switching labs--please give advice?

[larka]

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Hey,

I'm a rising sophomore, hopeful MD/PhD. I worked for about 8 mo. in a lab at school, but I came home to work in a different lab for the summer. My summer job has made me realize my school job is awful, in terms of the quality of the research. The school lab is basically everything people tell you to run away from (last grad student is leaving the lab/no postdocs, last serious paper dated '08--the PI had a paper last year but it was a political shared authorship thing, PI has significant clinical duties) but I didn't understand any of that when I was choosing labs.

So I really want to switch to a different lab. But there are a lot of cons: 1) There's a chance we'll get a paper out in the next year, and I'd be 1st/2nd author. 2) I'm not looking forward to starting over with grunt work and no pay. 3) PI gives very flexible work times-->good for maintaining GPA. 4) He'll write me a great LOR but if I quit it might not be as great. 5) I'd want to work in the same field = with one of his co-workers. Awkward?

I know you're supposed to stick with the same lab for a long time, and this doesn't look good. One solution to that might be to delay applying for one cycle, but the MD/PhD program is so long already...

Anyone want to give advice?

 

[Build]

A lot of the things you're concerned about may be more pressing if you're in graduate school, not undergrad. Most of the metrics of research quality you mentioned have to do with concerns for making sure you can get a thesis done in a reasonable amount of time. I'm assuming you have problems with the actual research content itself, but you didn't mention anything about it. The most important things to consider are whether you feel you're learning from this lab and you like what you're doing. Adcoms are not going to care about whether your undergrad PI is up and coming at your university or fizzling as much as they do about your experience and how you present it.

If you like the work and feel you're learning and moving towards a pub, stay and don't worry about if the lab is slowing down as a whole. If you hate it, do some discrete shopping around to see what's out there before you weigh out the option of switching. If it's simply an issue of you've seen what a hot shot lab is like and wish you were in one now, keep in mind that you always have grad school to find one for yourself 🙂

Good luck!

 

[URHere]

If you are a rising sophomore and have already have a year of lab experience (with two separate lab groups), then you are way ahead of the pre-MD/PhD curve. Switching labs and starting over someplace else is not going to set your application back, and it certainly won't necessitate taking a gap year after undergrad.

With that in mind, if you are unhappy with your current lab, then you should not be afraid of leaving and finding something new. However, if you want to keep your current PI as a usable reference or LOR writer, you should be careful about how you make the switch. Do not mention to your PI that you think their research quality is sub-par, but also don't flat-out lie to them if they ask why you wish to leave. In general, I think most PIs will be understanding of the fact that students may want to shop around a bit before settling on a lab long-term, and if you leave graciously then you should be alright.

Another option is to find a project that is a sort of bridge between your PI's research and his colleague's research and then to work in concert with both labs. I did something similar to this as an undergraduate and found it to be a great experience.