biology research experience useful?

[kaister]

While ill be trying to get more psych related research experience in my year off, i have the opportunity to do some volunteer work in a bio lab, stuff like food science and gene amplification (it is a good friends lab and they will overlook the fact im not a bio major, its free help for them). Would this sort of experience be valuable at all even if my research interest is not in biopsych or GxE psych (my interest is cognition, perception) Do you think listing these skills learned would help at all?

[3point14]

It probably won't hurt you, but you should definitely try to get some psych research experience too. They like to see that you're capable of doing research in general and if you do well you'll probably get a nice letter of recommendation out of it. I'm in behavioral neuroscience, and I did two summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates in chemistry (one was doing plant cell wall research and one was doing drug delivery research) and both the PI's I did the summer programs with wrote letters of recommendation for me. However, I also did two semesters of behavioral neuro research, and my PI in that lab wrote my third letter.

[lewin]

General RA experience is good because you can learn how people in a lab interact and how science generally gets conducted. I echo the above about getting psych experience too if you can.

My one concern would be that it's run by a "good friend". You don't say whether the friend is a student, prof, etc. Just make sure the experience can potentially produce a good letter from somebody with nice credentials. The letter is more important than the skills.

[Arcadian]

While ill be trying to get more psych related research experience in my year off, i have the opportunity to do some volunteer work in a bio lab, stuff like food science and gene amplification (it is a good friends lab and they will overlook the fact im not a bio major, its free help for them). Would this sort of experience be valuable at all even if my research interest is not in biopsych or GxE psych (my interest is cognition, perception) Do you think listing these skills learned would help at all?

If you're going into perceptual/cognitive psychology, then biology is absolutely relevant. Perception and cognition would not be possible without biology. You might be able to bring extra knowledge about cellular and molecular levels of analysis that most cognitive psychologists don't have. For that alone, I think you should get respect for your research experience.

As for the methodology, they are very different. But I think you can pick up what you need in your first year or two of grad school. The fact that you've done bio research shows that you are capable of learning and doing good work.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Arcadian

[kaister]

Thanks for the advice all! Arcadian, that's what I was thinking, that it couldn't hurt to have the extra experience that maybe others in psychology don't always get. I would of course put precedence on research experience I get in the psych department, and if the bio one would hinder that I would not take it on. I'm just trying to find ways to fill my time in my year off and get as much as I can. But of course, I will seek out psych related experiences first, this biology one was just one that was offered to me, so I'll always have that as a backup. I already have psych related research experience, so I'm familiar with that, I would be out of place in the biology lab, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to learn new methodologies (and I do have one year coursework of biology major done, so I have sooome experience). The good friend is a graduate student, and from what I'm gathering, she has a large say in who the PI will let work in the lab, and he's a relaxed type of professor.

Would a LoR from a biology professor be valuable? I figured it wouldn't, since I already have two LoRs from psych professors I've done research with and another one from a professor that knows me and my passions a lot better. Because of that I didn't even think to seek out a letter from this potential experience...

[lewin]

Depending on what you mean by "knows me and my passions a lot better" it might be worth replacing that letter with the bio profs, assuming that he/she will get to know you while you're working there. It's more important for a letter to describe what you've done in a concrete, detailed, and positive way then to talk more vaguely about the things you're interested in. Everybody is smart, passionate, etc., so concrete details are important.