Research and Letter of Recommendation

[bmxbobby2004]

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Hi everyone,

I an a second year and have been doing research for over a year now. I started doing research the first week of winter quarter last year. I started off with my own independent research project in which the post docs in my lab would help me with. But it has been a year, my experiment has not gotten much progress since the summer and I have become much less motivated to keep going to lab for about 15 hours a week.
On that note, the post doc's i work with have noticed my lack of motivation in the lab as i have been making careless/stupid mistakes with my experimental setups. I know they can tell because they have talked to me about my level of motivation and wanted to make sure whether i was still committed or not.
Originally i thought i would be able to get a letter of recommendation from them when i decide to leave the lab but now that they have vocalized their concern about my lack of dedication to the lab, i was wondering if it is even worth trying to get a letter of rec from them anymore? Also i was wondering how it would look if i did research for a year and did not get a letter of rec from my PI. Lastly would not continuing to do research at this point(after a year of experience) hurt my application as compared to continuing for another year?


thanks for the help!

 

[aznxsa2587]

I did no research at all and still got accepted into dental schools this year. In fact, I went to six interviews and none of the interviewers ask me why I lack the research experience. So, don't worry too much if you decide to quit research. On the other hand, use all your effort to boost up your GPA and sGPA to as high as possible (aim for 3.30+, preferably 3.5+). Study hard for the DAT and try to aim for 20+. As for the recommendation letter, I would not ask them to write you one. You don't want anything in your application that might give a bad impression to the adcom.

 

[dantemac]

Don't even bother getting a letter. A mediocre letter is a bad one in your application pathway.

 

[UCLAzy]

lots of people try research and lots of people hate it. move on to something you enjoy.

 

[doc toothache]

On that note, the post doc's i work with have noticed my lack of motivation in the lab as i have been making careless/stupid mistakes with my experimental setups. I know they can tell because they have talked to me about my level of motivation and wanted to make sure whether i was still committed or not.
Originally i thought i would be able to get a letter of recommendation from them when i decide to leave the lab but now that they have vocalized their concern about my lack of dedication to the lab, i was wondering if it is even worth trying to get a letter of rec from them anymore? Also i was wondering how it would look if i did research for a year and did not get a letter of rec from my PI. Lastly would not continuing to do research at this point(after a year of experience) hurt my application as compared to continuing for another year?

Not a great loss on your lor from the post docs since a letter from them would be barely notch above one from the lab maintenance engineer. Your PI might have been OK if you took a bonafide course from him/her, but that bridge appears to have already been taken care of.