Okay, okay, I’m sorry, it’s those back-to-school posts again! As the start of school is approaching, I’ve gotten tons of questions about how to actually look for labs, and particularly for early-career researchers. Research can be super daunting. After all, as an undergraduate or high school student, it can often be your first time joining a lab, and you have no idea what to expect or if you’re even doing anything right. Most resources online on how to choose a lab were mostly for Ph.D. or postdoc students, so I wanted to make a helpful post about my experience with choosing the labs to be in, specifically for high school and undergraduate students! As a current student researcher, joining the right lab can often be a huge factor that makes or breaks your experience in research. I’m a Computational Biology student at Stanford University, and I have been working in research for around five years now, since high school. I have been in a total of five labs, with vastly different lab environments and mentoring styles. Because of this, I wanted to share some of my tips and thoughts about finding the right lab and research experience for you, throughout my years of being a student researcher!
Why Should I Do Research?
Firstly, why should you even do research? Research is not always the go-to extracurricular when people think of the hobbies that high schoolers and undergraduates have. But, research can actually be hugely beneficial and a really great experience! Are you an inquisitive person? Well, research gives you the opportunity to discover new information that no one else has ever known before, and depending on the lab, you get quite a bit of freedom to explore what you’re interested in. Do you like hands-on learning? I’ve always found that I learn more when I get to do something, rather than just reading or listening about it. Research forces you to quickly adopt skills in the real world—so all your dilution calculations in chemistry come to life. Do you like independence? Also dependent on the lab, but lots of people go into academia because of the intellectual freedom you get to explore your own research questions, rather than performing a task that is just assigned to you.
Now, I’m just going to assume you know the process of how to find a lab and reach out to professors. If not, check out my blog post here. Let’s move on to aspects of different labs and how to choose the lab to join.
Should I Choose a Small vs. Big Lab?
I have worked in all sizes of labs—the smallest was a lab of three people, and the largest had around 40 people. While lots of people say that small labs mean that you will have more direct interaction with the principal investigator (PI), I would say that is true—to an extent. Obviously, if you have a huge lab of dozens of people, your PI won’t be able to give personalized attention to the undergraduates and interns. In addition, it also depends on your PI’s personality. Some PIs really enjoy interacting with their lab, so you’ll see some more of them in the lab and get to talk with them a lot more frequently. The PI I interacted with the most was a lab of around 8-10 people, as my PI was just really friendly and chatty.
It might seem the most intuitive to choose the lab with the most attention from the PI. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Some people work poorly with micromanagement, and prefer more hands-off mentorship. Personally, I enjoy being in larger labs. Larger labs often tend to have more resources and a more diverse group of people working on different projects. I’ve also noticed more freedom in larger labs to work on whatever you want, since the PI’s attention isn’t laser-focused on you and the results of your project, so you get more of a freedom to explore. However, smaller labs have their benefits as well. Smaller labs tend to be more close-knit with a closer community, and you’re more likely to be published on the paper.
What About Lab Resources?
Does the amount of funding a lab has matter? I’ve worked in extremely underfunded labs, surviving off of just a few grants, as well as some of the most well-funded labs in the world. When it comes to this, it’s undeniable that having funding makes a lot more ideas possible. Of course, as an undergraduate, you’re probably not going to be doing something crazy expensive like running your own clinical trial. But, my PI has let me run experiments on the mass spectrometer and buy thousands of dollars worth of antibodies, which isn’t often accessible for undergraduate students. The difference is actually quite stark. I was in a lab that had six sequencers, and another lab that had spent years trying to perfect an experiment to be sequenced, since they couldn’t afford to send another if the first one didn’t work.
How can you tell if a lab is well-funded? If you’re in biology or health-related fields, look for PIs that are funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), known as HHMI investigators. HHMI gives A LOT of money to their investigators, so those labs are always really well-funded. One of my postdoc mentors used to joke that everything that looks expensive was likely funded by HHMI. Of course, the funding of the lab isn’t everything, and a lab can still be wonderful even without a lot of funding. If you’re deciding on whether to choose a lab based on prestige, I’d say that the prestige of the PI doesn’t matter that much, but make sure that the lab has enough funding to comfortably fund projects.
Do Labs Pay You?
It depends. Typically, for a lot of biology-related labs, no. And in fact, having the money to fund your project itself isn’t guaranteed, and some labs will ask you to come in with the funding to carry out your project. This is also often the case in some places internationally, as in the UK, it is expected for both graduate and undergraduate students for the students to bring the funding themselves. As an undergraduate, oftentimes, there are programs offered by the university or outside organizations to provide funding for research projects if your lab doesn’t fund your project. Look for undergraduate research programs, which provide funding for these projects.
For some computational students, the lab has enough funding to pay a salary to the student. However, it’s not always a guarantee, so make sure to discuss with your potential lab if this is an important consideration for you.
What Makes the Lab Environment and Lab Politics?
As with any workplace, the environment and politics can make a pretty big difference. I will say, as an undergraduate, I haven’t been really that affected by any of the lab politics as much as someone working there full-time for years. Typically, smaller labs are more susceptible to influences on the lab environment—if one negative person joins the lab, that has a bigger influence on the lab environment of five compared to one person out of 40.
