Thinking of Quitting Job...

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Katatonic

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I have a pretty good job at a hospital/research area, and I've learned quite a lot about working in a research environment. My primary responsibility is making SDS-PAGE gels for the researchers, and I used to do some tissue culture stuff (just keeping a cell line and did one Lysate prep). However, I've still gotten no "research experience". I barely have enough time to be at work as it is (~20 hours a week), so I'm pretty sure I'm never going to get my own project to work on. My PI has already let me know that my primary goal is keeping the gels stocked, everything is secondary. I've been here for 8 months and I feel like it's not going to do anything for my application anymore. I'm considering quitting if I can find a position with a professor on campus where I can get some research experience, but I'm not sure if this would be a good idea? Any advice is appreciated.

*I'm a Junior now, applying to Ph.D programs this next Summer/Fall.

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If your PI said that your primary job is stacking gels, you won't get any independent experience or a letter that can speak to your scientific capabilities, IMO, in that environment. I would find another professor that will let you get in on a small project you can take responsibility for, but I wouldn't quit your other job until you've got that locked down. From my experience, having "research experience" but no project of your own can be a red flag, as you will need to articulate a hypothesis and rationale for your approaches during interviews.
Hope this helps,
G
 
The problem with undergrads doing research is that many of them don't have the time to devote to it, so they start things and don't finish them. This is why PI's don't like to let work study type students get their own projects. But I think it may be time for you to move on...you might have to volunteer/take research for credit in order to get your own project. If someone is paying you to do a job, you can't expect them to spend a ton of time mentoring you and to let you have your own project...it's hugely time consuming for them, to get just a little, if any, research output from you. That's the problem you are running into.
 
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Get rid of it as quickly as possible (but definitely have something else lined up). I had a very similar experience where I thought I would get an opportunity to do some independent research, but it turned out that I was tending tomato plants and designing PCR primers for the entire summer. I quickly found another professor to work with who agreed to be my mentor, not my employer.

It's true that undergrads are a huge time commitment for a PI, but they also can be very helpful. If there's a post-doc who needs to finish up a project, it can be useful to have an extra pair of hands. Another instance, which is more relevant to my experience, is if a PI wants to pursue a project that's too risky for a grad student or has a kind of fringe idea that he/she wants to check out. This can give the PI a kind of 'safe' way to try something wacky while giving the undergraduate a lot of technical and creative experience.

In terms of finding a professor to work with, talk with your undergraduate biology office and see if they know of anyone or can help set something up. If not, just browse through the different departments and find ~10 people who're doing research that interests you. Write them all and tell them about yourself, your interests, your plans, and what you're looking for in this experience. Another idea is to apply for a summer research experience. A lot of MSTPs have summer undergraduate programs and the NIH also has a great summer research program.
 
Thanks for the advice, it reinforced what I was thinking. I think I'll spend this term trying to find a professor who would be okay with taking on an undergrad with the prospects of having a small project eventually, and if that works out than I can ease out of my current job.
 
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