Which situation would be better?

[glasscandie]

I got a tentative invite from a faculty member at UMD to do an (unpaid) summer internship (have to re-contact him in a few months to make sure the spot is still available).

Currently, I am interning at Hopkins working with 2 researchers and on 3 different studies; in addition, I am doing my senior thesis there. I was recommended to apply for a fellowship, which would fund me over the summer to continue there, and I literally just started getting paid for my hours. I guess I'm just that awesome :mrgreen:

Anyway. So I don't really want to leave Hopkins, I feel like I'm getting a really in-depth look at researching in the field of neuroscience - I'm part of planning meetings, meeting with collaborators, analyzing data, brainstorming when issues come up with projects, etc. Not to mention - possible funding. My main supervisor there has been incredibly helpful, she's always pushing me to think outside the box, letting me bounce ideas off of her, giving me the chance to take on some aspects of her projects, etc.

However, at this point in time, I only have two PhD letters of rec - my two supervisors from Hopkins. The other letter I have secured is from a clinical/research internship I did at a psychiatric rehab. facility, where I did some research and some clinical stuff - but she's an LCPC, and it doesn't have much to do with neuroscience. The letter would be great, she wrote me one when I applied to Hopkins for my internship and it was outstanding.

Is it better to do the summer internship, so I would possibly be able to have 3 letters of rec's from PhDs and a wider range of research experience? I suppose I could ask one of the collaborators on the projects I'm involved in for a letter, right? Or is that not something you do? I'm not very close with any of the faculty members at my school, though I do know 1 who'd be willing to write me a letter, but it'd probably be very general.