Do a thesis during a lab rotation?

[futureIDdoc]

I recently met with a PI with whom I will be doing a 2-credit lab rotation in the fall as part of my SMP. She works in immunology research, mostly with plasmacytoid dendritic cells.

The lab rotation course syllabus says I have to complete something like 60 hours and then write a small paper describing what I did and what the goals of the lab were. Pretty simple.

I have limited bench research experience, so I told her when I met with her that I hope to pick up skills toward the beginning and help in any way I can, while dedicating myself to learning the lab's background and learning about everything going on around me. She then said, "oh, you're not interested in doing a thesis?". I said "I don't believe so..." but I don't really know what doing a thesis entails. I've done a bunch of clinical research, but never came up with my own idea before.

1. If I say I am interested in doing a thesis, is it expected that the PI will help me come up with a topic? How much will my hand be held?

I've taken an immunology course but God help me if I have to design a meaningful experiment related to plasmacytoid dendritic cells.​

2. My only weak point in my application is grades, so I need to focus on just getting an A on this rotation and in my other classes. In the opinion of those who have done such theses, is it worth the time commitment to do one if it's optional?

In searching previous threads it seems that thesis is a plus but a small one. Any other relevant opinions/information appreciated.​

Thanks for your help and information.

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[futureIDdoc]

Excuse the bump...didn't expect this to fall to the second page without a response...

 

[theWUbear]

I'm also interested in anyone's advice on this thread

 

[ShinyDome19]

This doesnt sound right to me, but I didnt do a SMP program, but rather a regular masters degree. In a regular masters degree, a Thesis is more-or-less the difference between a MS and an MA degree (research vs non-research respectively). I was always under the impression that a SMP program was a specialized MA degree which simply covered some of the basic 1st year medical school equivalent courses. Are you sure the PI knows your in the SMP program? I wouldnt think that 60 hours in a lab is really enough time to learn the techniques, come up an idea/hypothesis to test and then actually test it.

In general, a Thesis is written over your own research where you come up with your own hypothesis and test it. However, its not uncommon for someone to join a lab and take over a differnt branch of another lab-mates project. For instance, there was a PhD student in my first lab that was working with Aeromonas bacteria that expressed a certain gene. Another person joined the lab the next year and ended up doing their project on the same Aeromonas species, testing it for a differnt gene presence.

 

[GellaBella]

First I'll say I don't know for SMP programs.

I know at my university masters students who come in to do thesis research are given a project that is an off-shoot of another project. Often times I will have masters student work on one aspect of my project (I'm finishing my PhD) that I just don't have time to devote to right now. So I help them out, give them my strains and any plasmids I've constructed and see if they can push that part of the work forward. If they do, great, and they get to be a middle author when that work gets published, even if they have already left the lab. If they don't get much done, no big deal, I pick it up again and continue pushing it forward myself. So oftentimes here masters students are guided a lot in the beginning and then once they get the hang of it they're free to continue the projects and if they think of something interesting they're free to try whatever they want (within reason).

However, to really dedicate the time needed to actually generate enough data for a thesis (our masters have a final thesis of around 100 pages in length) you'd have to put in a substantial amount of time in the lab. way more than 60 hours. Typical masters students here work anywhere from 20-30 hours a week I would guess, putting in late nights and weekends to work on their projects. Oftentimes for experiments to work you need to come in for at least a few hours every week day, if not weekends as well. At least in my field.

So, research looks really good to adcoms BUT if your GPA is lacking then I think you're probably better off doing really well in the courses you are taking and just doing the 60 hour research rotation. Ideally you would be able to do both -- bump up your GPA and do basic research but only you know whether you can actually handle that or not.

I hope that helps. Of course this is just my experience in my university so it could be different elsewhere.

 

[futureIDdoc]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I should have noted that the PI first and foremost stated that regardless of whether or not I do a thesis, if I want to make a significant contribution to the lab I should know that it would take much longer than the 60 required hours for the 2 credit course.

its not uncommon for someone to join a lab and take over a differnt branch of another lab-mates project.

Above doesn't seem too bad. I suppose I'll have to talk to her about what projects are going on - she did mention that there were things I could hop in on.

(our masters have a final thesis of around 100 pages in length)

Above scares the bejesus out of me. That's the kind of thing I can't handle. I suppose I'll speak further with the PI regarding the time commitment involved with whatever projects she has in mind for me. Your information has provided a great background! Any other thoughts/comments appreciated.

 

[ShinyDome19]

Above scares the bejesus out of me. That's the kind of thing I can't handle. I suppose I'll speak further with the PI regarding the time commitment involved with whatever projects she has in mind for me. Your information has provided a great background! Any other thoughts/comments appreciated.

When I first started graduate school, the thought of writing a thesis scared me too...but once you get into doing research, and all the literature reviews, etc, 100 pages isnt very much at all. What does become scary is defenending the thesis, where your advisors can pretty much ask you what ever they want and if you dont have an answer like they want...they can decide you dont graduate...But, I doubt you have to worry about doing an oral defense in an SMP program.