus my efforts on becoming a better superhero!!!! I was supposed to be a combo of Storm, Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Magneto but for some reason the weather would never cooperate. I would call for arctic wind and end up getting sunny 70 degree weather....Can you imagine the dissapointment?

seraph524 said:

Bullsh*t. Just because you choose to live (and view) your life on edge at all times, no need to convince others that it is the truth. No PI would treat a student like crap just because they made a mistake. Sure, they may get upset, but they will not hold it against you. They were students once too, nobody jumps into research pumping out Nature papers on their first try.

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You've never met my PI...

Yelling and crying are fairly regular occurances.

chessknt87 said:

Your High school has NIH labs too? I thought it was just mine. I was working on subatomic nanocircuits when I was a freshman in HS (also took geometry and CP physics!), what were you doing?!

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haha, I wasn't with NIH, I was working on apoptosis at the school of medicine in Baltimore. They had me setting up artificial membranes by monolayer method in a saran partition. I did this every day for a summer, and quite frankly, it sucked.

chessknt87 said:

Your High school has NIH labs too? I thought it was just mine. I was working on subatomic nanocircuits when I was a freshman in HS (also took geometry and CP physics!), what were you doing?!

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Hey just out of curiosity, did you go to georgetown prep high?

mterp45 said:

Hey just out of curiosity, did you go to georgetown prep high?

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You would think that if I am intelligent enough to solve nobel-worthy problems when I am 14, then I know better to give my information out on the internet.

Yes that is where I went. I had Dr. Smith as my physics teacher!

I wouldn't fret the lab error, it happens to everyone (its what makes you learn)

heres a fun thread youll enjoy: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=277242&highlight=research+mistakes

Ive broken so many things and screwed up too many times to count

for instance, in the lab im at now (not research but whatever) i put an entire room 2 inches underwater lol

Well, one day, after my Genetics lab which dealed with fruit flies, I lost my concentration b/c of the fly nap (2 people from my classes even got allergy with the fly nap and had to go to the hospital) since we dont have face mask. I went to my research lab and messed up the gel for western blot and felt really bad. But the PhD students in my lab told me to let it go. Everyone once a while messes up their lab. Just leave it there and come back to do your work tomorrow, when you feel better. And it's true

I'm so perfect that one day in lab my balls turned to gold.

True story.