Grading for Independent Study

[Hemichordate]

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[chad5871]

It almost seems as if it's an effort thing. If you show interest, work hard, and follow directions well, I don't see any reason you should get an A. If you just want to "go through the motions" to get an A and you don't want to actually learn anything, why would you do independent study in the first place?

 

[HigHal320]

For undergrad independent research, students usually don't get graded based on their results. Most students don't spend enough time in lab to complete their project. For my project, I was only able to finish about 60% of it due to an unexpected technical issue. In the end I shifted the focus of my thesis towards whatever data I have collected.

 

[hypnix]

Does that grade get factored into our oGPA and sGPA on AMCAS?

 

[chad5871]

Does that grade get factored into our oGPA and sGPA on AMCAS?

Yep, as long as you get a letter grade for it. I had two independent studies, and one I got an "A" for, and the other I got a "P" (pass). The A will factor into my overall GPA and BCPM GPA - the P will become "supplemental credits" on my AMCAS.

 

[Jolie South]

I did independent study with my PI and was graded on the time/effort I put into my research.

 

[JRock310]

i did an independent study this past semester w/ a teacher that i had for stats. i thought it was going to be this amazing opportunity/experience but i wasn't really sure what i was going to get graded on. we met once or twice a week at first, but we sometimes would go a week or two w/o meeting bc our schedules wouldn't allow it. he always wanted to meet on weekends which really annoyed me because that is my time to myself to just relax/vedge...but anyway, i only had to do a literature review and a presentation on our findings to the science department faculty members and my dean (and a few of my friends showed up for fun), and that's basically what i think i was graded on. i accompanied him to some trips to harvard med school (he's on the committee and we did research there) and to mass general hospital for a couple of psychiatry research meetings, but basically just my paper/pres was pretty much my grade.

 

[Hemichordate]

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[Jolie South]

So does the first week just consist of working with a grad student/post-doc and getting to know the lab protocols? How long does it take before you get to start working independently on your project?

it depends on the lab and the project. it took me several weeks of getting to know procedures and prep work with my PI and lab coworkers before i got to run my own experiments.

 

[Hemichordate]

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[45408]

Thanks. So if you want to do more than one semester of Ind. Study, do most people stay in the same lab or try another lab?

You'll probably get more done by staying in the same lab (unless the lab is poorly run or if you hate it), so that you don't have to learn how all the equipment works all over again.