The research - neural science is a big passion of mine
What I wish was different
Less monotonous work
Advice
Would highly recommend
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Summer Research Intern
June - August 2018 • San Francisco, CA
What I liked
I really enjoyed being able to observe the day-to-day activities and duties that comprise working in a professional lab. It was a great environment to be in, the lab technician who I was shadowing was really friendly and informative and generally super helpful. We first observed various protocols, and then once we had enough experience we would attempt them with guidance and eventually they trusted us enough to let us carry out simple protocols like PCR independently.
What I wish was different
While getting the actual experience of a lab is nice, I think what would have been better for me would be a more structured program that took deliberate step to educate me about what it was exactly that I was doing. The lab technician always did her best to try and explain to us what was going on and why we were doing this in light of the projects that were in progress in the lab, but without any real biology at the college level it was hard to understand it all.
Advice
If you decide to intern/volunteer in a professional lab over the summer, be proactive. Do your homework on what kinds of work that lab has done in the past, don't be afraid to ask questions and always take initiative to learn more about what it is that you're doing. Don't just take the protocol and go through the steps, try to get some basic comprehension of why you're doing what you're doing, because it will make everything more interesting.
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UCSF Pre-Health Undergraduate Program (PUP) Student
July - August 2018 • San Francisco, CA
What I liked
I liked how we got the chance to work with UCSF medical students with their research.
What I wish was different
Advice
It is an amazing networking experience especially if you are trying to get into healthcare.
