Leaving Research Lab Help?!

[Emily-Premed]

I'm a freshman and I started working at this research lab a few months ago. At first I was so excited to even be in a research lab but I quickly found that I didn't enjoy it at all. The research is not interesting to me anymore and I find what I am doing to be incredibly boring. The hours are long and unpredictable and are interfering with my schoolwork. My biggest problem with the lab however, is that the environment is incredibly toxic. The people in my lab are not friendly and barely talk to me. My mentor is incredibly rude and jumps on any chance to tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I am not cut out for this lab. She has left me completely stressed out because nothing that I do ever seems to be good enough for her even though I have dedicated so much of my time.

I know that I have to quit but I have no idea how to bring it up to my PI. He has been nothing but kind to me and has given me great opportunities and will certainly not see this coming. I don't like disappointing people and do not want him to feel like I am letting him down. I still would like to explore research in another area, I just know that this isn't the right place for me.

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[Glandzburg]

I'm a freshman and I started working at this research lab a few months ago. At first I was so excited to even be in a research lab but I quickly found that I didn't enjoy it at all. The research is not interesting to me anymore and I find what I am doing to be incredibly boring. The hours are long and unpredictable and are interfering with my schoolwork. My biggest problem with the lab however, is that the environment is incredibly toxic. The people in my lab are not friendly and barely talk to me. My mentor is incredibly rude and jumps on any chance to tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I am not cut out for this lab. She has left me completely stressed out because nothing that I do ever seems to be good enough for her even though I have dedicated so much of my time.

I know that I have to quit but I have no idea how to bring it up to my PI. He has been nothing but kind to me and has given me great opportunities and will certainly not see this coming. I don't like disappointing people and do not want him to feel like I am letting him down. I still would like to explore research in another area, I just know that this isn't the right place for me.

You definitely don't want to force yourself to stay with this lab for 4 years if you are miserable. Just be open and honest with the PI, and hopefully she will understand that you don't share her interests. I'm sure she would rather have student that is more enthusiastic about her field. It might be best to just stick it out until the end of the semester if she was counting on your help, however, as you don't want to come off as flaky (you never know what she may mention to other potential PI's that you may want to approach in the future).

 

[Emily-Premed]

Thanks for your advice! I definitely don't want to leave on a bad note. I would stay until the end of the semester, but I just don't think I can handle the time commitment right now and my main focus has to be on keeping my grades up. At the same time, I don't want to drop unexpectedly like you said, so I think I'll talk to my PI about a way that I can get some closure on my project over the next few weeks so that nothing's left unfinished.

 

[NonTrad16]

The last thing a graduate student or post doc wants is a student who doesn't want to be there. If it's an 'eh' experience, you should keep at it for a bit to see if you find a niche, but if it's only a dreadful presence in your life I'd move on sooner rather than later. Enjoying your research requires (among other things) really taking some time and effort to understand what's going on, and finding your niche. If you're just doing grunt work, it's often up to you to prove you deserve more. Graduate students are spending 40+ hours on research (lab, sitting at home analyzing data, fuming about sports events taking student parking on weekends and disrupting the one chance to park close to school, etc), outside of classes, so if you're working even 10-20 hours a week you're still significantly less invested than the graduate student... It's their job.

That said, some mentors are in a bad place (ie research is going poorly) and they will lash out. In my old lab the graduate students got enough exposure to undergrads to gather their own insights (from presentations, questions, presence in the shared lab) that a bad-match isn't necessarily a mark against you.

So... I'd talk it through with your PI. Maybe he can help you out. I wouldn't give up on research entirely based on one experience though!

 

[Goro]

Tell the PI the truth: about the toxic atmosphere and the interefence with your studies. Omit the boring part.

And get out of there ASAP.

I'm a freshman and I started working at this research lab a few months ago. At first I was so excited to even be in a research lab but I quickly found that I didn't enjoy it at all. The research is not interesting to me anymore and I find what I am doing to be incredibly boring. The hours are long and unpredictable and are interfering with my schoolwork. My biggest problem with the lab however, is that the environment is incredibly toxic. The people in my lab are not friendly and barely talk to me. My mentor is incredibly rude and jumps on any chance to tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I am not cut out for this lab. She has left me completely stressed out because nothing that I do ever seems to be good enough for her even though I have dedicated so much of my time.

I know that I have to quit but I have no idea how to bring it up to my PI. He has been nothing but kind to me and has given me great opportunities and will certainly not see this coming. I don't like disappointing people and do not want him to feel like I am letting him down. I still would like to explore research in another area, I just know that this isn't the right place for me.

 

[619959]

@Emily-Premed Same thing happened with me although I have to say, my PI was a lot nicer than what you are describing. I explained him the situation through an email, thanking him for the opportunity and explaining him reasons why I do not want to stay in his lab any more. But, as also said by @Goro do not mention the boring part. After all, it had showed you, what fields you might want to explore.
My PI never replied back to me though and I never went back. But, I have to say that 2 month research experience was the turning point of my life. It really showed me what I enjoy and what I do not.

 

[Emily-Premed]

Thank you all! Great advice