choronglee220322
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- Aug 22, 2020
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I'm an incoming college sophomore and I've done research ever since high school and I really love working in a lab. During freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to get a lab position at a T10 med school (due to my previous lab experience in high school), but it was just really discouraging and felt like a waste of time to do a bunch of grunt work, compared to being able to design experiments and take on an experiment on my own while I was in a lab during high school. Although the lab position guaranteed a letter of recommendation and multiple publications (the PI made it clear that his lab worked with premeds and as long as certain hours were fulfilled, we'd be able to get both) I'm planning to quit (after a year of working) because it just feels like such a waste of time and is just physically strenuous. Am I being dumb to quit this opportunity?
Also, I really wanted to pursue my own project; potentially think of a proposal on my own and email PIs to see if they'd be willing to take me in and offer guidance/resources for me to carry out my project, and i was wondering if most professors/PIs would even be interested in listening to an undergrad's research ideas? I know in the most traditional sense, it makes more sense to join a lab that works on topics that I'm interested in, start from the bottom, and once they know that I'm capable of taking on a project, probably work on side projects or get a project in that sense. However, I really do have a specific project in mind that I'm really interested in, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd be perceived as a really naive/cocky undergrad who's asking for too much or they'd actually take me seriously? Any sort of advice would be appreciated, thanks so much!
Also, I really wanted to pursue my own project; potentially think of a proposal on my own and email PIs to see if they'd be willing to take me in and offer guidance/resources for me to carry out my project, and i was wondering if most professors/PIs would even be interested in listening to an undergrad's research ideas? I know in the most traditional sense, it makes more sense to join a lab that works on topics that I'm interested in, start from the bottom, and once they know that I'm capable of taking on a project, probably work on side projects or get a project in that sense. However, I really do have a specific project in mind that I'm really interested in, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd be perceived as a really naive/cocky undergrad who's asking for too much or they'd actually take me seriously? Any sort of advice would be appreciated, thanks so much!