Ex-Premed Quitting Research

[ruieu]

Title of the thread is kinda a TLDR...

I started my research assistant position in the middle of sophomore year (this January) on a psychiatry study. I decided to quit premed this past May, but have yet to figure out how to leave my research position. I found this position through a PhD student, who is sort of my “mentor”, but we are not particularly close. He doesn’t know that I’m no longer interested in pursuing med school or the research that I’m working on.

I want to quit, but I don’t know how to bring it up to my mentor. At research, I mostly administer behavioral tasks, but my mentor is planning to train me to use the equipment in the lab soon, which I know will take a while and would probably be a time investment for him and the lab. I want to let him know that I want to quit, as this is no longer something I’m interested in, but I feel trapped. When I accepted the position, I went into it knowing that the lab wanted at least a 2-year commitment, which I readily agreed to at the time because the research was something I wanted to pursue.

I want to leave the lab by the end of this summer (August) and I understand that I need to finish up the tasks I’m working on before I leave. I’m just not sure how to tell my mentor or lab members about this. I’ve never quit a research position before. I’m not sure if I should send my mentor an email or talk to him about this in person? I really don’t know how to broach the subject! 🙁

Thanks for your help!

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[freedoctor17]

Just be honest with them so you don't waste their time. Let them know as soon as possible and make sure to mention you're willing to stay until August to finish up as much as you can until then.

 

[joker1212]

I agree with freedoctor,

Though your friend was nice for helping you find this position, it's not your problem that you no longer want to do research. Your time at college is so you can figure out what you want to do, and you can trust me that your research people probably won't care what your best interests are. They'll find someone else, and I wouldn't waste another second.

 

[MissGamerMD]

You do need to tell them ASAP. I had a similar situation, except that I was applying to med school but was hired for a lab that wanted a 2-year commitment. I applied only to schools that typically take 3 application cycles to get into, so at the advice of another doctor, I refrained from mentioning that I was applying to medical school. I got into medical school on my first application, though, so that complicated things.
I was entirely up front with the lab. I told them I was advised not to mention my med school applications as they wouldn't have hired me (they admitted they would have done the same thing in my position lol), and that I had 8 weeks before I had to leave. I offered to help find my replacement and train them in everything I am currently doing in order to minimize the impact on the other members of the project. Everyone involved was happy with this offer, and nobody is upset/mad/etc.
I do recommend bringing it up as soon as possible so you can offer to help train your replacement. That way you aren't burning any bridges.