To give you a bit of background, I am in an MD/PhD program in a highly ranked research university. I started off as a medical student and after doing research for one summer after my 1st year, I decided to apply to the PhD program as well. I took a leave of absence to do a PhD after my 2nd year, hoping to return to medical school once my PhD was over.
The first year of my PhD program, I did rotations and took all the required classes. Then during my second year, I joined a lab with plenty of funding and strong publications. More than 6 months into my research project, my PI left the university and I had to find a new lab. This was really hard because most labs I was interested in lacked funding. I finally found a lab which I really liked but after 2 months of working there, the prof told me that she doesnt have funding and even though I did an awesome job, she cannot take me
. So I ended up losing a lot of time.
Now I have joined another lab. I really like the projects and the PI/co-workers are super nice. However I am really annoyed by the lack of work ethic in this lab. My PI is an MD/PhD and he is gone most of the time and he does not seem to be very knowledgeable about the science. He publishes low to mid tier journals and is not very productive. There are 3 other graduate students in the lab and I get the impression that they are not enthusiastic about science and do not have a strong work ethic. They work 3-4 hours a day and when the PI is away, do not show up at the lab. They are always coming up with ways to avoid work and do not seem interested in science in general. It is not surprising that none of them have any publications. Also, there do not seem to be that many projects in the lab. I have one project that I'm working on, but it's going super slowly. I only have 10-15 hours of work to do per week and I am getting super bored and frustrated. Ideally, I would like to have a couple more projects under my belt.
I am super frustrated with this situation. I do not know that things will get any better if I join the lab. I am worried that this lab is not for me and I will not have a productive and successful PhD. I have already wasted a year in the previous lab, and I would like to graduate in the next 3 years so that I spend a total of 9 years in the MD/PhD program. (I am already in my 4th year!) On the other hand, I love science and research and even if I quit now, I would be interested in pursuing research in the future, hopefully even get a PhD at a better institution in the future. What do you think I should do? Should I quit my PhD and go back to medical school?
The first year of my PhD program, I did rotations and took all the required classes. Then during my second year, I joined a lab with plenty of funding and strong publications. More than 6 months into my research project, my PI left the university and I had to find a new lab. This was really hard because most labs I was interested in lacked funding. I finally found a lab which I really liked but after 2 months of working there, the prof told me that she doesnt have funding and even though I did an awesome job, she cannot take me
. So I ended up losing a lot of time.Now I have joined another lab. I really like the projects and the PI/co-workers are super nice. However I am really annoyed by the lack of work ethic in this lab. My PI is an MD/PhD and he is gone most of the time and he does not seem to be very knowledgeable about the science. He publishes low to mid tier journals and is not very productive. There are 3 other graduate students in the lab and I get the impression that they are not enthusiastic about science and do not have a strong work ethic. They work 3-4 hours a day and when the PI is away, do not show up at the lab. They are always coming up with ways to avoid work and do not seem interested in science in general. It is not surprising that none of them have any publications. Also, there do not seem to be that many projects in the lab. I have one project that I'm working on, but it's going super slowly. I only have 10-15 hours of work to do per week and I am getting super bored and frustrated. Ideally, I would like to have a couple more projects under my belt.
I am super frustrated with this situation. I do not know that things will get any better if I join the lab. I am worried that this lab is not for me and I will not have a productive and successful PhD. I have already wasted a year in the previous lab, and I would like to graduate in the next 3 years so that I spend a total of 9 years in the MD/PhD program. (I am already in my 4th year!) On the other hand, I love science and research and even if I quit now, I would be interested in pursuing research in the future, hopefully even get a PhD at a better institution in the future. What do you think I should do? Should I quit my PhD and go back to medical school?
