Quitting lab position

[socal6]

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Hello again SDN'ers,

I posted about my situation a while back. Anyway, I'm back and in need of some more advice. I've given my work situation more thought and have pretty much made up my mind about quitting. And funny enough, I would be the second/third person (depending on how you look at it) to do this, which really goes to show what my lab environment is like. I despise my boss more and more by the day, so even if I were to stick this job out for a letter of rec, it might not even be worth it.

My friend is working at the University's hospital, in an ophthalmology clinic and loves it. She has offered to put in a good word for me with her supervisor to help me get an interview since they are looking to hire this May/June. She told me she gets a lot of interaction with patients, and I would be working with doctors, residents and some techs (as opposed to grad students and post-docs). My "dilemma" is that this job would not fit in with my "story"/angle for med school.

Would I be silly to quit a job that would look great on my resume and get a more clinical position doing something I would probably enjoy a lot more?

Have any of you ever been asked by an interviewer why a work experience seemed unrelated to everything else on your app?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[Oso]

I don't think the slight benefit of having one more semester of research compensates for you being miserable every single day. If you hate working in that lab, then I personally think you should leave. If the ophthalmology clinic seems like a better fit, then I think that's the way to go. You'd get to interact with patients, learn about an interesting specialty, and BE HAPPY.

One thing though, why would working at this clinic not fit with your story?

 

[nemo123]

If you aren't happy and think you'll be miserable, then you should probably leave for your own sake. Move onto that ophthalmology clinic position if you think you'll be much happier in that environment.

Like Oso said, if you're goal is to go on to med school, working in a clinic setting full time isn't going to raise any eyebrows.

 

[Lya]

There is nothing wrong with the diversity in your ECs. I've worked with labs whose culture and personality didn't fit with mine, so I understand what you mean there. No, it won't look bad.

My work experiences in cancer research lab and hospital seemed unrelated at all with my other significant ECs like teaching music and engineering projects overseas. In my 5+ interviews, no one cared.

 

[socal6]

I don't think the slight benefit of having one more semester of research compensates for you being miserable every single day. If you hate working in that lab, then I personally think you should leave. If the ophthalmology clinic seems like a better fit, then I think that's the way to go. You'd get to interact with patients, learn about an interesting specialty, and BE HAPPY.

One thing though, why would working at this clinic not fit with your story?

It wouldn't fit as well as my current position because my angle is about working with stigmatized health populations and diseases like HIV and my lab does HIV research. I also did clinical research relating to HIV earlier this year, so working in this lab fits perfectly into the story.

 

[nemo123]

It wouldn't fit as well as my current position because my angle is about working with stigmatized health populations and diseases like HIV and my lab does HIV research. I also did clinical research relating to HIV earlier this year, so working in this lab fits perfectly into the story.

You can continue to volunteer with HIV patients on the side if you take up the clinic job.

 

[Oso]

It wouldn't fit as well as my current position because my angle is about working with stigmatized health populations and diseases like HIV and my lab does HIV research. I also did clinical research relating to HIV earlier this year, so working in this lab fits perfectly into the story.

Ah, I see. Ok well this is my personal, fellow pre-med opinion:

I don't think that you quitting this lab because it sucks is equivalent to selling out or caring less about stigmatized populations. If your story is truly about alleviating health disparities among stigmatized groups, then I think schools will see that, and one less semester of research won't really change their minds.

Yes, your current lab fits in very nicely and it looks great on paper.... but how productive are you in lab if you hate it? What will you have to say about it during interviews? I think working in the clinic may be a nice chance of pace. If you were only a little annoyed with your PI or something, I would suggest you stay in the lab. But if you're as miserable as you say, then I don't think staying there is the best thing to do. You can be productive and happy working in the clinic. And like Nemo said, you can always volunteer with HIV patients or another stigmatized group. There can never be too many volunteers providing services to these populations.

 

[socal6]

You can continue to volunteer with HIV patients on the side if you take up the clinic job.

Ah, I see. Ok well this is my personal, fellow pre-med opinion:

I don't think that you quitting this lab because it sucks is equivalent to selling out or caring less about stigmatized populations. If your story is truly about alleviating health disparities among stigmatized groups, then I think schools will see that, and one less semester of research won't really change their minds.

Yes, your current lab fits in very nicely and it looks great on paper.... but how productive are you in lab if you hate it? What will you have to say about it during interviews? I think working in the clinic may be a nice chance of pace. If you were only a little annoyed with your PI or something, I would suggest you stay in the lab. But if you're as miserable as you say, then I don't think staying there is the best thing to do. You can be productive and happy working in the clinic. And like Nemo said, you can always volunteer with HIV patients or another stigmatized group. There can never be too many volunteers providing services to these populations.

Great advice, guys. I really appreciate it. I'm not a fan of my boss. Objectively speaking, he's a poor mentor and communicator, and moody, which makes my job unnecessarily difficult (on top of the fact that I don't enjoy the work). People in my lab have admitted this to me. It's really frustrating, but I can't do much about it. My boyfriend has suggested I try showing more initiative and speaking to him at the beginning of every week just to touch base, and I'm completely open to the idea. However, I know this will wear me out in the long run because I'm an independent person by nature and cannot deal with being micromanaged. I consult the grad students and post-docs when I am uncertain with something I'm doing, so it's not as if I'm doing things on my own terms.

I see my productivity declining at work and I don't want to it continue. I am usually very upbeat and enthusiastic about the work I do but that has clearly changed since I started working here. I feel like all of my energy has been drained doing work I don't find fulfilling and dealing with my boss/colleagues.