So what’s the best way to tell? I’ve found that the people in the lab are actually often quite similar in personality to the PI, and the personality of the PI can sometimes be reflected in the personality of the whole lab, which makes sense, considering the PI is the one who selects the lab. It’s not always the case, but it has often been true in my experience. My PI at Stanford is a very bright, inquisitive, and driven person—I’d describe most people there like that too. In my lab in Cambridge right now, my PI is a very friendly and humorous person, and the lab is very fun and conversational. But other than trying to guess based on the PI, the easiest way is to just talk to people at the lab and they can speak a bit about how they would describe the lab environment. You can ask to have a meeting with a current student in the lab before you officially join a lab, and that’s a great way to ask about the lab culture and environment. Also, the people in a lab change all the time, as people come and go since people graduate and join all the time.
What Makes Up Good Mentorship?
Now, this is one of the aspects I’m most passionate about. Mentorship is no joke—it can make or break your whole experience, and having a good mentor is extremely important. Oftentimes, your PI won’t be the one directly mentoring you, and instead, you’ll get another graduate student or a postdoc who will be the one to be your direct mentor. This graduate student or postdoc either requests to mentor a student, or is assigned a student by the PI.
Because of this, what do you look for in a mentor? It’s important to look for a mentor that actively wants to mentor and values teaching. Of course, it’s often not something that you can choose, as oftentimes, the PI will just assign you to a graduate student or postdoc without much say from either of you. In this case, make sure to have a clear conversation in the beginning of the mentorship about what both of you are expecting. Figure out if they’re expecting to be a super hands-on and involved mentor, or if they’re just open to providing you some guidance and answering some questions while you do most of the work independently. I’d try to figure out and stick with an arrangement that both of you can agree on, but it’s worth it to occasionally try out a few experiences that might not be what you originally had in mind, and see how you work with it, as you might learn that you can work well in a setting that you didn’t originally expect.
My mentor at Stanford is the absolute best—he is the most patient, kind, and caring person on Earth. He constantly puts up with me and my mistakes and questions with a smile on his face. I would say the key to that, other than the fact that he is literally just a very sweet soul, is having good communication. I feel fully comfortable asking him questions about research, as I know he’ll answer questions without judgment, no matter how small it seems the question is. He will let me know what the best days for me to come in is, so he’s able to give me his attention and find time to sit down and chat about my project. I also communicate all of my plans related to research, both for my projects and for my overall career plans, including internships, to him, to make sure we’re on the same page. In previous labs, there have been times in the past where I was afraid to ask questions if I didn’t know the answer, and that often set me up for a lot of confusion later on and not truly understanding my work, so communication is really important for a successful mentoring relationship.
How Can You Be a Good Mentee?
This is something I’m always trying to work on all the time, and I admit that I’m not perfect at it, but I try. But, here are some of my tips from my experience and what I’ve gathered from talking to graduate students and postdocs. First of all, be engaged and enthusiastic. That makes up so much of teaching, where teaching students that are actually interested in the subject makes the job so much easier. Make sure to take notes on what they say. For example, if your mentor is showing you a protocol, take notes on the steps, whether by typing it up on a computer or writing it down on a notepad. It’s also important to be in an environment where you feel welcome to ask questions without judgment, as your mentor should be supportive of you asking questions as a student. Try to ask questions at a good time—if you see that your mentor is rushing around and really busy that day, try to figure it out yourself and wait until a better time to ask questions. Finally, it’s absolutely crucial that you’re able to take criticism. If you mess up, don’t try to blame others. Don’t get upset if your mentor says they want more, or they’re not satisfied with the results. Just take it as a learning experience, and make a note of how you can do better next time. Figure out what went wrong this time, and how you can change to improve next time.
The most important thing to know, that most students have misconceptions about, is that there is absolutely no expectation for you to know what you’re doing and come in knowing all the wet lab skills and experimental protocols. You are absolutely not expected to come in knowing how to do everything, and they know you will be here to learn and to mess up. Try to develop your skills as a good scientist by following the scientific process and safety protocols, asking good questions, and developing your independence, but there is absolutely no expectation for you to come in as a fully-fledged researcher. All they expect is for you to be eager and enthusiastic to learn. Also, I would highly recommend taking advantage of other opportunities to develop your research skills, not just in the wet lab, but also opportunities to practice writing grants, giving presentations, sharing your research, as it shows your eagerness to go above and beyond, and also gives you many of the critical skills that are necessary in research.
Finally….
As my last message on choosing labs, make sure to chill out and breathe. It’s really not that big of a deal, since as a high schooler or undergraduate, you’re not locked in a lab for life. Most students rotate through many different labs—in fact, I’m only an incoming second-year student, and I’ve worked in five different labs, and I think every single one of the labs I’ve worked in have played a pivotal role in my understanding of research! If you’re not happy in the lab you’re in right now, don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with you. You don’t have to force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy, but I would highly recommend giving it a few more shots before you give up on research, as the whole experience can be vastly different depending on which lab environment you’re in. There are some lab experiences that I honestly felt pretty bored most of the time, and some experiences where I was truly just completely devastated when my internship was over and I was dragging my nails on the floor not wanting to leave. Give it at least a few shots to say if you really like research or not.
