Hard work

[deleted801953]

I know this sounds really ludicrous but I really need help in this. I'm a gpa 4 student and I'm really interested in doing research with my professor who will probably agree to let me join his lab. I'm a second year student and this is my first time joining a lab. I tend to be scared with the thoughts of joining a lab where I'll be loaded with work, papers to read, responsibilities and I just wanted to know how I could get used to it or calm myself with those feelings? I know I'm supposed to get used to work and stuff but any thoughts about it? I'm also taking the lab with 1 credit so I sound like I'm serious and not flaking

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[LoveBeingHuman:)]

What exactly are you nervous about?

 

[eteshoe]

So you're scared of working hard? Cuz this may not be the best path for you if that's the case.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

So you're scared of working hard? Cuz this may not be the best path for you if that's the case.

I think you misread OP's words. I don't think OP's scared of working hard. I think OP's is scared about not being able to keep up.

P.S. OP I highly suggest you work on your communication skills because your post is a tad difficult to make sense of

 

[Lannister]

OP, it's normal to feel nervous/inadequate when starting a new job. Just give it a few weeks and you'll get over it. Just tough it out and remind yourself that after a few weeks you'll adapt.

 

[Levo]

I think it's very reasonable to worry about whether research will conflict with your studying. The not-very-satisfying answer to your question is "it might, it might not." Some PIs will be very understanding of that this is just one commitment for you among many and give you enough time away from the lab to study for your classes, do volunteer work, etc. Others will expect the same level of commitment from you as they do from their grad students. I recommend talking to the PI ahead of time to find out what their expectations are and establishing some ground rules. Projects that are computational, statistics-heavy, or clinical and involve patient chart review are, in my opinion better research projects for a pre-med than research that just involves test tubes and cell culture. They allow you to be more independent earlier on in the project because you can do more work on your own after hours (not just when there's other people in the lab to supervise you), and if you have a serious screw-up, you won't have wasted thousands of dollars of reagents.

 

[deleted801953]

@LoveBeingHuman:) exactly that, and I sure will!
@Lannister My problem is getting criticized the whole time (which I hope won't be the case), that and getting a bad LOR even though I tried as hard as I could..
@Levo Tbh getting into this research was a miracle. I really am new around here so I can't figure out where to find such research, so I just sticked to the department I'm in
@eteshoe Haha I know, hopefully I'll get used to hard work through the years.
PS- I'm taking only 3 classes (full time) which will be pretty easy and I'll have a lot of time. I just feel starting research will help me a lot, I just wanted to see what people's thoughts are (which are great)

 

[Levo]

@LoveBeingHuman:) exactly that, and I sure will!
@Lannister My problem is getting criticized the whole time (which I hope won't be the case), that and getting a bad LOR even though I tried as hard as I could..
@Levo Tbh getting into this research was a miracle. I really am new around here so I can't figure out where to find such research, so I just sticked to the department I'm in
@eteshoe Haha I know, hopefully I'll get used to hard work through the years.
PS- I'm taking only 3 classes (full time) which will be pretty easy and I'll have a lot of time. I just feel starting research will help me a lot, I just wanted to see what people's thoughts are (which are great)

Does your university have an affiliated med school? Is there one in your city, even if it's not affiliated with your university?

 

[deleted801953]

@Levo There is a med school actually yeah! However I plan to stick to either for a long time (4-6 semesters) wouldn't it be more useful to start in my professor's lab or do you think joining a basic clinical lab first works better?

 

[Levo]

@Levo There is a med school actually yeah! However I plan to stick to either for a long time (4-6 semesters) wouldn't it be more useful to start in my professor's lab or do you think joining a basic clinical lab first works better?

First off "basic" and "clinical" are opposites. "basic" generally means it's all experiments that don't involve human subjects, while translational and clinical research do. It's whatever project you find more meaningful, to be honest. I personally wasn't a huge fan of basic science research that was all "wet lab" time (cell culture, in my case) because I felt like I had to put more mental energies into figuring out the procedure for the experiment than on the question I was trying to answer. Some people feel the opposite way, and love doing projects that involve a lot of wet lab.

 

[deleted801953]

@Levo I haven't done either so I don't really know which is more meaningful, but I do get the point! Do you think asking the medical school's student dean would be the best way to know more about clinical research available? Thank you very much for your help

 

[Levo]

@Levo I haven't done either so I don't really know which is more meaningful, but I do get the point! Do you think asking the medical school's student dean would be the best way to know more about clinical research available? Thank you very much for your help

I honestly wouldn't contact the dean. Maybe faculty members whose academic profiles fit your interests?

 

[deleted801953]

Awesome, appreciate it @Levo

 

[gamieg]

don't worry about the perfectionism so much. you're an undergrad student and no one expects you to know the absolute ins and outs of research and medicine off the bat.

failure and mistakes are the best teachers. don't buy into the idea that seeming perfect and knowing everything is a good thing.

 

[deleted801953]

don't worry about the perfectionism so much. you're an undergrad student and no one expects you to know the absolute ins and outs of research and medicine off the bat.

failure and mistakes are the best teachers. don't buy into the idea that seeming perfect and knowing everything is a good thing.

Exaclty what I wanted to here. Thank you
@gamieg