 

[kyamh]

Great advice, guys. I really appreciate it. I'm not a fan of my boss. Objectively speaking, he's a poor mentor and communicator, and moody, which makes my job unnecessarily difficult (on top of the fact that I don't enjoy the work). People in my lab have admitted this to me. It's really frustrating, but I can't do much about it. My boyfriend has suggested I try showing more initiative and speaking to him at the beginning of every week just to touch base, and I'm completely open to the idea. However, I know this will wear me out in the long run because I'm an independent person by nature and cannot deal with being micromanaged. I consult the grad students and post-docs when I am uncertain with something I'm doing, so it's not as if I'm doing things on my own terms.

I see my productivity declining at work and I don't want to it continue. I am usually very upbeat and enthusiastic about the work I do but that has clearly changed since I started working here. I feel like all of my energy has been drained doing work I don't find fulfilling and dealing with my boss/colleagues.

Full steam ahead to find something you love! One thing though. In your last post you said that you want to work independently and checking in with your PI once a weeks feels like micromanagement...did I read that right? If you are hoping to move to a more clinical setting, then you should consider the fact that you will have considerably less independence, especially if your goal is to work with patients. You will be many times more micromanaged in a real clinical setting.

You should find out a little more about the position and not just rely in what your friend assumes you mean, ask for details. You and your friend may have different ideas of what it means to be independent. I, for example, would not feel at all overly managed if I had a weekly meeting with my PI, so I would tell you that my lab provides a great independent atmosphere....and my assessment would be incorrect for you.

 

[socal6]

Full steam ahead to find something you love! One thing though. In your last post you said that you want to work independently and checking in with your PI once a weeks feels like micromanagement...did I read that right? If you are hoping to move to a more clinical setting, then you should consider the fact that you will have considerably less independence, especially if your goal is to work with patients. You will be many times more micromanaged in a real clinical setting.

You should find out a little more about the position and not just rely in what your friend assumes you mean, ask for details. You and your friend may have different ideas of what it means to be independent. I, for example, would not feel at all overly managed if I had a weekly meeting with my PI, so I would tell you that my lab provides a great independent atmosphere....and my assessment would be incorrect for you.

No I completely agree with you. I would expect to be monitored very carefully working in a clinical setting, which I don't mind. I just don't think that that level of management is necessary with research if you are asking the questions you need to ask and are consulting a more experienced colleague when you need help with your experiments - which I have been doing. Most of the time I am just repeating experiments that didn't work; I'm not moving forward with my own agenda. I see where he is coming from - wanting to be included in the process. It's just he is so unclear with his expectations that the only way I can prevent myself from getting blamed is to allow him to micromanage and criticize my every move. I'm by no means a postdoc with my experience, but I can think for myself and reason through problems given the opportunity.

I also overheard someone from my lab mention how my boss wants her to start checking in with him daily and I think that's when I started to panic that my once a week thing would have to escalate to something more, since he brought up this issue with us on the same day. The once a week thing is merely a goal I set for myself.

 

[socal6]

I also don't avoid seeing him. The few times we have met, it was through my own initiative. I just haven't felt I've advanced far enough in my project to speak to him often. I'm still trying to iron out some of the little things. I just need to feel trusted and respected at my job to be happy, and I truly do not feel I can get that here.

 

[URHere]

It wouldn't fit as well as my current position because my angle is about working with stigmatized health populations and diseases like HIV and my lab does HIV research. I also did clinical research relating to HIV earlier this year, so working in this lab fits perfectly into the story.

You already know that you want to switch labs - as far as I'm concerned, you don't need anyone else's permission to do it.

As for your medical school "story", you can do as others have suggested and volunteer with an HIV+ population outside of work, but you could also talk about how ophthalmology applies to underserved populations. In my city, there are a substantial number of homeless veterans with untreated diabetes, and students, ophthalmologists, and other healthcare professionals quite frequently volunteer to give eye exams at free clinics. Some even have specific "diabetes nights" where treatment is exclusively geared towards this population.

My general point is that your "story" can change as it needs to, and I don't think switching research fields will be too much of a hurdle.

 

[knv2u]

I don't think the slight benefit of having one more semester of research compensates for you being miserable every single day. If you hate working in that lab, then I personally think you should leave. If the ophthalmology clinic seems like a better fit, then I think that's the way to go. You'd get to interact with patients, learn about an interesting specialty, and BE HAPPY.

One thing though, why would working at this clinic not fit with your story?

I agree with this. If you are miserable, it will show and you will not perform at your best (and it will hurt any prospective letter of recommendation). If you are able to secure a position in another lab, go for it. Medical admissions committees may look favorably upon a candidate who demonstrates intellectual curiosity and does not appear to be unidimensional.

 

[LabratABQ]

I say if you don't enjoy it then quit. Cause you ain't gonna learn anything from that job.

 

[Espadaleader]

If you don't like your boss and they are not a good communicator you will not get a good letter and you just won't have fun. Leave. You can make your new research part of your story. Most specialties has a connection to the underserved. Eye care is no exception. Good luck!

 

[socal6]

Really appreciating all of the great advice guys. I'm starting to see how I've been limiting myself because of this one story. A couple of positions are also opening up in the surgery department where I work, so I'll look into those as well 🙂

 

[Oso]

Really appreciating all of the great advice guys. I'm starting to see how I've been limiting myself because of this one story. A couple of positions are also opening up in the surgery department where I work, so I'll look into those as well 🙂

Nice! I hope you find a position that you truly enjoy.