#42 – Ask a Professor Anything II – Getting letters of rec, choosing a lab, dealing with frustration

Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi

In this episode, I share my thoughts on a variety of topics related to starting out in an undergraduate or graduate research lab. Whom should you ask for a letter of recommendation? How can you spot bad work environments? What are the red flags? How do you identify a positive fit? When do you know if you should drop a bad project? When applying to grad school, should I stay in the same field or try something different? How can you figure out what a lab is working on when you don’t yet “speak the language”? How much agency do undergrads typically have in choosing a project within a research group? Suppose you have a good idea of what you want to work on as an undergraduate or graduate student. How do you find the labs doing the work you want to do?