Dropping A Class To Do Research?

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Hey SDN community,


I just wanted to ask you guys on an opinion.

So I'm taking five classes this semester, and I'm a Bioengineering major. I'm actually more biased as a quantitative and logical thinker. I've been programming since a youth, and I have a very strong bias towards math.

I've done research in mathematical biology where I've simulated viral behavior.

Well, lately I've gotten a desperate offer from a very big genomics lab on campus to do some programming and data mining. This professor is very prestigious, he gives talks at Cornell, Rice, etc. He knows his stuff, is cited heavily, made it to Nature- pretty much an academic's goal.

He does a lot of PCR, sequencing, etc. I took his Genetics class last semester and made an A, and he offered me to do analysis on a lot of annotated genomes he has lying around, and do statistical analysis on the proportion of certain transposable elements in that genome.

This is not an opportunity I can just pass up. Students want to get in his lab so badly, but there aren't that many undergraduates that know programming and biology well enough to actually do the bread and butter of his lab, and are just stuck washing petri dishes, or very basic PCR preps, gel preps, etc. for their "research".

I was thinking about dropping my Thermodynamics class to make room for it, because it's the only way I could do it. I think this could be the icing on the cake for my application. A lot of buzz in the local academic community in my location is centered around this lab, and as an undergraduate, I was promised direct mentoring by him alongside with his PhD students, a very rare experience for a 19 year old kid.

What would you do?

 

[Reckoner]

Is it early enough in the semester to drop the class without it appearing on your transcript? If that was the case I would probably drop the class and join his lab.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Hey SDN community,


I just wanted to ask you guys on an opinion.

So I'm taking five classes this semester, and I'm a Bioengineering major. I'm actually more biased as a quantitative and logical thinker. I've been programming since a youth, and I have a very strong bias towards math.

I've done research in mathematical biology where I've simulated viral behavior.

Well, lately I've gotten a desperate offer from a very big genomics lab on campus to do some programming and data mining. This professor is very prestigious, he gives talks at Cornell, Rice, etc. He knows his stuff, is cited heavily, made it to Nature- pretty much an academic's goal.

He does a lot of PCR, sequencing, etc. I took his Genetics class last semester and made an A, and he offered me to do analysis on a lot of annotated genomes he has lying around, and do statistical analysis on the proportion of certain transposable elements in that genome.

This is not an opportunity I can just pass up. Students want to get in his lab so badly, but there aren't that many undergraduates that know programming and biology well enough to actually do the bread and butter of his lab, and are just stuck washing petri dishes, or very basic PCR preps, gel preps, etc. for their "research".

I was thinking about dropping my Thermodynamics class to make room for it, because it's the only way I could do it. I think this could be the icing on the cake for my application. A lot of buzz in the local academic community in my location is centered around this lab, and as an undergraduate, I was promised direct mentoring by him alongside with his PhD students, a very rare experience for a 19 year old kid.

What would you do?

I would do the research. Thermodynamics is a nice course, so consider taking it later.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I would definitely do research in that lab over a class, but I can't imagine that it's possible to drop a course at this point in the semester without getting a "W". If it's your first one (and remains your only one) it probably won't matter, especially since it's not in a pre-req, but keep in mind that it could raise eyebrows nonetheless. Is there any way you could do both? If you're already in the withdrawal period, you could try to balance everything to see how it goes and if it really does turn out to be impossible then you were already planning to withdraw anyway so no harm done.

 

[Solarium90]

If it won't leave a W, this sounds like a done deal - do the research. You could have a very positive time there and it could translate into continued lab experience throughout your undergrad career. I'd probably take it even with the W. Although, you could see if they'd allow for a start time in the summer or something. Is time just an issue? Maybe they'd allow for a smaller time committment until summer at which point you can plan to avoid overloading on coursework in the future and alotting adequate time for lab experience.

And who the heck reuses petri dishes? Maybe i'm just spoiled.

 

[Maebea]

Go to the registrar's office immediately to drop this course. One or two W's on a transcript will hardly be noticed. If this guy is the shiz you say he is, and he is as keen on recruiting you as it seems, a strong letter from him will be more impressive by a magnitude of 10 than yet another A on your transcript. Just make certain he follows up on giving you substantive work and useful mentoring.

 

[plumazul]

I was thinking about dropping my Thermodynamics class to make room for it, because it's the only way I could do it. I think this could be the icing on the cake for my application. A lot of buzz in the local academic community in my location is centered around this lab, and as an undergraduate, I was promised direct mentoring by him alongside with his PhD students, a very rare experience for a 19 year old kid.

What would you do?

Are you sure you must drop the class? (does the lab have meetings at a certain time or something like that?) Thermo is not that bad. My reflex instinct is to do both, but you would know your situation best.