Research Assistant role in a field I have no interest in or wait for a role in a lab that I am interested in?

[Wilted]

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I'm in a weird spot regarding research. I have been accepted as a research assistant in a social psychology lab for the upcoming semester. I don't really want to accept this position though because it is not a field I am interested in. I also applied for a lab in the spring semester with a Neuroscience (my major, much more knowledge and personal interest) professor I am very close with, and I could see him being a strong LOR writer in the future. I only got the position with the social psych lab because a different professor recommended me for it. This lab also expects at least 9 hours of work in the lab per week and I think that time would be better spent studying since my last semester was not as successful as I would have liked it to be. I might just be overthinking this but I'm also worried I am a little behind because I am going into my junior year with no research yet. Let me know any thoughts or advice!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you didn't want to do the work for that RA position, why did you apply? Give it up and hopefully the lab will find someone else who would find the work more intellectually fulfilling. But it's your call to not have a research position lined up with the horrible restrictions on funding that are happening.

 

[princeofmediocrity]

I'm in a weird spot regarding research. I have been accepted as a research assistant in a social psychology lab for the upcoming semester. I don't really want to accept this position though because it is not a field I am interested in. I also applied for a lab in the spring semester with a Neuroscience (my major, much more knowledge and personal interest) professor I am very close with, and I could see him being a strong LOR writer in the future. I only got the position with the social psych lab because a different professor recommended me for it. This lab also expects at least 9 hours of work in the lab per week and I think that time would be better spent studying since my last semester was not as successful as I would have liked it to be. I might just be overthinking this but I'm also worried I am a little behind because I am going into my junior year with no research yet. Let me know any thoughts or advice!

I would talk to the neuroscience prof ASAP and see if you can get into the lab next semester! If you're close with him, this should be a quick "yes" or "no" answer. If yes, bail on the psych lab and work for him. If no, look around for other options you find more interesting before settling on the psych one. You ideally want to do something you won't be miserable doing (at least most of the time).