I Can’t Decide: How urgent is it to know what to do in life and in science

My cousin decided to study Biology just like I did (same university, hence same program). While she wants to go on a different research subject, so far she also wants to follow an academic pathway, and so she has asked me a lot of questions to subjects I wished I knew more about when I was starting. These will be a series of posts based on that premise. Please keep in mind all these posts will be based on personal experiences

How urgent is it to know what to do in science?

Maybe the key word here is urgent. It’s not urgent to know what you want to do, is not imperative that you decide on what branch of science you’re going to work from your first year of your undergrad and you might realize that you don’t really know until very late in your studies. But it does help to narrow down your options as you go.

In my case, I knew very early that I wanted to work in a lab. However, my undergrad program was very broad, which allowed me to experience other possibilities, such as field work and even in the lab, to work a bit in microbiology, biochemistry and cell biology.  

As you advance in your studies, you will encounter more and more options; if you want to work in biochemistry you might realize later that what you are really interested in is protein interactions, and then just the interactions of one single protein, and so on. Of the biochemistry group I was part of during the end of my undergrad studies, there is one person working on Aging, one working in Evolutionary Biology, someone working on patents and then there’s me who, as you know, works in Protein Interactions.

However, it does help to start questioning early on what do you really like and maybe even where do you see yourself in the future. Knowing this it would be easier for you to decided which elective classes to take (for example, I took extra classes of Cell and Molecular Biology), which labs/research groups to try to get in, heck even which languages to work on. The reason why I re started my French classes during my undergrad was that back I knew a lot of original work had and was being done in cell biology in French (French used to be the science language also) and so I wanted to be able to read those papers. Ultimately it was extra useful since I ended up doing my graduate studies in a francophone institution

Now, bear in mind that you knowing right now that you want to work on something might not mean that you will work on it. Projects can change a lot during your research life. It might be due to funding, someone scooping you, or simply that the project is not advancing. Do not despair if this happens, as a project is only a tiny part of a bigger subject (case in point, my project aims one single protein of thousands inside one type of cell) that you could still tackle, just from a slightly different angle. 

So don’t fret if you are starting your undergrad, or even half way through and you haven’t 100% decided what you want to do in science. If you have the opportunity to sample the different options that are attractive to you, go for it. Get informed and take your time. Good luck. 


I Can't Decide--Scissor Sisters

How soon is now? When should I join a research group as an undergrad

My cousin decided to study Biology just like I did (same university, hence same program). While she wants to go on a different research subject, so far she also wants to follow an academic pathway, and so she has asked me a lot of questions to subjects I wished I knew more about when I was starting. These will be a series of posts based on that premise. Please keep in mind all these posts will be based on personal experiences.

How soon should I join a research group as an undergraduate student?

The answer as always is: it depends. If you want to go in research, I would advise that you join a research group close to you interests as soon as possible, for several reason. First of all, it can be a great experience, not only for your CV but as a personal one. Is research for you? And more importantly, is THIS type of research really for you?

What do I mean by that? Well, you might think that you want to work in biochemistry (as I did) and join a biochemistry group (which I did) and in the process discover that what you actually like of biochemistry is interactions, and end up working in protein interactions…which I did. I do not regret for one second joining that group. First of all, it introduced me to lab meetings (at 7am on a Monday, but never mind that), to lab work (racking tips and all the other not so fun parts of working on a lab) to actually doing experiments. All of these makes part of research in a lab, and while there are things that I didn’t enjoy that much, the parts that I did enjoy more than compensated for the former, which made me feel I was in the right track.

If you want to work on a branch of research that involves more field work, it might be a good thing that field work agrees with you. You might think you do, because you love camping, but as you may suspect is not the same. So for that instance joining a research team sooner than later, it’s a great way to test yourself.

Also, if your undergraduate program allows/requires you to have a thesis (like mine did) entering a group early might give you the opportunity to start working in your thesis project much earlier or at least to refine the skills you will need for it. For example, when I first joined the Biochemistry group, in early 2007 (I think) I started working with the parasite that causes malaria. As it turns out, for several reasons, including an academic exchange I did, my final project was on a different subject, but the experience I acquired with the first project was 100% transferable and by then I was much more comfortable doing what I was doing.

However, you have to keep in mind that joining a group will be demanding. You will need to invest time and energy to it. Because of this, you shouldn’t forget the rest of your undergrad classes and you should discuss this with the head of the group as well. My Biology program had a lot of classes that required field work, with some times us being in the field for up to two weeks. Normally the research groups at your university will be aware of this, but they will also expect you to find the time to work with them. So ask yourself if you do have the time and energy to not neglect either one. Keep in mind that this might be your first research reference that involves you actually working on a project. Neglecting your grades or your research would only be counterproductive to everyone.

You can also consider baby steps; ask to start coming to the group meetings for example. This would show you a bit of the interactions between the group, see the discussions and the topics that are being studied at the moment. You could do that for a trimester/semester and maybe next one start actively to work with them. There is a chance that they will just ask you to wait for next term, and that’s perfectly ok.

In all, joining a research group as soon as the rest of your obligations allow you too, is a great idea. If time permits is and you are undecided on to what field you want to go, this can be also a great way to test the waters, but I will talk more about that next time. 

How Soon is Now--The Smiths