Senior Honors Thesis Question

[Salience]

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[RejectClinical]

I am new on here but I was hoping for some advice on a particular situation regarding an undergrad honors thesis.

I'm currently an undergrad ra in a Neuropsych lab with a very supportive professor at a top ten research university. I asked him about projects and he said that he wanted to match me up with 2 projects that he already was ready to pursue (one involving childhood disease and one involving an autoimmune disease, and actually a third that I'm not too interested in), and all of them were extremely different. Basically I could go ahead and choose one of them for my honors thesis and the other I could take a less primary role in.


The autoimmune study is almost done collecting data from a different researcher through collaboration, and would be pretty much be the easy route. The other study would involve me doing the project from the ground up, including testing the subjects and collaborating with a new professor and lab. I am slightly more fond of the childhood study because I actually enjoy being involved, but I think I would have more to put on my resume if I did the autoimmune study because I'd have freed up more time to do get involved with additional projects.

I also want to add that I already have experience working with a project from the ground up, so maybe that's why I would find this childhood study also a valuable learning experience, but not as realistic when it comes down to time management- as I'm also going to be taking graduate level courses at the same time.

A third option would be for me to think of my own study!

What do you think is the best option: the more interesting childhood study but way more work and less time to get involved with other studies to add to my CV, or the autoimmune study which will have the data collected for already? Or the third?

The professor has already told me to go with what I'm most interested in, and thinks both are equally interesting and important studies. I'm asking you guys to see if you think one will make me more competitive for acceptance into a program over the other.

Speaking strictly time management, I would go with the one that is almost done collecting data. If you're considering grad school, however, I would choose the project that most closely matches the research interests you are looking to pursue in graduate school. While almost all research experience is good experience for an application, a research experience that most closely matches the POI you intend to choose is the best.

 

[Chenelsea3]

From past experience, I would strongly recommend going the easy route (and I almost never advise the easy route). My honors thesis was a new project, working with children, and in the end I had 10 participants and no real data to speak of. I basically had to rewrite my entire introduction and methods when I realized I wasn't going to have enough data to carry out my original analysis about a week before I had to defend, and it was a big pain. Working with children brings up all sorts of IRB issues that make collecting data really difficult, especially if it is a clinical population, which it sounds like yours is. I would take the autoimmune project, and then with all your leftover time, go ahead and get involved in some of the other stuff. that's just my two cents though... you're lucky to have so many awesome opportunities!

 

[304402]

I collected all of my Honors Thesis data and at all of the grad school interviews I have been on the Profs have asked how early I actually got involved in the project and how much of it I did myself, and seem to be impressed/lean towards someone who has been with the project from the ground up rather than just analyzing existing data. Also, why do you need to get other research experience while doing your Honors Thesis? I personally think it is better to show your commitment to that study by putting as much effort in as you can, instead of trying to spread yourself too thin (and possibly presenting yourself as unfocused) by adding another project. I also agree with the above post that you should do the one that most closely matches the area of research that you want to continue in grad school. But any way you choose to go, good luck with the thesis - it is a lot of work but definitely a worthwhile experience.

 

[NeuroPhD2010]

I'd go with the "design my own study" route!

 

[Salience]

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