What's it like...well, every lab is different. From what I read of the program you're going into, you should be set up to do a few things on a project w/ a grad student/technician, or they may have designed a small project for you to do on your own. And being an undergrad intern can be absolutely fantastic if you're given someone whose knowledgeable and capable of training you, or it can be really really boring where you're just told to go do something and there's very few people in the lab that can tell you why. I had the former experience but I saw several people in the intern program I was in have the latter. I would say that if you have a problem that it's the latter, try to talk to the boss and explain you aren't getting what you want out of it (assuming the boss is worth anything). From what you said of the guy you were working w/ contacting you and all, i'd say you have a very good chance to have a very good experience.
As to what a grad lab is like...ummm, it's hard to say..again lots of variation. I guess I'd need a more specific to know what to say. Feel free to tag me on yahell to quiz me up on it etc. :)
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Date: 2006-04-30 12:44 am (UTC)What's it like...well, every lab is different. From what I read of the program you're going into, you should be set up to do a few things on a project w/ a grad student/technician, or they may have designed a small project for you to do on your own. And being an undergrad intern can be absolutely fantastic if you're given someone whose knowledgeable and capable of training you, or it can be really really boring where you're just told to go do something and there's very few people in the lab that can tell you why. I had the former experience but I saw several people in the intern program I was in have the latter. I would say that if you have a problem that it's the latter, try to talk to the boss and explain you aren't getting what you want out of it (assuming the boss is worth anything). From what you said of the guy you were working w/ contacting you and all, i'd say you have a very good chance to have a very good experience.
As to what a grad lab is like...ummm, it's hard to say..again lots of variation. I guess I'd need a more specific to know what to say. Feel free to tag me on yahell to quiz me up on it etc. :)