Prospective student's worries

[bicoid]

Hey, everyone.

 

I'm finishing my sophomore year of undergrad at a huge public university. For the last two years, I've been interested in medical school, but after doing some soul-searching, I'm sure graduate school is a better fit for me. As of now, I have a 4.0 GPA and have done no prep/practice for the GRE, so I can't report on how I'd do there. I've been in a lab since fall of my freshman year and love my PI. She's very supportive, and I will be doing an REU in her lab this summer before junior year.

 

Based on my coursework and personal interests, I would like to research cancer biology or developmental biology. My current school has one developmental biology professor with about 2 undergrads, and no one is researching cancer. Thus, my current research is in a lab with interesting projects, but most of the projects are in ecology -- and thus is hardly relevant to what I'd like to do in grad school.

 

Because I've been involved in this lab so much, my PI is supportive, and I've done a few poster presentations in this lab so far, should I stay here and do an REU after junior year in development/cancer, or should I try to jump ship to the developmental lab?

 

Does this matter much if I'm interested in top-tier programs in cancer/development, or are they just interested in my overall exposure to research, ability to talk about my projects, letters, etc?

[Orims]

Your undergrad research won't define your graduate school research. Based on what I experienced this application cycle during interviews faculty care more about the amount of research you've done. Personally I am currently doing research in a Virology lab and I am interested in chromatin biology and transcription for graduate school and I've been accepted to programs that have people specializing int hose fields. Your research credentials and GPA are also great, you've got a great profile! 

Best of luck when you apply, feel free to hit me up with any questions. 

[LAguy]

Like Orims said, it's definitely true that undergrad research research will not determine your field for graduate school. Like you I was pre medicine until a year and a half ago when I started being involved in research. Not only that, but my research was applied analytical chemistry. After determining that graduate school was more in my taste, I worked hard in the lab that I had already developed a good working relationship and was able to get a first author paper, an honors thesis, and several regional presentations out of it. Although my  interest was in translational aspects of genetics/genomics and my  research background was in soil science (and to top it off I stayed in my pre medicine program!), I had two interviews (I declined Emory's GMB) and was accepted into the University of Utah's MB program which I will be attending this year. 

 

My best advice is to pursue what interests you the most, but I would suggest staying in the lab you are at now if you can see yourself making good progress over the next couple years. Are you allowed a great deal of autonomy, do you lead projects or assist in authoring of papers? If you feel that you can demonstrate interest without having the experience ( via personal statement), but show you have the generalities of research solidified - I say stay. If the lab doesn't offer you either , that is the experience or interest you need, and you feel you can accomplish more at a lab that interests you more - by all means you should make the jump!

[devneuro18]

I agree with what was said above, however if you are not interested in Ecology and the work you are doing in the current lab you should jump ship. You have no idea if you will actually like developmental biology/cancer work and if you have the option of atleast understanding the pertinent work/questions from the field.

 

Supportive mentors and lab environment are great but its good to take risks and explore when things are less critical.

[threnagyn]

Don't ever... ever ever ever feel pressured to stay somewhere that you are not interested in, even if the PI is like a father/mother to you. Never feel pressured to continue doing the same thing since you have prior experience in it. A ton of people make these mistakes and end up in an unhappy situation. Follow your dreams