How much research experience?

[soporific]

Hi all,

 

I just finished my first year of undergrad and am currently working in a research lab for this summer. At first when I entered university, I thought I would apply to medical school. However, as I have been exposed more to what doctors actually do, I'm not so sure I'd like it. While keeping the option open for med school, I'd like to get enough research experience to present a competitive application for a top graduate school in Immunology. I would be an international applicant so a bit of a disadvantage there, but my institution is very well known for the field I'm working on right now, my GPA is 4.00 through the first year (though may drop slightly), and I already took the GRE, scoring 170/170/5.5. (I just want to say here I'm not a troll and really appreciate whatever advice you can give me.)

 

Unfortunately the lab I'm working in now, though they have offered me a part time job through the year, is located about 20 minutes away and it wouldn't be possible to slot it in with my classes and the times the samples come. I do love this lab though, so I'm planning to come back in the future summers. I'm also planning to take a research course/thesis through third and fourth years.

 

In the meantime, 20 months of experience (+ 4th year thesis) probably wouldn't be enough experience to apply for a top PhD program straight out of undergrad. Thus, I'm thinking about volunteering in a different lab on the main campus for a few hours each week through my 2nd year, just so I can present enough years on my eventual grad school application. Probably it won't completely be on immunology since all that stuff is done at the medical campus 20 minutes away, but maybe something like microbiology or genetics. However, my focus will still be on my classes in case I do apply to medical school...

 

What do you think about this? Do you think I should try to get in a few hours (I'm thinking like 3 or so per week...) in order to have more experience on my application? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Edited July 13, 2013 by soporific

[soporific]

TL;DR: Is 20 months + a 4th year thesis enough research experience for a top PhD program, or should I volunteer a few hours per week over this next year?

Edited July 14, 2013 by soporific

[BPC]

The way I see it, there are a few different components that make up "research experience" as a whole.

 

1. The amount of time you actually spent. This can be judged very generally. 6 months is very little, 5 years is a lot. A person could, in theory, make this up. In my opinion - just giving the amount of time you spent in a lab is not a very good indicator of anything. It probably matters less for admissions.

 

2. The letter of recommendation you get out of it. This is HUGE. It is arguably the most important component of your application. It assigns some sort of value to all of that time you spent. Some things to keep in mind: The stronger your relationship with this person - the better. The more you impressed them - the better. The more people that can speak on your research abilities - the better. So rather than judging how a few extra hours a week is going to look to an adcom, you should be thinking about how strong a relationship you can foster with that professor and how good the LOR will be. Again, time is not going to be judged as much as the letter.

 

3. Gaining actual research experience: Being able to speak well about your research, applying what you've learned about, and asking the right questions as well as designing the right experiments. This will most likely show through in your SOP and interviews. Obviously, you're going to be much more knowledgeable for every additional year you spend doing research. However, across individuals, some are going to develop this quicker than others. You need to sort of judge yourself on this. Again - this plays into your SOP.

 

Your SOP and LORs are the two most important parts of your application. They are both affected by the amount of research experience you have, but aren't necessarily going to be of some value Y after timeframe X. I realize this entire response has just been a lot of fluff and I haven't really given advice, so here it is: I think you should do the extra lab work because it will expand your horizons, most likely leading to a more informed SOP and hopefully a good LOR from that PI as well.

 

And on a side note, the exact topic of your research won't make as much of a difference. My most notable research experiences were in a field outside of what I'm going to be doing in graduate school. Look at it as a chance to display your research potential in general. 

[soporific]

BPC, thank you for your insight. I hadn't thought of it that way before, since on this forum, everyone talks about research experience in terms of years. Probably it's just easier to quantify.

 

I'll try to arrange a volunteer position throughout the year, even if it's in a different field. If I can do well, then a reference letter from another PI would probably be stronger than someone I took a class with. As well, doing research in a different field can expand my horizons; exposure to a different lab group probably wouldn't be a bad thing either.

 

Thanks again. You've really helped