Thoughts on Future Lab Experience

[mjr2013]

I am a first year transfer (undergrad) student at a top 5 university (HYPSM). Psychology major.

Within the first three weeks of the first quarter, I was working in a BCBA lab with one of my professors. This progressed well, and he asked me to help him develop the course I was taking in order to advance the course within the University to achieve a higher status and for students taking the course to receive undergraduate requirements within it.

I did so over winter break, and the work paid off, as he offered me a paid position in the lab this quarter, 10 hours a week. In that position, I will be working with him and a PhD student from a different university on a project he has had shelved for a while, regarding a childhood genetic disorder. He has told me he wants me to be the lead within the lab on the project (which he already spoke to the PhD student about), so I am hopeful to be the second name on the publication.

Furthermore, this summer I plan to do a Community Based Research Project in my home state of Michigan. I am designing an entire program curriculum at the moment that will be implementable at a nonprofit I worked at last summer. I'm not sure if it will be publishable in the end, because I'm not sure how well I will do at designing the program (hopefully well!), but it will turn out to be a presentable poster at the very least. The program itself will be a nice independent project that could easily turn into its own research project one day.

All of this is fine and dandy. I am looking to (hopefully!!) enter grad school in the Fall of 2020, graduating here probably after Fall or Winter Quarter of the 2019-2020 academic year. I am likely to apply for Clinical Child Psych programs (the dream) as well as School Psychology or Counseling Psychology programs.

SO, leading to my question if you're still with me, looking to the future, after this summer, would I be best to spread my wings to another lab, in order to get another quality letter of rec, or is staying where I've had success (assuming I have success) more advantageous? Or is it feasible to do volunteer work for another lab, like I originally did with this lab, while continuing to work for this lab? While I'm interested in the genetic disorders this lab does research on, it's also fair to say it's not my longterm goal in research.

And I guess additionally, is there anything more you think I should be doing at this time to improve my grad school applications?

Thanks in advance!

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[mjr2013]

Another question - When I finish undergrad in Fall of 19 or Winter of 20, what are good interim positions to take, without knowing what/where my future may take me? Do most attempt to find a research position with the possibility of a quick exit from the lab? Attempt to find something more longterm in case the application season doesn't fare well?

 

[Ollie123]

Likely not getting many replies because you sound to be in pretty good shape. Ideally, you'd probably do some work at least semi-related to what you want to study. Switching labs and branching out is a reasonable choice. Alternatively, if there is a way to meld the two and the faculty member is sufficiently open/flexible, staying put and continuing to grow in an environment where you have been successful is far from a bad choice.

I guess it depends what you mean by "quick exit." From a grad school perspective, the ideal is probably a traditional RA/coordinator These will generally want you to sign on for at least 1-2 years. Leaving early (barring exceptional circumstances) risks burning bridges with future colleagues. Sometimes shorter terms are agreeable, depending on circumstances. This is especially true if you are a known factor (i.e. if you are already working in a lab and trained up - they might keep you around during a gap - no one will want to train someone for 3 months only to have them leave in month 4). These are typically stepping stone positions and not meant to be long-term (though obviously people do it sometimes). There are also a million other perfectly acceptable options though...especially if someone already had strong research exposure (which it sounds like you will). Following the RA/coordinator path is probably more important for someone with minimal research experience prior to that point.

Basically, you're doing great. There really isn't a clear "best" choice for these things - what one faculty member wants, another will not. Keep an eye out for good opportunities and take advantage of the ones that make the best sense at that time. Its really all you can do.

 

[mjr2013]

Thank you @Ollie123 ! I appreciate your insight. I think a good plan is to stay in school as long as financial aid will allow me, up to that Fall of 2020 grad school entry (hopefully).

 

[PreDrANB]

To answer your questions, if I were you, I would try to work out a way to keep the paid position (paid research positions look excellent on grad apps), but also get into a lab that studies what you want to study. That way, your grad apps will show that you're valuable as a researcher (the paid position), and that you have experience working with the kind of data, literature, population, etc. that your future POIs are working with. Also, that publication you said you'll probably get will be extremely valuable on your CV, so do that if you can.

And during your off-time between undergrad and grad school a paid research position is definitely the way to go, if possible.


I was in a similar position last year, and while I don't like to say I regret anything, I can't help but wonder if I would be receiving more invitations to interview at programs this year had I made a different decision (the stress of waiting to hear back from programs will make you reevaluate every decision you've ever made).

Long story short, I volunteered in a lab that studies children with disabilities for a year as an undergrad and was hired on as a lab coordinator for a federal grant-funded study in that same lab after I graduated. My personal focus is child trauma - still clinical, just not disabilities. In this lab, I've been fortunate enough to gather data on interparental conflict and harsh discipline, so I've been able to somewhat steer my personal projects towards the direction of what I want to study in grad school and beyond, though still all under the umbrella of disabilities. I had the opportunity at one point to leave the paid position to pursue an unpaid RA position at a lab that studies exactly what I want to study, but my financial situation would not allow for that without severe strain, so I decided to stay in the hopes that I would get on a publication before I applied to PhD programs. The publication never panned out, however. So, while I have all of this FANTASTIC experience running a federally-funded study, administering assessments and psychophysiological measurement, and presenting research at a bunch of conferences, it's all somewhat unrelated to my personal interests. I did my best in my statements of purpose and CV to spin all of my experience to show that it is related to my trauma interests, but I can't help but wonder if I'm still being ranked below other applicants whose research experience is all related to what the POIs are doing.

That's my story (well, part of it).

And don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I have gained amazing experience from this lab and I am receiving interview invites. I should be fine at the end of it all. I'm just not receiving as many invites as, say, my labmate who does want to study disabilities and thus all of her experience is directly related to the interests of her POIs (she also has better GREs and GPA, and has 2 pubs..... so there's that). There are many many many many different factors that go into the evaluation of applications and its truly all about how you spin your experience in your SOPs, etc. so if you can't get into a lab with more relevant topics, you will be just fine. But if you're trying to set yourself up for the most success, I say go for the best-of-both-worlds option.

Best of luck to you!!

 

[mjr2013]

@PreDrANB Thank you for your reply! Your story is actually extremely similar to mine, in that I am currently researching childhood genetic disorders (what the paper will be on), and my personal area of interest is also childhood trauma, and exploring the recovery efforts around that trauma.

What I am leaning towards at this moment is staying in this lab as long as they'll give me a chair to sit in. The paid position is guaranteed by the university until the end of the academic year, and I'll keep it that long in the paid position. For next Autumn, even if they don't offer me a paid position, I can return, either for credit or as a volunteer. That will give me a good longterm (2+ years) lab I've established a relationship with, and I'm sure they would have me doing more than just pencil pushing at that point, even with a shorter time each week.

On top of that, I will spread out to either a psychophysiology lab studying the emotion of trauma, or a life stress lab working with trauma. I'd prefer the latter, but it's harder to get into as an undergrad.

I'm hopeful that will give me the best of all worlds:

- Longterm relationship with lab in which I've published a paper (+LOR)
- Developing relationship with a lab in which I've studied my direct area of interest (+LOR)
- Self-directed independent research in a 10-week summer project