Time commitment for undergrad research?

[stat3113]

What is the typical time commitment for being an undergraduate research assistant? I.e. how much time do professors usually expect you to put into it?

(Note: I don't have extensive background in the field, so I think most of what I'll do is pretty entry-level)

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[gleneagles3]

What is the typical time commitment for being an undergraduate research assistant? I.e. how much time do professors usually expect you to put into it?

(Note: I don't have extensive background in the field, so I think most of what I'll do is pretty entry-level)

For me:

Full time in the summer, but what that actually means is getting my work done and working whatever hours are necessary. For example, today I worked 4.5 hours but actually get payed for 8. I have a great professor who says my studies come first during the semester and only wants me to come in when I am absolutely free. Has been a perfect situation for me!

 

[yobynaes]

For me:

Full time in the summer, but what that actually means is getting my work done and working whatever hours are necessary. For example, today I worked 4.5 hours but actually get payed for 8. I have a great professor who says my studies come first during the semester and only wants me to come in when I am absolutely free. Has been a perfect situation for me!

depends how much you want to work in a lab and how much you need to beef up your med school application.
also, from what i've seen, pretty much everyone start out working in a lab-especially a science lab-from the entry level, aka, dish washer. if you wanta go directly into something more interesting, start research your senior year after you take all the higher level science courses with labs which ought to provide you some of the skills required for the research project. on the other hand, you prolly won't ahve time to publish or at least the publication can hardly contribute to your med school application.

 

[gleneagles3]

I started my sophomore year with absolutely no experience, and obviously limited exposure to upper level classes. The key is finding someone who needs your help. My researcher was more than willing to show me the ropes to everything once, and I just took over from there whenever necessary. I have progressed and am currently working on my own experiment, along with helping my researcher and the PH.d students with their projects. I also plan to be published in the very near future.

 

[Rud42]

I think most professors would not require more than 15ish hours a week (or maybe less) from a starting undergraduate. Like stated above, you would probably start off doing very unstimulating work (dishwashing, etc.). If you start like this, I would suggest that you should try to watch and learn as many different procedures, techniques, etc. to show the professor you want to be a part of the lab. Also, once you get into a lab, or even when you are talking to a professor, start reading some material about the subject from peer-reviewed papers and other literature; this should also help show you are dedicated.

 

[capn jazz]

I started off working 15 hours a week. Follow the grad students and post-docs and ask them to tell you when they're doing certain procedures. Take reeeeally good notes (as in, you could do it on your own just from your notes) and ask questions about anything you're unsure about. Most people love to help, but only if you put in a good amount of effort.

We had a student who never, ever got it. Never took notes, always asked for help with the same procedures after having shown him over and over again, asked stupid questions that a little bit of googling/reading/looking around him would've answered. The lab couldn't stand him. Don't be that guy.

 

[Rud42]

We had a student who never, ever got it. Never took notes, always asked for help with the same procedures after having shown him over and over again, asked stupid questions that a little bit of googling/reading/looking around him would've answered. The lab couldn't stand him. Don't be that guy.

Very true... put the effort into what you're doing and people will definitely notice. A lot of learning is done on your own.

 

[meowkat444]

10-15 hour is pretty typical

 

[stat3113]

Do you get to choose the timing for the research based on your own course schedule, etc? Or do profs have strict time constraints that they expect you to come in on?

 

[tigercu]

12-16 hours

 

[PickledFingers]

I get paid for about 20 hours a week, because thats all our grant could allow, but I do more like 30-40 hours a week, but the bigger thing in my opinion is the wierd hours you have to come in. I find myself many nights sleeping in the lab so I can run experiments over night. It isn't a constant thing, but I don't know how many times I have been sitting down to eat dinner and my advisor calls to have me come in to look at some gels or to talk about things we are going to be doing. I have found that everything takes about 3 times as long as you think it should and at times can seem stupid. I think research hours are more about when the hours are, not how many hours. Most of the time when an experiment is going anyways, I am just sitting around or studying. Who knows maybe it is just me. My research is with a specific protein, and the majority of my time is spent harvesting the protein from cells, which is a start and stop process. Just my thoughts.

 

[Mobius1985]

Do you get to choose the timing for the research based on your own course schedule, etc? Or do profs have strict time constraints that they expect you to come in on?

Typically, you get to tell them when you are available. They should feel that attending class should come first. I never had a problem with this. What is harder to plan arround is weeks with tests or special projects you need to get done for your classes. Unfortunately, it's hard to find out what their expectations are before you start when you have a special circumstance. I was lucky to work with a PhD candidate who DID feel class and studying came first. Some weeks I only came in for four hours, and others I made up for it by spending 16+ hours on the weekends alone.

 

[EBI831]

Mine sucked it was 5-7 hours for every hour of credit so i did it for 2 hours of credit and had to find 10-14 hours to give to the lab while studying for my MCAT and carrying a full schedule of classes. and my research was pretty boring too during undergrad.

 

[ssquared]

I was required to do a minimum of 10 hrs per week per credit hour.

Most PIs will set standards of what is expected before you start, so it won't be ambiguous. It should be very clear what your goals and requirements are.

Fortunately, most profs let their students set their own hours, but it depends on the project. If you require direct supervision then it'll be different than if you're completely autonomous. Weird hours abound, then. It wasn't unusual for students to come into my lab at 2am, in their pjs, to check on a cell culture or purifications. I didn't keep those hours, but that's because I'm quite devoted to sleep!

 

[hopeforlife]

I get paid for about 20 hours a week, because thats all our grant could allow, but I do more like 30-40 hours a week, but the bigger thing in my opinion is the wierd hours you have to come in. I find myself many nights sleeping in the lab so I can run experiments over night. It isn't a constant thing, but I don't know how many times I have been sitting down to eat dinner and my advisor calls to have me come in to look at some gels or to talk about things we are going to be doing. I have found that everything takes about 3 times as long as you think it should and at times can seem stupid. I think research hours are more about when the hours are, not how many hours. Most of the time when an experiment is going anyways, I am just sitting around or studying. Who knows maybe it is just me. My research is with a specific protein, and the majority of my time is spent harvesting the protein from cells, which is a start and stop process. Just my thoughts.

Nop ur not the only one, I absolutely agree it depends on the research it self not how many hours you hav to put in, cuz some process if u start you can't stop but the next day u won't hav anything to do but wait on the results, it all depends, i , this summer, found my self comin in as early as 6:30 am to check on cells, yeast, some times won't leave till 11:00 pm