Volunteering in POI's Lab

[kaister]

Hey everyone! I took a year off after graduating (not by choice, I just didn't get in anywhere lol!) Anyways, I'm back home and working part time and volunteering in a lab at a nearby university. I just recently found a second passion and area of interest (which gives me more options when applying this season). Kind of perfect, that I found a lab that does that exact work (the one I'm volunteering in). I haven't yet told this POI that I plan to apply with her lab (she is a new professor and has no grad students yet, but will be accepting applications this season). Should I tell her asap that I want to apply to this university or should I wait a little bit and let her get to know me first? I've been working for about 1.5 months so far and I'm going to meet with her soon to talk about starting an independent project (which she is awesome and willing to supervise). Also, I wanted to ask her advice about other universities to apply to and professors that have this same interest, which I'm sure she'll have great advice for.

Thing is, I still want to apply to schools with research in my OTHER main interest (which is not related to her work at all, cognitive), but I plan to ask her for LORs in my applications for grad school because she will be my most recent research experience. Would it be awkward to ask her for letters for applications to professors/schools with her similar interest? OBVIOUSLY, she's not gonna write a LOR for my application to her own university/lab LOL! But, should I just keep it separate, where, with the schools I'm applying with her specialty focus (social) that I just choose a different letter writer and just ask her to write the letters for my applications to the Cognitive programs? I'm just worried the applications I send to the Social programs, they'll be like "Why isn't there a LOR from her most recent research experience?!"

I just realized how confusing this all sounds. Anyways, main point, would it be awkward to ask her to write LORs for me when I'm also going to be applying to work with her? Is that a conflict of interest?

Thanks for the advice!

[PsychGirl1]

No, I've seen it happen fairly often (writing LORs when also applying to the same lab).

I would sit down with your PI and go through your list with her and ask her for suggestions. I'd first explain your two separate interests, and make it connected. (For example, when I did it with my current advisor, I explained that I had taken our main research area and then expanded it to include related things in multiple directions- so main research area + health psych focus, main research area + social psych focus, etc.). Just conceptualize it so that it would make sense why you are stretching in multiple directions without saying that you don't have passion for the area she works in. Then I'd tell her that you narrowed it down to a list of x schools and wanted her advice on schools/programs and PIs. On your list, I'd mention that you looked at the program where you work and that you really liked it and were interested in talking to her about possibly applying. If you keep it on that level of sort of picking her brain and getting advice, I think it's a much less awkward conversation than the other possibilities.

[kaister]

Thanks! I will definitely approach it that way. I will talk to her soon. The thing is I am passionate about the work she does, which is perfect. I just happen to have a completely separate interest that I'm also really passionate about lol.