How To Determine If A Research Lab Is Right For You

“Join a research lab”, “Get research credits”, “Gain research experience” have become the new norm for advice for STEM majors, whether it’s through a friend, a college advisor, or an article online on medical school admissions. Is that good advice? Sort of. Joining a research lab is a great experience for STEM undergraduates, as research teaches you anything from various skills, concepts, to helping you think and solve problems with a “STEM brain” (check out “Undergraduate STEM Major: Here’s What You Should Be Doing During The Pandemic While Taking Online Courses” for more). However, all research labs are different, and your compatibility with the lab can either give you a HUGE return, or just be a waste of time and a negative outlook of research which, as a researcher, would be very sad to see. But how do you figure out which research labs are right for you, especially if you’ve never been in one? As a person who has experience in various types of research labs, here are some tips and advice for determining a research lab that may align with what you’re looking for.

The most key thing in determining if a research lab is the right fit for you is to identify what you want, and if that matches the research lab culture.

Puzzle piece #1 — Assessing Personal Interests

First, let’s self assess. Your research lab “needs” can be broken down into three parts, and try to generally sort yourself into a HIGH or LOW category.

1. Personal Goal

• Why do you want to join a research lab?
• What do you hope to get out of this experience?

2. Commitment Level

• How many hours/week are you willing to commit?
• Includes during midterms/paper/project season and breaks
• If not on campus, how far are you willing to travel and spend time and money on commuting?
• Note: commitment level required depends on the nature of research. For example, working with live research animals would inevitably require more time

3. Mentorship/Guidance Level

• How much mentorship do you need?
• What do you want from your mentor?

Here are some examples that might help you sort your highs and lows:

Puzzle piece #2 — Assessing Lab Culture

Lab culture is similar to class culture and company culture; it is the dynamic and “style” of the particular lab environment. The two largest components that determine this is the lab size and lab demographics.

Lab Culture Factor #1 — Lab Size: Small Lab vs Big Lab

The size of a research lab can make a big difference in the dynamic of the people and what you can get out of it. When a research lab is a small lab (15–20 or less), there are high chances of being one of these: 1) new lab with lab culture yet to be established, 2) very specific field, or 3) the lab is wrapping up and the professor is trying to retire. Surely there are other options but there are some of the most common reasons I have seen. Here are some pros and cons for working in:

Small lab (15–20 or less):

Pros:

• It will be easier to form a closer relationship with the higher positions, such as postdoc and professor, which is very important for undergraduates to learn valuable lessons and for recommendation letter opportunities
• Can get more quality time and more hands on mentorship
• Even as undergraduates, you can play a larger role in research projects, perhaps take ownerships for some parts.

Cons:

• Can be a bit isolating, especially as undergraduates as there may be much less or no other researchers around your age
• Can be more time commitment as less people in a group comes with more responsibility
• If the lab is small because it recently got established, things may be a bit unorganized as equipment and protocols may still be in the experimental stages

Large lab (20+):

Pros:

• Graduate students and postdocs may be more used to mentoring someone as they may have prior experience of mentoring
• Larger labs tend to have more undergraduates in similar fields as you, and can help you form research/study buddies
• Routines are established, and it can be easier to know what you’re exactly supposed to do when you’re in lab, and what is expected of you

Cons:

• Since mentors will be busy giving attention to other undergraduates, may be difficult to form close mentor relationship, which can be a problem if you require more hands on teaching style
• The higher ups will be further away from you, and will be more difficult to get to know and ask for a quality recommendation letter
• These labs have a steady influx of undergraduates who come and go after a few years, and may just see undergraduates as extra hands. So rather than spending time and teaching you various lab skills, they may teach you one task for you to do over and over again for their time efficiency

Lab Culture Factor #2: Lab demographics — Postdocs/PhD/Undergraduate Ratio

This is the factor that I didn’t understand when I first joined a research lab as an undergraduate but wish I knew earlier. Note that not all labs are as listed below, but they are some patterns that I’ve seen. Some comments for the different types of lab demographics:

Postdoc/Visiting Scholar-heavy lab

• They’re in a research lab because their main (and may be one of only) focus is academia research
• Tends to be a rigorous lab that requires very specific lab training. For example, a research lab that uses primates may be unwelcoming towards undergraduates, because by the time they finish training them, it’s most likely around the time that they’ll graduate and leave anyway
• More heavily invested in their research, and may show less interest in taking time away from their research to mentor a “child” in their eyes

PhD student-heavy lab

• A good amount of them, especially 1st-3rd year PhD candidates, are super excited to have undergraduate minions working with them so they’ll be a lot more welcoming
• Many PhD programs require them to teach or assist undergraduate courses and are used to teaching undergraduates
• If there are many potential mentor candidates, there will be a wider pool of people who you might want to work with based on their projects and mentor style/degree

“Undergraduate Army” lab

• Very similar idea as “large labs” mentioned above, as the biggest determining factor of lab size are undergraduates
• Mentors will have a better idea about how much undergraduates might know/might be willing to commit to lab work/might be able to complete the task, and can adjust more accordingly. However if you plan on achieving more in lab than your peers, you will have to really sell yourself to show that you’re different
• They tend to be more understanding and more accommodating for undergraduates’ final exam seasons and breaks

Putting It All Together

Now that we’ve discussed all components, we can now assess. Note that there are many “in-between” research labs as well, such as a medium sized lab, or a lab with equal ratio of postdocs, graduates, and undergraduates, so take this as a grain of salt. Here are the most generic patterns charted:

Ultimately, the lab culture comes down to the types of people in lab. Even in a postdoc-heavy lab, there may be postdocs who are more than willing to help you, or you might be in a PhD-heavy lab but have no PhDs that are interested in mentoring. These are just patterns that I’ve seen or heard from others. If you truly want to see if the lab culture fits you, try to schedule a time to visit a lab and see what it’s like! Your gut instinct during your visit will most likely be right.

Takeaway

There are many different types of research labs, and unfortunately, I can’t list out and speak on behalf of all different types of research labs that exist. Regardless of the lab culture, what is important is for you to recalibrate what you want to get out of your experience, and to assess if what you want matches what you are getting. Research takes time, and no skills and/or knowledge can be gained overnight, so you will need some patience. But at some point when your work becomes second nature, ask yourself again: what do I want, and am I achieving what I want or going through the process of achieving it? Remember, the researchers aren’t required to be your full time mentor, but you also aren’t obligated to do be an extra hand for them to use. Happy research, and I hope your experience is an exciting and fulfilling one!