Continue Research?

[jusgeo89]

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I was able to obtain a fellowship the summer before sophomore year at a lab and it was great. I continued this research the fall and spring semesters of sophomore year but they kinda sucked. I felt that I was not working on a project but was rather doing busy work. Now it is fall of junior year and the same lab assumes I will come back. I can only devote up to 6 hours a week to this but I don't know if I want to. Basically:

Should I drop the lab? I am almost 100% sure that I will not receive first or second author on any paper as my lab is very small and does not publish often.

Is it bad that I was in a lab for 1 year and did not get published? If I quit will it look bad on my part for an admissions committee? Also if I do continue, will it look bad that I did not get a paper out after 2 or possibly 3 years?

I have been in an aknowledgement at the end of a paper but its for being like a lab techy and it is not anything special.

Thanks guys.

 

[AlexMorph]

I was able to obtain a fellowship the summer before sophomore year at a lab and it was great. I continued this research the fall and spring semesters of sophomore year but they kinda sucked. I felt that I was not working on a project but was rather doing busy work. Now it is fall of junior year and the same lab assumes I will come back. I can only devote up to 6 hours a week to this but I don't know if I want to. Basically:

Should I drop the lab? I am almost 100% sure that I will not receive first or second author on any paper as my lab is very small and does not publish often.

Is it bad that I was in a lab for 1 year and did not get published? If I quit will it look bad on my part for an admissions committee? Also if I do continue, will it look bad that I did not get a paper out after 2 or possibly 3 years?

I have been in an aknowledgement at the end of a paper but its for being like a lab techy and it is not anything special.

Thanks guys.

if you don't publish, it's not the end of the world. med schools don't expect undergrads to publish. if it happens, great. if not, whatever.

if you hate it and don't think you are benefiting from it, then quit. but keep in mind that this may have an effect on the rec letter from the PI. you need to get a letter from this person because you spent a year in his/her lab.

adcoms shouldn't care about you quitting, as long as you have decent reasons. just get involved with other stuff.

 

[CoolWhipp]

Most people don't get published.