duration of research

[lost]

Hi,
This question is directed to those of you who are pursuing research. Is it enough to just participate in a research internship over the summer or do you ppl work through out the academic year as well. Those of you who have published: do you stay in the same research lab for all ugrad years or do you keep changing labs. I worked in a research lab in the summer after my freshman year. Though I enjoyed my experience there, I want to apply to a different lab for the sake of new experience next year. Is this perceived as negatively by the admissions committee? Any input is grealty appreciated. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[kutastha]

I've had undergrads work in my lab every summer. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they try something else. If you come back every summer, you usually get more exposure to th same research and can do progressively more complex things. However, a varied research background would also look pretty good. You're not expected to complete thesis-type work, so dabble a little bit and get a good varied background in different labs. At least that's my opinion.

Andrew

 

[rxfudd]

I've been working in the same lab for over a year now (about 14 months, including the summer) and I'll probably be working there until May. I think your research is most productive when you have an opportunity to do it from conception to publication (even if you're not on the paper). Working for only a semester in a lab usually does not allow for this because most research projects last a year or more. Then again, I get paid. If you're doing it for free, that changes everything (balancing pro bono research with a job might get rough in the summer).

If you enjoy the research this lab is doing, I say stick with it. Going to a new lab will give you a new research area and new surroundings, but you have to start from scratch. If you've been working in a lab for a while, you learn quite a bit about what you're doing. To give that up just for "newness" is probably not the way I'd do it.

 

[BlackPuma]

depends on your interests...sometimes you can spend all of your undergrad, or sometimes you might want to learn about other things and move on...if you do something substantial either way then it is no problem