Oh, yeah that makes sense. My only concern is the amount of time, I work as a scribe currently and have a full courseload along with it, and quite frankly I don't find research very interesting at all... :/
Is there a certain amount of time that I should do it for? I mean, I tried it, but it's obvious that it's not for me...
My recommendation for you would be to sit down with your pre-medical adviser and see how this would fit in with your degree plans. If you are thinking about departmental honors, most require a senior thesis and a set number of research for credit hours. The degree requirements will help you figure out how many credits you need, and hence how many hours you will need to devote to research. Your pre-health adviser may also be able to give you more ideas for how to fund stuff like this if taken during the summer (HHMI, instituitional undergrad research programs, etc) ... gotta love getting paid and getting credit at the same time.
Since this sounds more like an extracurricular thing, the amount of time that you should do it for depends on what you want to get out of the experience, and how much time you can afford to give to this venture and how much the professor is willing to drop on your plate. Do you merely want to gather skills? Do you want to get involved with a project and make a contribution?
Most people that I knew as undergrads did research for credit for 2 - 3 quarters; some continued for many more quarters as paid student research assistants. Check your department's guidelines. Some schools automatically cap the number of quarters that you can do research to 3 quarters or less. As someone who works with undergrads in the lab ... I'd highly recommend devoting at least 2 quarters to research. It takes a few weeks to months to merely get the lingo and protocols down ... then once you have your bearings it can take even longer to get good results.
The actual number of hours that you spend in the lab will be determined by your PI, and probably the school's own program requirements. Sometimes there are hours-in-lab expectations that accompany the number of credits that you register for ... i.e. 3 hrs/week = 1 credit, 6 hrs/week = 2 credit, and so on.
Research for credit can be great ...
One one hand it definitely helps students that are working towards MD/PhD type programs, or pursuing a degree that requires research credit for graduation.
- By registering for a set number of credits, the time spent in lab is set aside in a sense for that student, so you don't have to worry about taking a crazy load of classes + research.
- Research for credit can legitimize it in the sense that there are program guidelines. (i.e. what is expected of the PI in terms of direction, and what is expected of the student ... how many hours/credit, what if any papers/reports will be due at the end of the quarter).
- The research for credit can help your uGPA if you work hard
- The notation on your transcript gives you something tangible to refer to. Rather than just saying "I worked in PI so-and-so's lab over the summer."
Research for Credit:
- If you're not getting paid through HHMI and some other institutional program, it is expensive when it comes time to pay tuition.
- Quality can be PI dependent. Some PIs will let you jump in the thick of things ... others may have you scrub glassware all day long and give little direction.
One final note:
Are you sure this is the right time for you to be getting involved in research? Your statement about how frankly you don't find research very interesting at all is a little bit alarming. I'm not trying to be rude or mean ... it's just, if you are very busy with your schedule and your job as a scribe, this may not be the best time to be enrolling in this research for credit program.
If you are midway along in your career, it's perfectly okay to wait to get involved in research. Some students don't start research until junior or senior year.
If you find some project that really gets you excited ... jump on it. If it's something that you find not so exciting, maybe you should browse and look around for something else that you find interesting.
