Research Experience for Grad School -What really count as one

[jamebex]

Hi all, I'm considering applying for graduate school in Cancer Biology come Fall 2015. Over the past months I've been seen alot of article around the internet and several advice about research experience been extremely important for graduate school acceptance. I'm somewhat apprehensive as I often times see applicants having two to three years research experience how is this even possible studying full time. Are Laboratory courses considered as part of research experience? In my undergrad institution, we are expected to take Laboratory classes as part of the thought courses. For example I have a biochemistry degree, every semester, we are expected to take between eight to ten courses, four often are majors of which we are to take laboratory classes for two, the other four or five is usually in Chemistry, Microbiology, Biological Sciences and are accompanied with laboratory classes.

Do all this count as research experience? If they do how do I quantify them in terms of years as most applicants do.

I'm sorry about the length of the write-up I just want to give out adequate info

[Monochrome Spring]

Laboratory classes are not considered research experience.

 

Research experience is doing novel research in a laboratory group (not a course) most often run by a professor who is the PI. When applicants say that they have done 2 years of research, that just means that they have been working on research in these lab groups for 2 years. The time they spend doing research each week could be anywhere from 10-40+ hours per week, depending on their course load and and other commitments.

 

For example, I have 2 years of research experience.

April-June 2012 in lab group #1- I was an assistant on a genetics study. I took care of the plants in the greenhouse for a graduate student. Approx. 5hrs/wk/

April-August 2012 in lab group #2 - I was an assistant on a cell biology study. I ran PCR and gels, and measured traits of seedlings, for a graduate student. Approx. 10hrs/wk.

August 2012-present in lab group #3 - I am an undergraduate researcher. I used to help on the postdoc's research projects, taking care of greenhouse plants. Now I am working on an independent literature review. Approx. 10-20hrs/wk during the school year and 20-40hrs/wk during the summer.

August 2013-present in lab group #4 - I am an undergraduate researcher for my senior honors thesis. I have to independently review the literature and am at a field station collecting data. Approx. 10hrs/wk during the school year and 50hrs/wk for two weeks during field season.

 

None of those experiences are laboratory courses. I could even argue that my first lab group wasn't even research since I only took care of the plants in the greenhouse, which is the same type of work I did when I volunteered at the Arboretum.

 

Do you have any experience outside of your required coursework in which you helped a graduate student or professor conduct novel research with the goal of confirming a hypothesis?

[themmases]

Classes generally don't count unless you're in a humanities field where research papers are the product.

 

Unless they took time off to work between undergrad and grad, most people's research experience is part time and either their job or an internship/volunteer work situation. I found my first undergrad experience on my college's job board just because I needed a job-- I actually had no idea at the time it would become something I was interested in. The next one was offered to me by the research coordinator over the summer, with a different professor whose work she also supported. I think people also find them by talking directly to professors they have a rapport with or whose work interests them.

[jamebex]

Thanks Monochrome Spring and themmases for your prompt and insightful reply you have saved me a whole lot of thinking.

 

I have done other things outside of coursework find them below:

 

May 2012 – December 2012: Final Year Honors Research Project

Prepared and ran experiments, analyzed and evaluated data, performed comparative analysis. Documented finding details, wrote and defended honors thesis.

 

October 2011 – January 2012: Laboratory Technician Assistant –Clinical Chemistry/Immunology Lab

Ran tests, analyzed and evaluated various clinical chemistry parameters. Prepared and standardized  Laboratory Reagents

This was actually an Internship programme in a Hospital lab

 

August 2012 – December 2012:  Assisted my Lecture in his work

Sourced and collected research literatures/materials. Analyzed, evaluated and wrote reports on research literatures collected. Assisted in developing research papers.

 

I have also helped some graduate MSc student in running some of their experiments for about two weeks

 

I am also currently doing some independent research (Literature Review)

 

Please do these count? And how do i quantify them.

Edited April 3, 2014 by jamebex

[Monochrome Spring]

Thanks Monochrome Spring for your prompt and insightful reply you have saved me a whole lot of thinking.

 

I have done other things outside of coursework find them below:

 

May 2012 – December 2012: Final Year Honors Research Project: Prepared and ran experiments, analyzed and evaluated data, performed comparative analysis. Documented finding details, wrote and defended honors thesis.

 

October 2011 – January 2012: Laboratory Technician Assistant –Clinical Chemistry/Immunology Lab

Ran tests, analyzed and evaluated various clinical chemistry parameters. Prepared and standardized  Laboratory Reagents

this was actually an Internship programme in a Hospital lab

 

 

August 2012 – December 2012:  Assisted my Lecture in his work

Sourced and collected research literatures/materials. Analyzed, evaluated and wrote reports on research literatures collected. Assisted in developing research papers.

 

I have also helped some graduate MSc student in running some of their experiments for about two weeks

 

I am also currently doing some independent research (Literature Review)

 

Please do these count? And how do i quantify them.

 

Those count. And you quantified them just fine. You've been doing research since October 2011. You don't need to do anything as fancy as multiply hours by days etc. Your applications might ask you to list each research experience and the dates through which you participated. The way you listed it is just fine.

[jamebex]

Those count. And you quantified them just fine. You've been doing research since October 2011. You don't need to do anything as fancy as multiply hours by days etc. Your applications might ask you to list each research experience and the dates through which you participated. The way you listed it is just fine.

Thanks again for your help.

 

I also have this question 

How important is the relevance of your research to your intended graduate school program.

For example I do not any research experience in Cancer Biology, but I really do want to be a Cancer Biologist. I have only been reading and reviewing literatures in this field.

[Monochrome Spring]

Thanks again for your help.

 

I also have this question 

How important is the relevance of your research to your intended graduate school program.

For example I do not any research experience in Cancer Biology, but I really do want to be a Cancer Biologist. I have only been reading and reviewing literatures in this field.

 

It depends. I think it can be very useful to have experience in the field you want to pursue in graduate school, not only because you'll understand the materials when you arrive, but also because it shows the admissions committee that you have done work in the field already. However, I don't think that it will hurt you too much, if at all. If you have a thorough background in similar areas, you still have shown that you have the skills to survive in research. In your essays, or in conversations with professors in the departments, you may want to mention your reviews of literature in the field and discuss potential projects in cancer biology, even if you never actually do the projects.

[knightrunner]

In my CV my laboratory experience is my research experience since I normally pick professors or classes that actually require short-term research projects.  An example would be is that my plant physiology class required me to design my own original experiment and that would meet my lab requirement.  The benefit is that I can show up anytime to complete my greenhouse research, but downside is that growing plants take time.  

 

The same could be said about my advance genetic class that required me to annotate original gene data and have it pass the computer test.  If it doesn't pass the dot-plots and other computer technical stuff then I fail.

[jamebex]

Thanks everyone, you lot have been of

immense help.

Your advice would help me when applying in November

[Eigen]

One other thing to keep in mind: It's all about how you frame and explain your experiences. 

 

Schools are as much as possible looking for new students who can come in, and be productive as soon as possible. That's a combination of experience with the basic necessary research techniques and experience with the overall flow of research- time management, problem solving, writing, etc. 

 

So you want to make sure the way you portray your research experiences convinces schools that you have a background in both areas, and that you can "hit the ground running" when you get there.