Help me choose a research lab!

[alhs525]

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This thread is yet another continuation of my previous posts about my "research lab woes."
Background about myself: I'm a junior, looking for a lab to stay in through this academic year, the summer, and senior year, and if possible a year after I graduate. I want to apply to MD/PhD programs the summer after my senior year. Previous lab disbanded, but I was heavily dedicated to my work there and will have my name on whatever publications come out of that project.

Joined a new lab at the start of this school year, and several weeks in realized that it just wasn't the best fit for me. This week I've talked to several other professors about joining their labs, and now I need to make a decision. Please tell me what you think would be best for me, keeping in mind I want to do MD/PhD.

1) Professor A: Very nice, very chill guy. Would love to have him as my PI. His lab is new, but he's won several awards already for young investigators / ground-breaking science. Does some amazing research that makes my mouth drool. Techniques used complement my past experience so the learning curve will be fairly small. He plans on giving me a small project after I'm adequately trained, so I know I'll have that aspect of autonomy in my research. The problem is... because the lab is new, he is unable to let me join until next semester. Keep in mind I'm a junior, so I'm iffy about the loss of a semester of research and I'm not sure if it's worth it to wait because then I'll have less time to have a culminating research experience in the lab. There's probably a slimmer chance of getting published because the lab is new, although the PI did mention they've already gathered some pretty good results.

2) Professor B: Also does some pretty amazing research, and is also a PI I would enjoy working with. I can start immediately. He says I can put in as much effort as I want to, and that will correlate to how much independence I am granted. Caveat: it's all pre-clinical mice work. I've never worked with mice before and I'm not sure how much I want to. Also not sure how easy it would be to get published in the lab, or have some culminating experience/novel results I can talk about in essays, etc.

3) Professor C: Well, I can always stay in my current lab that I've been for the past month. Strict, scary PI with graduate student that is condescending, rude, and hard to get along with. Professor C treats undergrads just like graduate students, meaning they get to spearhead their own projects, present at group meetings, and publish as well, provided they meet her (very high) expectations. The learning curve here is small because I'm familiar with all the techniques used. However the main focus of the lab is biophysical chemistry, with the grad student and I being the sole people working on the chemical biology branch, which isn't really a big deal, but still.

Again, I want to do MD/PhD, so I'm really looking for a lab that will propel me toward this goal but also one that I will enjoy working in. As for getting published, it's hard to say how easy that will be with Professor A/B (I don't know what their policies are on getting undergrads published), but Professor C has had several undergrads be 1st, 2nd authors on papers...

I'd like to see which professor you guys think I should work for and why! Thanks!

 

[kyamh]

I would NOT go with option B: you said you aren't interested in doing the mouse work. Done. Don't do research you aren't excited by.

Personally I would stay with option C, I am also in a lab that treated me (when I was an undergrand and now as a post-bac) as a graduate student. It was difficult work and the PI expected a lot but I learned SO much more than my peers at more relaxed labs.

For you, I would probably recommend option A, it's the only one you seem interested in as far as as the science goes and that's really the most important thing.

At the end of the day, what MD/PhD programs want to see is that you have a genuine interest for research and a high level of excitement and curiosity about science. If you love your work, even without a publication, that enthusiasm will shine through. I know many students who had publications who didn't get into MD/PhD programs because they were mindless drones who did research for the sake of doing some sort of research and didn't connect to anything they were investigating. This kind of attitude comes through in conversation and I imagine it reflected poorly on them.

 

[alhs525]

bump! only have several more days to decide!

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Go with C, the devil you know....Get some papers under your belt, build on your current relationship and get a good LOR. Avoid the rude people.

 

[Microglia]

Man, no ideal options eh? How much research experience do you have already (how long have you been working in a lab)?

 

[alhs525]

Man, no ideal options eh? How much research experience do you have already (how long have you been working in a lab)?

Sigh, tell me about it.
I have 4 semesters and 2 summers of research. I'd say I only really learned anything in 2 semesters and 2 summers though.

 

[dcamkl1]

My advice to you, as an aspiring MD/PhD applicant:

First, do not have false expectations of publishing. Realize that outside of SDN, it is rare for undergraduates (even the ones who have worked continuously for years) to publish an article. Most MD/PhD programs and med schools do not have this expectation from you as an applicant. It certainly helps, but not having pubs does not mean it's a bad thing.

With that said, I would say NO to Professor A -- joining a new lab can be very unpredictable, though it does seem encouraging that he seems to be a young talent (from his awards). I started out with a new lab that had very few members and an inexperienced PI. I may be severely generalizing here, but young PI's are more interested in solidifying their own career and lab, so he/she may not be the "best" mentor. On the other hand, a young PI could be motivated to crank out papers to establish their lab. But there could be so much drama and issues involved with starting a new lab...

Professor C is the safe choice, but you should definitely consider Professor B. I once networked at a research function and met an MSTP and MD/PhD program director. Both said that it is recommended that applicants to their programs have experience working with disease-models (cell cultures, biological samples, or mice). This is not to say having an engineering or chemistry research background is bad (I'm sure there are many people in MD/PhD programs who once worked in an orgo lab in UG). Since it is assumed you are wanting to do research in the biomedical sciences in the MD/PhD program, Professor B's lab could give you an experience working with something that relates to a disease or clinical problem.