switching projects/labs

[DrMeditrina]

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i joined my lab about six months ago and have been working on a single project since then
although, it is going ok, i feel i am loosing interest in the work

i can't decide if i want to drop the phD or pursue another project that seems of greater interest to me

any advice for how to approach the topic with my mentor would be great

 

[dl2dp2]

You need to decide if you want to drop the PhD or drop the project.

If you just want to change the project, that's usually easy. The standard approach is to tell your adviser that you want to also work on this other project that you are more interested about, and play with it, and report back interesting results, and then gradually phase out the old project. There's no need to go crazy over just dropping one vs. picking up the other hard and fast. It's always nice to have a few backup plans in case one project vs. the other doesn't work out.

Now if you want to drop PhD, that's a more serious matter. While it's not the end of the world, I would urge you to think very carefully about your options. Do you have excellent scores and can work very hard for the clinical rotations? Do you know what kind of medicine you want to get into? Are you sure you would love medicine vs. science? Once you go that route you can't go back, and you may end up thinking holy crap I should've stayed in PhD longer and went on a few more vacations.

 

[itsallthesame]

Tell us a little more about how you are losing interest as well as what your background with research is...

-How long have you spent working full time on a single research project in the past?
-Are you losing interest because you can't see this project as being relevant to medicine?
-Does the project seemed poorly designed?
-Do you feel like you are carrying out experiments that will answer the question that you have set out asking?
-Do you care what the answer to this question is?
-Is there someone else in your lab whose project you're really jealous of?

As sloux mentioned, this is an important decision. There are LOTS of reasons that people end up unhappy in a lab. A few that I've witnessed include: they aren't really interested in basic science research, they don't have the patience to live at the tortoise pace of science and only answer small, small bits of the questions they want to be answering, they are unhappy for another reason and blame it on lab, they just aren't interested in their project, they see other people doing well and wish that they could have those results w/o the work, progress is too slow, they have a fundamental disagreement with their PI, etc.

You could also consider changing labs; however, a more comprehensive analysis of your situation than that which you presented would be required to decide if: 1) changing nothing related to your phd 2) changing projects 3) changing labs or 4) dropping the phd is the best course of action for YOU.

 

[fibrosis mudfud]

Is there anyone besides your PI that you could talk with about this?

I was in a similar situation in a lab where I was not excited about my project as well as it being not very clinically related and too narrowly focused. In addition, the other grad students in the lab were taking 6-7 years to graduate which was over the average for grad students in the program.

We have a very understanding program director and he was the first one that I went to talk with. After talking with him, I realized that I really did want to switch labs and that spending another 3.5-4.5 years on a project I wasn't interested in wouldn't be useful.

It isn't unheard of for students to switch labs, and PI's are usually at least somewhat understanding. They don't want a grad student to be completely miserable working on a project because then the project won't be completed as well as it could be.

In the end if you do want to continue the PhD, it is better to lose six months and have a good but slightly longer grad school experience than be stuck with a project you don't like for all of grad school.

 

[john316]

Tell us a little more about how you are losing interest as well as what your background with research is...


As sloux mentioned, this is an important decision. There are LOTS of reasons that people end up unhappy in a lab. A few that I've witnessed include: they aren't really interested in basic science research, they don't have the patience to live at the tortoise pace of science and only answer small, small bits of the questions they want to be answering, they are unhappy for another reason and blame it on lab, they just aren't interested in their project, they see other people doing well and wish that they could have those results w/o the work, progress is too slow, they have a fundamental disagreement with their PI, etc.

Wow, I must say that during my graduate studies, I have felt all of these things that you've mentioned at one time or another, specifically the tortoise pace of science

 

[DrAmaPhD]

i joined my lab about six months ago and have been working on a single project since then
although, it is going ok, i feel i am loosing interest in the work

i can't decide if i want to drop the phD or pursue another project that seems of greater interest to me

any advice for how to approach the topic with my mentor would be great

Sorta extreme, no? Like it's been said...you might want to go over your initial reasons for wanting a PhD. I've met alot of students who get jaded over the course of their PhD-obtaining journey (and go slightly mad), but then they remember why they signed up in the first place...and they trudge ahead to graduate.

If your project sucks, and you really can't get with it...I'd follow the advice that's been given so far:

• ask for advice from another faculty member (like people on your committee, the Dean, Asst. Dean, head of your program or dept, etc.) who you're comfortable with and who you know is honest.
• look into other topics that you are interested in & yet relatable to your PI's work, and try to develop a project that your PI would be interested in letting you pursue.
• try to incorperate techniques/aims into your current project that are of interest to you, and yet in line w/ your PI's research focus.

If all else fails, and your PI isn't progressive & helpful, then think about switching labs.

 

[DrMeditrina]

thanks for the advice.
so far i've stuck with my project. things are going a bit better. i guess dropping the phD would be too extreme, and so i've abandoned that idea. i may try to incorporate another project in case this one does not work out.