lab rotation?

[curehp]

Hello, I know this is a broad question, but I just wanted to get some ideas from people. When you do a lab rotation, how much time per week do you spend in the lab on average?

[LeNea]

Oftentimes the school sets the requirements for rotations, and the suggested dates. It varies from school to school. My undergrad was at a small department at a state school, there, the students did four week rotations and chose a lab by Christmas. Amongst the larger private grad schools I applied to, everyone seemed to do three eight-week-ish rotations and then join labs in May of the first year, but this varies from school to school. Rotations outside the "standard" rotation (starting early in the summer, or needing additional rotations after the first year to pick a lab) tend to be more flexible in length.

[crustaceangirl]

It depends. At my program, if you're doing a summer rotation you're expected to work 40 hours/week (at least) for a minimum of 6 weeks. This is with no classes or anything else going on. If you do a rotation during the semester, it has to go on for at least 8 weeks, so that would imply working ~30 hours/week to get the same amount of total lab time in as a summer rotation. In practice I think it varies depending on the project, the PI's expectations, and the student's schedule (if you're taking an insane courseload, or TAing a class, obviously you can't put in as many hours/week and might instead choose to have the rotation extend over a longer number of weeks).