Is it worth it?

[Belfagor]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm a Sophomore now at a state university, and this summer I'll be studying for the MCAT, so I can take it in August. I was looking into summer programs that would allow me to get some daytime work/research in while still giving me time to study at night. My stats are competitive enough (although some of these summer programs are ridiculously competitive), and I should have a year of funded research completed before summer begins.

About two weeks ago I saw some ancient listing on an online bulletin board for the state biomedical research board or something along those lines. On a whim, I emailed an MD/PHD (the P.I of the project) and asked him if it was still open. I sent him some info after he replied and he asked to meet me. After an interview he basically told me that the position was mine if I wanted, he just needed to speak to my research advisor to determine the long term aspects. Sounds great, but there's a huge problem, however, in that the hospital can't payroll me since I'm not licensed. That's 40 hours a week of volunteer research. I can't afford that without taking out more loans, and I don't really want to.

When I brought this up to him, he said he would understand if I didn't want the spot, but that if I was intending to apply to medschool, then working with a team of cardiovascular surgeons might be a great idea. He went so far as to tell me "this would definetely be worth it". He then told me that they've had Ivy League grad and doctoral students come to participate and write their thesis' (sp?) on the project. My BS meter kind of went off on that, hoping he didn't want a petri scrubbing monkey to scurry to and fro while the researchers took figurative dumps all over the lab. But, apparently he wants me to start reading the literature soon so that I can be able to summarize the research by the summer so that I'd be ready and caught up to contribute.

Now that I've bored those of you still actually reading this to tears, I suppose my underlying question is whether or not to devote my summer (and he wants me to stay longer than that as well) to a project where the cashflow is ZERO. He could just be trying to maneuver me into free labor, so I'm calling on those of you with research experience to help me read into this one.

Thanks for your time. 🙂

 

[xadmin]

Simple answer. No do not take it. He is using you for work. a PI who you just described is very selfish if that is how he really is. Based on what you told me, do not do it.

I'm a Sophomore now at a state university, and this summer I'll be studying for the MCAT, so I can take it in August. I was looking into summer programs that would allow me to get some daytime work/research in while still giving me time to study at night. My stats are competitive enough (although some of these summer programs are ridiculously competitive), and I should have a year of funded research completed before summer begins.

About two weeks ago I saw some ancient listing on an online bulletin board for the state biomedical research board or something along those lines. On a whim, I emailed an MD/PHD (the P.I of the project) and asked him if it was still open. I sent him some info after he replied and he asked to meet me. After an interview he basically told me that the position was mine if I wanted, he just needed to speak to my research advisor to determine the long term aspects. Sounds great, but there's a huge problem, however, in that the hospital can't payroll me since I'm not licensed. That's 40 hours a week of volunteer research. I can't afford that without taking out more loans, and I don't really want to.

When I brought this up to him, he said he would understand if I didn't want the spot, but that if I was intending to apply to medschool, then working with a team of cardiovascular surgeons might be a great idea. He went so far as to tell me "this would definetely be worth it". He then told me that they've had Ivy League grad and doctoral students come to participate and write their thesis' (sp?) on the project. My BS meter kind of went off on that, hoping he didn't want a petri scrubbing monkey to scurry to and fro while the researchers took figurative dumps all over the lab. But, apparently he wants me to start reading the literature soon so that I can be able to summarize the research by the summer so that I'd be ready and caught up to contribute.

Now that I've bored those of you still actually reading this to tears, I suppose my underlying question is whether or not to devote my summer (and he wants me to stay longer than that as well) to a project where the cashflow is ZERO. He could just be trying to maneuver me into free labor, so I'm calling on those of you with research experience to help me read into this one.

Thanks for your time. 🙂

 

[uptoolate]

Clinical studies like the one you're describing usually have grant money set aside for research assistantships. Maybe they are running low budget, but asking 40 hours unpaid sounds hokey-and the people with whom I work would never ask that, especially from a student. If you really need the experience, however, I might offer 10 hours a week to see whether it was valuable or not.

As an undergrad, I did some very limited free research work at Harvard. Its amazing how that name, even when associated with some very blah experience, overshadowed a lot of very meaningful work done in more obscure environments when I went to grad school years later.

 

[PineappleGirl]

What you're describing here doesn't sit right with me either. I agree with what uptoolate said, offer 10, maybe 15, hours of your time as a volunteer, but no more. There's no reason to work 40 hours a week on this and ABSOLUTELY no reason to take out loans to do this. If you just want something to put on your resume take it and do just a few hours a week.

 

[ElKapitan]

I agree with the posts thus far. My experience with PIs are that they are usually crazy, lying, egotistical madman (or woman). This is especially true at big name academic settings. Even the PI's I have liked on a personal level still are rather unctuous when it comes to research. This guy is looking for slave labor, committ to 10 hours a week at the most.