UG research adviser going on sabbatical - what to do during her absence?

[ghostar]

Hi everyone,

I am a second-year undergraduate chemistry major who just began working in a professor's lab this semester. I would like to work with this professor throughout my college years, as she is the only professor in my field of interest (organic chemistry). However, she is going on sabbatical during my junior year, which would create a gap year in my undergraduate research career.

What do you guys suggest that I do during what could potentially be a missing year of research? Is there anyone on this forum who has been in this situation, undergraduate and/or graduate? The current juniors in the lab, who would otherwise be doing their senior theses with this professors, were told to ask other professors in the department for their senior project. Should I do something similar and work in another group in a different field (i.e. inorganic, biochemistry) for a year and come back to the organic lab my senior year? I am ultimately interested in attending graduate school in organic chemistry.

Thanks in advance.

[sareth]

Hi ghostar,

My UG research advisor was abroad on sabbatical during my senior year. She was willing to supervise my thesis anyway, since I'd already been working with her for two years (I had a professor who served as my on-campus contact for immediate issues).

In your position I'd definitely look for a different group for next year. You can always approach the organic professor when she comes back from sabbatical - undergrads (at least at my UG) change groups all the time. Research experience, ANY research experience, is what graduate programs are looking for, and is far more important than the fact that you did research in the exact field you want to pursue long-term. I did three years of geochemistry research as an undergrad and am now rotating in a bioinorganic lab (with a bioorganic lab up next). On visit weekends I spoke with several professors in organic synthesis who would have been happy to work with me despite my complete lack of synthetic research experience. Think how good two strong LORs that can speak to your research experience could look in your application!

Best of luck!

Edited August 30, 2012 by sareth

[TakeruK]

I definitely agree with sareth to "diversify" your research experience. You should think of the end-goal, which is having 3 strong LORs by the time you apply to grad school. If you keep working with the same person, you will only get one really strong LOR. In addition to what sareth said about grad schools wanting "any" research experience, I believe they also value a diverse research background. If you've only worked for one prof, you've only learned "one way" of doing things. Every prof/research group has a different way of running the lab (e.g. communication, computer software/hardware, publishing styles, etc.). Having good experiences at different labs shows that you are an adaptable researcher who is able to apply skills from previous experiences in new situations. This is related to the reason why many schools don't want their undergrads to stay for grad school -- it's important for a scientist to be diverse!

It would be nice if your honours/senior thesis matched up with the field you want to do graduate studies in, but that's not even necessary. For one of my REU-equivalent projects in Canada, I purposely chose something outside of my field (medical physics instead of astronomy/planetary science) because I wanted to try something other than astronomy before going into astronomy for the rest of my life. I said this in my SOP and people at schools I visited commented that they thought it was a good thing that I had experience in a "foreign" field.

In your position, I would take it one year at a time. I'd definitely do something else for my junior year project -- not because the prof would be on sabbatical (I've done many projects under profs who are away!) but because I'd want to have different experiences!