Post Bacc Research During Gap Year

[celloology]

Hi everyone!

This is my first time posting on SDN, so I hope this works out.

I'm currently a junior at a well known state university (won't specify for security reasons lol), and I have been a research assistant in one of the psych labs on campus since the summer going into my sophomore year (summer 2016). While I enjoy being an RA in this lab & getting exposed to the research process, this lab doesn't align with my research interests, and unfortunately, none of the other labs on campus do either.

I do plan on applying to graduate school in the future (not directly after graduation), so I've been looking for labs whose research interests align with mine, and I actually ended up finding a lab that would be the perfect match for me! This research lab part of a small state university (R3 school), so I was wondering if it really matters where you do your research post-bacc, as long as the experience is relevant? Or should I look into a more reputable school and see if their labs align with my interests?

TL;DR: Will doing research at an R3 school not be held as favorably as someone doing research at an R2 or R1 school? Or does ranking really not matter at all? Is it mainly about the work that you've done during your time working in that lab?

Sorry if this is long, and I appreciate any replies!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DSMX]

If the topic is what you truly care about and what you hope to research in the future, go for it. It will be great to have experience in that line of research ahead of time (even if it's at a less reputable institution). Presentations and pubs are the currency above all when applying to graduate school. And you're actually more likely to have the motivation to make those pubs and presentations happen if it's in a topic you care about.