Lab conflicts

[MCATISEZ]

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I joined a lab in my institutions SOM while I was in college. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about scientific inquiry. I truly had a million experiences where I was so upset my experiment didn’t work I just wanted to melt.

My mentors, consisting of Ph.D candidates and the PI, were excellent. But the lab was quite unproductive. My PI wrote me a LOR that was well received by schools, and I ultimately was fortunate enough to gain admission. Throughout the entire time they have always said they want sophomores because they want their undergrads to stay for 2 years. When I joined, I “convinced” them to make an exception after I explained my plans. I was a senior when they got me. It’s been about a year and a half for me (1 glide year for me).

During this year (my glide year), I had the opportunity to get another position with another department at the same SOM. Except in this lab I have much better mentorship. In this new lab my mentor is equally reliable but a whole lot more qualified and much more “big name”. They are also a ton more productive. I’m already miles ahead of where I was before in terms of research productivity and relevant experiences (writing manuscripts, preparing posters, and more...)

I’ve managed to make time for both labs till now but I don’t know how to break it to my old lab mentors


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[Microbug]

You started at the other lab in the same institution without telling your old lab PI???

 

[Lucca]

Your PI will understand, just explain to them that the research in the other group is a better fit for you. Don’t cut ties immediately but take one to tie up loose ends and clean ur stuff out / show ur professional and care

 

[MCATISEZ]

You started at the other lab in the same institution without telling your old lab PI???

I did! But I did not ditch my old lab. My commitment to my old lab was not very intense, since I was there when I was still a student and did not have much time. So now that I’m no longer I student, I have time for both.


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[3toedsloth]

I did! But I did not ditch my old lab. My commitment to my old lab was not very intense, since I was there when I was still a student and did not have much time. So now that I’m no longer I student, I have time for both.


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What news are you going to break then?
Are you leaving or are you doing both?

 

[MCATISEZ]

What news are you going to break then?
Are you leaving or are you doing both?

My old lab is rather unproductive. I know that if I dedicate myself to the new lab, I will have more to show for it before matriculating in the fall. So I want to leave.


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[Microbug]

My old lab is rather unproductive. I know that if I dedicate myself to the new lab, I will have more to show for it before matriculating in the fall. So I want to leave.


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Ideally, you should have communicated to your old PI that you started at a new lab before you start.

You still have to let your old PI know now, and I would let him know that you really appreciate his mentorship (praise him and thank him), and tell him something along the lines that you want to explore other fields of science and there is this opportunity that opened up and you would like to pursue that. I would try to avoid making the statement "I already work there" unless he asks directly, and you should NOT lie if he does ask.

In the future, communicate and discuss these things with your mentor before just going ahead and do it. Personally, I'd be pissed if my student went off to work somewhere else without telling me when I had invested all this time training him. I would consider this to be rather unprofessional behavior. As long as you are open and honest to people about it, you can't be in the wrong. Now you've put yourself in a position where you can because you didn't let him know upfront.

 

[MCATISEZ]

Ideally, you should have communicated to your old PI that you started at a new lab before you start.

You still have to let your old PI know now, and I would let him know that you really appreciate his mentorship (praise him and thank him), and tell him something along the lines that you want to explore other fields of science and there is this opportunity that opened up and you would like to pursue that. I would try to avoid making the statement "I already work there" unless he asks directly, and you should NOT lie if he does ask.

In the future, communicate and discuss these things with your mentor before just going ahead and do it. Personally, I'd be pissed if my student went off to work somewhere else without telling me when I had invested all this time training him. I would consider this to be rather unprofessional behavior. As long as you are open and honest to people about it, you can't be in the wrong. Now you've put yourself in a position where you can because you didn't let him know upfront.

I would agree with you if I just ditched. Although I am not quite sure why it would matter when I was working in both labs at the same time and honoring my commitment with my lab. 98 percent of the work I do is with the grad students and I hardly see my PI. I was completely set on staying at both labs, but I only felt my old lab getting more unproductive.


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[Microbug]

I would agree with you if I just ditched. Although I am not quite sure why it would matter when I was working in both labs at the same time and honoring my commitment with my lab. 98 percent of the work I do is with the grad students and I hardly see my PI. I was completely set on staying at both labs, but I only felt my old lab getting more unproductive.


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It's a basic respect thing, like if someone opened a door for you, you say thank you. Moreover, you worked at the other lab with the intention that you might switch over, he could've used the time to hire and have you train another student. That would've been the considerate thing to do.

 

[MCATISEZ]

It's a basic respect thing, like if someone opened a door for you, you say thank you. Moreover, you worked at the other lab with the intention that you might switch over, he could've used the time to hire and have you train another student. That would've been the considerate thing to do.

Fair enough. I should give some time before just leaving anyhow. Thanks for the advice!


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[Microbug]

Fair enough. I should give some time before just leaving anyhow. Thanks for the advice!


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Had bad experience with this due to personal experiences anyhow. My PI was never involved really and after volunteering for years, another junior PI had position opened up. The person I worked with encouraged me to take the position so I did. My PI (more senior) found out in passing and then called the junior PI and told him it's inappropriate for him to offer me a position. Then my PI offered to pay me also because somehow funding magically appeared and wasn't available until now. So a person can never be involved but always let people know is what I learned.

 

[MCATISEZ]

Oh wow. That certainly puts things in perspective. Thanks for sharing!


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