Life as a LabRat??

My biggest fear as a bio major was probably life as a lab rat. I guess I'm just not the kind of person who could pipette all day, and work with solutions and be focused solely on that all day, everyday. But spending most of my summer working in a lab changed my mind completely. It made me aware of a lot of responsibilities and benefits that working in a lab can offer.

There is the independence of research for example. Unlike most corporate jobs, you can go into a lab whenever and as often as you like. As long as you get work done and make sufficient progress, you're on the right track. My job entailed a lot of checking up on our model organisms, setting up a lot of genetic crosses, a lot of gel electrophoresis and such. There's a certain satisfaction of knowing your list of to-do things when you go in the morning, checking them off at the end of the day and going home knowing that you accomplished something. Sure you don't always get results that make sense, and sure you have to repeat a lot of experiments. But the best part is being on your own and having your own schedule to work with.

Another beneficial aspect of research is the frequent discussion you can strike up with your fellow labmates. I work in a lab with people all working on the same model organism, but in different areas and on different genes. Whenever I'm confused about something, they are more than willing to offer explanations and help me figure out solutions to my problems.

The best part of lab has probably been the guidance and the great learning experience. It's great to be focused on what you're doing- how much volume do I need of each component to run on the gel, how to make the gel, which crosses do I have to collect progeny from today, which stocks do I have to check on today- these were some of the things I dealt with everyday.

Without this experience I would not have known that I definitely want to go to graduate school and get more research experience. So it's a wonderful way to start out by volunteering in labs, to make more serious decisions about your career.