It also depends on whether the grad student or postdoc you’ll be working under is willing to spend time getting you up to speed on the background of the lab’s work. It can be hard to do this on your own if you haven’t taken the necessary coursework.

Here’s my rule of thumb: If you don’t understand what’s going on in the lab, aren’t intellectually challenged by the work, and/or don’t have the background to understand what other people in the lab are doing, then doing a summer of “research” (or, more realistically, glassware washing) is probably a waste of your time.

However, I will grudgingly admit that sometimes good labs won’t even consider you for a position unless you already have “lab experience”. So there might be merits to dedicating an early summer to research, even if all you get out of it is a couple lines on your résumé.

Thank you Dave for writing this article!