Seeking Advice on My Journey as Aspiring Biologist

[microbecode01]

Dear friends,

I am an undergraduate sophomore (US) with double majors in microbiology and mathematics. I wrote this post to seek your advice and help on my plans and interest. My future goal is to attend a graduate program in virology/immunology and become a virologist and research the co-evolution between the human immune system and pathogenicity of human viruses and also the genomics of those pathogens. During my freshman year, I worked as an undergraduate lab assistant in the environmental bacteriology lab focused on the HPLC-based proteomics and I have been working as a lab assistant again in the chemical biology lab focused on the DNA microarray technology since the summer. Of course, my lab experience is not directly correlated with my interest but I participated in them because I was not qualified yet for the immunology or virology research until now (I just finished a course in immunology). Since eary December, I sent emails to various professors in immunology and medical microbiology labs and I fortunately got into an immunology lab focused on the genetics of viruses and their influence on autoimmunity, and I also got into a computational/systems biology group focused on the genomics of viruses and molecular genetics of human.

I am both drawin into both labs, particularly the immunology lab as PI there suggested that I work as an independent researcher and he will treat me as a graduate student; he also has several projects I can independently work but I will not going to have external help other than him, who promised that he will meet with me in a weekly basis and guide my research. I am also drawn into the computational biology group since the topics are also interesting and it really connects the biology to computer science to mathematics (my second major). Naturally, I want to work in both labs as I have a lot of time and the computational biology group does not require a lot of time in the lab as the projects are based on computer and mathematics. PI there said that he wll teach me the basics of computational biology and give me some small projects as time goes on. Should I work in both labs? My personal opinion is that having both strong "wet" research skills and computational/programming skills will make me more competitive not only in the graduate program applications but also in the future research.

How important is GPA in the graduate program applications? Should I focus more on the research and developing a good relationship with my mentors than the studying? I currently have not-so-good GPA (my freshman year was a disaster) but I have been getting a good grades. As for grades, do graduate programs looks unfavorably on C and D? I have a couple of C's in my freshman year....

Thank you very much for your time, and I apologize for this long post and grammatical errors!

Sincerely,

MSK

[future.grad.student]

You're already on a really good path. But I would say find one lab and do really good research while maintaining a good GPA. The graduate school process is a holistic one so it's always hard to say for sure exactly how important each component of the application is. I can tell you that Cs in freshman year aren't gonna be a big deal if you have improved in sophomore and junior year. They see that as a sign of maturity, so don't even stress it. There is no doubt, however, that having both a really strong GPA and a great lab experience is to your benefit. Don't stretch yourself too thin. Work in one lab to get good experience and work to get good grades. Which lab you want to work in is totally up to you, as I'm sure you'll do great things in either one. If I were in your position I'd be happy to work in a computational lab. Wet-lab techniques can always be learned and read up on (at least that's what I think). It's harder to read papers about computational research and just get it (again that's just me) so working hands on in a lab would so good! I wish I had the chance to work in a comp bio lab as an undergraduate! You'll be just fine, trust me. I do think that good research exerience and good letters of recommendation are incredibly important so you're well on your way to a successful grad school app.

[GeoDUDE!]

I respect the fact that you want to maximize your chances to get into graduate school, but also know that graduate schools don't want robots. I know that is hard to see now. 

 

Think about what your JR and SR years are going to be like: upper division classes, 2 labs. Where is the time for yourself?

 

You should focus on getting better grades than your freshman year, working in 1 lab, and attending a few parties. If you are not having fun in college, and having fun doing research doesn't count, you are probably doing it wrong ( I suppose some people may really really not want a social life). 

 

If the 1st lab doesn't work out, you can switch! Remember, you still have 2+ years of college left! Undergraduate research is undergraduate research: topic isn't as important as the process. Grad schools just want to see you getting your feet wet. 

 

The most important thing you can do to get (and be successful) in graduate school, no matter what discipline, is become a independent thinking adult that is aware of what he/she needs to be happy.  The nature of the question "Should I work in both?" suggest that you are in the mode of checking graduate admission boxes for the sake of checking those boxes. There is plenty of time to do that after college: if you don't get in the first time you can do a masters first.  You never get another chance to do undergrad, those life experiences are unique and irreplaceable. 

[neuropanic]

I respect the fact that you want to maximize your chances to get into graduate school, but also know that graduate schools don't want robots. I know that is hard to see now.

Think about what your JR and SR years are going to be like: upper division classes, 2 labs. Where is the time for yourself?

You should focus on getting better grades than your freshman year, working in 1 lab, and attending a few parties. If you are not having fun in college, and having fun doing research doesn't count, you are probably doing it wrong ( I suppose some people may really really not want a social life).

If the 1st lab doesn't work out, you can switch! Remember, you still have 2+ years of college left! Undergraduate research is undergraduate research: topic isn't as important as the process. Grad schools just want to see you getting your feet wet.

The most important thing you can do to get (and be successful) in graduate school, no matter what discipline, is become a independent thinking adult that is aware of what he/she needs to be happy. The nature of the question "Should I work in both?" suggest that you are in the mode of checking graduate admission boxes for the sake of checking those boxes. There is plenty of time to do that after college: if you don't get in the first time you can do a masters first. You never get another chance to do undergrad, those life experiences are unique and irreplaceable.

Love this advice. It's not impossible to enjoy yourself and do well. I'm in a sorority and managed a 4.0 this semester (Christmas miracle!!!!!). I ended up putting off my lab experience until January because I wasn't sure what I wanted. I took this semester off to take a good hard look at my interests, enjoy myself, and focus on grades. Now I'm pretty sure that I'll enjoy what I'll be doing now that I've matured. It's only been a semester, but it was a big step for me being my first semester sophomore year. I would have been doing something completely different had I not waited and discovered that I hated it after taking a class/lab on the topic.

You are fine. Pull up your GPA, work hard in whichever lab you choose, and relax. Stretching yourself too thin isn't worth it.

[liddy]

Doing a fantastic job in one lab will be much better than doing average-good jobs in two labs. Pick one, and as other said, if you don't like it, switch. And as much as I'm sure you love your intended research focus, try to consider trying other areas in a summer REU or something. Your second year into undergrad, there's really no way you've been exposed to enough science yet to really know what you like the best or what to work on for your career. You may like other things you just haven't stumbled across yet much better, and you won't know that unless you branch out a little.

[rising_star]

You should definitely try to do a summer REU or SURF program to give you additional research experience. That will help you learn more about what you're interested in and give you much needed experience that will help make you more competitive. You'll also want to make sure you take as many science courses as possible that support your interests.

[ballwera]

You should definitely try to do a summer REU or SURF program to give you additional research experience. That will help you learn more about what you're interested in and give you much needed experience that will help make you more competitive. You'll also want to make sure you take as many science courses as possible that support your interests.

 

I highly recommend the SURF program as well. You'll get a lot of research done in a short amount of time and you will likely get a good recommendation letter out of it. Plus you get a bit of cash.