In 3 research labs. Which would you quit?

[TheOverthinkingPremed]

As the title says, I am currently in 3 research labs (BME, social psychology, and neurology) as a first-year double major.

Obviously, it is a lot to manage and I am starting to feel it. However, I do not know which one I should drop. Let me give some details and hopefully you all can help guide me.

1) BME: I really like this lab, I do about 10 hrs/week, in person, working under a PhD student. I am the youngest in this lab by far but everyone in the lab is nice and is willing to teach me about anything. Most people (premeds, grad students, a postdoc) are going to leave after this year so those people that I really like will not always be there. However, the PI is extremely nice. Overall, I enjoy going to this lab and staying late need be. Publication should be coming in less than 1 year. Feels like I got a lot to learn but is not overbearing.

2) Social Psych: 5hrs/week, usually not in person. This really isn't a research lab. I work directly with the professor on various projects (running experiments, writing manuscripts, etc.). Presented his work at 2 conferences thus far and will be in publication project for manuscript I helped write as a first-author soon-ish. Will be able to do my own independent research project. Social psychology so not medical related.

3) Neurology: 10hrs/week in person. PI is MD/PhD and practicing neurologist. Lab focuses on movement and neurodegenerative disorders, which I am really interested in. I am also thinking about getting an MD/PhD of my own and going into something neuro-related (neurology, neurosurgery). However, I do not like the lab. It is highly unorganized. The PI is rarely there and the post-doc I work under is pretty incompetent and does not want to teach me. The PI is cool when you talk to him one-on-one and I would get a strong LOR for working in this lab. I have been doing data entry, stats, and graphs and just got cleared to work with the mice. Every 3 weeks, I have to take a nitrogen tank across campus to fill it up and I DREAD doing this. However, I have presented work at one university research talk and would get on 2 publications in the future if I stay.

Thinking about leaving the Neurology lab (which is gonna suck because I want to like it) despite its potential upsides for production for LOR, pubs, etc.

Let me know your thoughts.

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[sciencerules135]

I am just another pre-med student so I am not an expert, but I have always been told to do what you love and are interested in because your medical school application will be able to see that passion. It also doesn't matter if you did it if you hated it and have nothing good to say. Even though on paper the neurology lab may seem to provide the potential most benefits, it sounds like dropping that one is your choice. You don't want to dread doing something every week. From my POV, it seems like you enjoy your BME one the most. I would stick with that one and lean into that. I have been in a research lab all four years of my undergraduate degree and have only one poster to show for it, however I love my lab. I think my medical school application showed my passion and I had lots to talk about regarding all the research I did and how I would love to continue researching in this field in medical school. I hope this helps. Do what you love because this is a long road!

 

[dope.uh.mean]

100% agree with sciencerules135. Leave the lab you enjoy least. Don't bet on staying in the neuro lab for the possibility 2 future publications or any other extrinsic motivators; I was promised 1-2 first-author publications for the current job I have now, and so far 0 have come to fruition. Luckily, I enjoy my research job enough for that not to be a problem for me.

You should approach this situation similar to all of your other work and activities: do what you are most passionate about and not with the mentality of checking boxes. You will be much more able to craft a coherent narrative for your motives in pursuing medicine/science and you will enjoy the process much more. Even if you don't get a publication out of your other labs (which it seems like you would anyways, hopefully), you will be able to speak on your experiences with a much richer and deeper connection if you genuinely enjoy it, and I'm sure you will still receive stellar LORs from your PIs.

-(coming from a recently admitted MD student who did undergrad research in a lab I loved, was able to write about it well, and got a stellar LOR but 0 pubs from it)

 

[WildWing]

I would add that you have a very valid reason for leaving - with all your activities and your double major, you can say something like, "Given my commitments, I don't feel I am able to give this great opportunity the attention it deserves," or something like that, and no reasonable person would fault you for it.

 

[Goro]

As the title says, I am currently in 3 research labs (BME, social psychology, and neurology) as a first-year double major.

Obviously, it is a lot to manage and I am starting to feel it. However, I do not know which one I should drop. Let me give some details and hopefully you all can help guide me.

1) BME: I really like this lab, I do about 10 hrs/week, in person, working under a PhD student. I am the youngest in this lab by far but everyone in the lab is nice and is willing to teach me about anything. Most people (premeds, grad students, a postdoc) are going to leave after this year so those people that I really like will not always be there. However, the PI is extremely nice. Overall, I enjoy going to this lab and staying late need be. Publication should be coming in less than 1 year. Feels like I got a lot to learn but is not overbearing.

2) Social Psych: 5hrs/week, usually not in person. This really isn't a research lab. I work directly with the professor on various projects (running experiments, writing manuscripts, etc.). Presented his work at 2 conferences thus far and will be in publication project for manuscript I helped write as a first-author soon-ish. Will be able to do my own independent research project. Social psychology so not medical related.

3) Neurology: 10hrs/week in person. PI is MD/PhD and practicing neurologist. Lab focuses on movement and neurodegenerative disorders, which I am really interested in. I am also thinking about getting an MD/PhD of my own and going into something neuro-related (neurology, neurosurgery). However, I do not like the lab. It is highly unorganized. The PI is rarely there and the post-doc I work under is pretty incompetent and does not want to teach me. The PI is cool when you talk to him one-on-one and I would get a strong LOR for working in this lab. I have been doing data entry, stats, and graphs and just got cleared to work with the mice. Every 3 weeks, I have to take a nitrogen tank across campus to fill it up and I DREAD doing this. However, I have presented work at one university research talk and would get on 2 publications in the future if I stay.

Thinking about leaving the Neurology lab (which is gonna suck because I want to like it) despite its potential upsides for production for LOR, pubs, etc.

Let me know your thoughts.

It's really obvious: Lab #1.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

Former research assistant here: I have a few guiding principles for you to consider.

1. You are smart to consider dropping a lab. At this stage, your grades need to be your #1 priority. Don't follow the path of my medical school classmates who had to spend an extra couple years and 80k+ on an SMP. You are young and can avoid this if you play your cards right.

2. PIs are NOTORIOUS for telling you exactly what you want to hear, and they make it sound super enticing. Tread carefully. Have you seen evidence with your own eyes that all these publications are on the way? They might be, but you could well be strung along for the next couple of years with nary a publication in sight. Also, work put in =/= publications. I got my name on publications for projects I put a couple of days' worth of work into, but other projects I spent thousands of hours on will probably never be published. Publications are mostly being in the right place at the right time. While the possibility of publications can be a consideration when choosing a lab, you don't want to be stuck doing work you hate while the PI strings you along with "we're gonna publish this next year."

3. At this stage, you should stick with whoever is going to give you good mentorship. Lab #3 does sound cool if you like the PI and find the research interesting; you might consider ways to work around the post-doc. In my experience working under post-docs, they are stressed about their own stuff and may not be thrilled to have to deal with undergrads. Taking initiative to figure out what you need to learn from them and saying something like "hey, I need to learn X so that I can do Y. Is there a time you could teach me that?" can help. Basically, make it super easy for them to teach you what you need to learn. All that aside, you might discover that you hate working with mice and all of this will be a moot point.