Advice please from MD/PHDers!

[chattkis]

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Hey! I am trying to figure out my summer plans... I had hoped to recieve a pfizer undergraduate fellowship but I don't think I got one since I haven't heard anything about it and the notification date has well passed. If I continue to work in the lab this summer (just getting paid off my advisor's grants) instead of going home and working at a hospital or something, will I look dedicated or lazy?

I know that sounds wierd, but I feel as though staying in my school town and continuing to do what I do during the year might seem lazy to some when to me it just means that I love it and have made my life here.

Are schools looking for experience in more than 1 lab and exicting/special summer activities or is long-term (2+) years in 1 lab fine (as long as I can talk about my research of course!) ?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Hey! I am trying to figure out my summer plans... I had hoped to recieve a pfizer undergraduate fellowship but I don't think I got one since I haven't heard anything about it and the notification date has well passed. If I continue to work in the lab this summer (just getting paid off my advisor's grants) instead of going home and working at a hospital or something, will I look dedicated or lazy?

I would interpret that as dedication most definitely. Continuity in one's research experience is important. Not only does it show dedication to a project but also to research in general. Admissions committees will look favorably upon this. Don't worry about not working at a hospital during the summer at the expense of the research experience.

Are schools looking for experience in more than 1 lab and exicting/special summer activities or is long-term (2+) years in 1 lab fine (as long as I can talk about my research of course!) ?

Well it depends. If you continuously work in one lab, you can develop a deep understanding of not only your project but how it relates to the other projects in the lab. When you discuss the big picture aspects of things at your interviews, you will impress the interviewer. Furthermore, working in one lab for a long time increases the chances that you will see a project from beginning to end and likely get a publication out of it (which is always a bonus).

Personally, I worked in only one lab in college for 2.5 years. I don't regret this one bit.

Best of luck. Perhaps not getting the Pfizer summer internship job was a blessing in disguise.

 

[PostalWookie]

I spent 3 years in one lab in college, and like 2 years in another lab way back in high school. But getting experience in multiple labs is just as good, as long as you can give good reasoning for why you did it and can explain how it benefited you.

 

[microTAS]

I spent time in an industrial internship and in another academic lab before staying in my main lab. If the research/situation is promising and you like it, I would stay long-term in a lab. While pubs aren't necessary for admission, I would definitely try for one if the opportunity arises.

 

[Gfunk6]

Generally, it's better to stick with a long-term, ongoing project to increase the chances of publishing a manuscript or presenting an abstract. The exception is if you get an honor or award of some sort that let's you work in the lab (e.g. Pfizer fellowship). But since you didn't get it, I advise staying in your current lab.

 

[BandGeek]

I was in your situation two years ago. I stayed put in my old lab, and managed to get two abstracts for international meetings and a paper out of all the work I did that summer. If you have a long relationship with one lab (mine was 2 years in high school and four years during undergrad) you build relationships that will reflect well in your letters of recommendation. I still get e-mails from my old lab asking me where stuff is (or worse, how to do a technique).

Good luck!

 

[tr]

Generally, it's better to stick with a long-term, ongoing project to increase the chances of publishing a manuscript or presenting an abstract. The exception is if you get an honor or award of some sort that let's you work in the lab (e.g. Pfizer fellowship). But since you didn't get it, I advise staying in your current lab.

Agreed, except that I don't even think the award is worth it. This is what I did in undergrad (spent two separate summers doing unrelated research under different undergraduate research awards), and I think it was a bad idea. I ended up with a lot of disconnected research experiences, no pubs or presentations, and no common thread. I think pubs/presentations trump SURF awards.

Plus, in my interviews I once got asked a question about the chemical mech. of action of one of the tissue stains I had used in the first summer experience, and although I had known at the time, I really didn't remember it three years later. (I think I got into that school anyway, but it stands out in my memory as my stupidest interview moment.) Doubtless if I had continued to work on that project for more than two months I would have been better informed about the details.

Anyway. Stay in your current lab, OP; you're better off.

 

[milliardo_L]

Just my grain of salt about summer research projects: I think it depends a lot on what your plans are for the future, ie what your field of interest is. I imagine something incredibly competitive, say cancer research, you will probably have an advantage by working on the same project for a long time. In my case, I have a long project, but with almost no results whatsoever (due to lack of resources-->$$$). I believe the fact that I did three summer internship helped me greatly. They were completely unrelated, so even though I did not produced huge amounts of results, publications, etc, they did give me a broad knowledge of biomedical research and great letters of recommendations from outstanding researchers. So I guess it depends on your circumstances, in my case I needed the summer programs to have decent research projects that could show my potential. But if you have the oportunity to work in a productive lab that you like for a long time, its probably a good idea to go for it, but have in mind that the expectations might be higher 😱

 

[spinman]

So you want to be an MD PhD, eh? 🙂 My advice: stick with one thing and do it well... Being on the other side of the admissions fence, we look for depth of research over diversity. If you are doing 10 different things, it will be viewed as if you are proficient at none of them. I got that Pfizer fellowship way back when I was your age 🙂 and it was a great experience and CV booster, however it will be your GPA, MCAT scores and most importantly your research experience and letters of reccomendation that will get you into a good combined training program. You do not need to have the Pfizer fellowship to do research... I take it you do research in synthetic organic chemistry?

 

[chattkis]

You do not need to have the Pfizer fellowship to do research... I take it you do research in synthetic organic chemistry?

Nah! Microbiology/Infectious disease. Haha, they give out the pfizer fellowships for many different disciplines. congrats on yours! I wish I got it for the resume boost, but I dont need it to keep on trudging on...

 

[N-Surge]

Hey! I am trying to figure out my summer plans... I had hoped to recieve a pfizer undergraduate fellowship but I don't think I got one since I haven't heard anything about it and the notification date has well passed. If I continue to work in the lab this summer (just getting paid off my advisor's grants) instead of going home and working at a hospital or something, will I look dedicated or lazy?

I know that sounds wierd, but I feel as though staying in my school town and continuing to do what I do during the year might seem lazy to some when to me it just means that I love it and have made my life here.

Are schools looking for experience in more than 1 lab and exicting/special summer activities or is long-term (2+) years in 1 lab fine (as long as I can talk about my research of course!) ?

Depends. Do you have an extensive amount of hospital volunteering time (100+ hrs) on your CV? If you don't have any, get started. If you have some but need more, get some more.

If you do decide to stay in the current lab, for whatever reason, I believe it will come across as a demonstration of your dedication. However, the answer to this question may also depend on what the focus of your laboratory work is.

 

[chattkis]

Depends. Do you have an extensive amount of hospital volunteering time (100+ hrs) on your CV? If you don't have any, get started. If you have some but need more, get some more.

If you do decide to stay in the current lab, for whatever reason, I believe it will come across as a demonstration of your dedication. However, the answer to this question may also depend on what the focus of your laboratory work is.

Yeah, I've got 100+ clinical volunteering hours. My lab work is on Bacillus, spore forming bacteria and the different proteins involved in forming both their vegetative and spore cell walls. Theoretically, Im looking for potential antibiotic targets.