HERRRP ME.

Okay, for some reason this post scheduled itself prematurely or something. Whatever. Anyway.

I could give you all the boring background, but it all boils down to choosing between two labs. I'm going to commit at least two semesters to someone at school (and maybe a summer). I only need one more semester to get done with my major requirements, but fuck those, I need to contribute something to a project and actually get something out of it. New knowledge, techniques, valuable skills, good rec letters, dare-I-dream-maybe-if-I'm-a-good-girl-a-paper, whatever. And three months ain't gonna cut it. Though I'd like to work for two PI's because I'm crazy like that, I can't because I have "classes" or something. Soooo here are the players:

Dr. X. I've worked with him before, and I like him. He's "real," for want of a better word. Not annoyingly blunt, but pragmatic and honest about his lab and projects. He's not hella old, but he knows how things work and is great about advice and state-of-the-field type stuff. And for some reason thinks I'm smart or have that po'tenshul thing. When we talk about my coming back to his lab, he relates things back to my stated goals and tries to get a feel for where I'm wanting to go. I feel he has my best interests at heart. X's former grad students have apparently gone on to become crazy smart Ivy League Vulcans-- seriously, they are very successful men and women. Plus he is awesome at the bench and not at all hesitant to correct a bitch.

Then there's Dr. Y-- never worked with him, but the guy intrigues me. He's relatively young faculty, did a short stint at a biotech giant, is very enthusiastic, and does work that's similar to Dr. X's. An undergrad in Y's lab is publishing, and I know for a fact that that kid is a dumbass. Or maybe the dude just puts his Dumb Hat on in class and is secretly a whiz at molec bio. In any case, at least I know Y lets his undergrads actually do stuff.

Although X and Y do similar work, X seems more adventurous and does not appear to have a cohesive "research program" per se. I would even submit, with all of my Yoda-like undergraduate seasoning, that Dr. X thinks bigger than Dr. Y. He chooses projects with broad biotech/pharma applications, whereas Dr. Y is more typical of the PI's around here in that he has sort of pigeonholed himself a bit. Of course, that may not be all bad because he's chosen a rather uber-biomedical subspecialty and may have more steady funding than X (not that I can find any complete info about that online GRRRRRRRRR).

So all things considered, you might think I am going to sign up to work with X in the fall. I dunno, though. He may not get funding for this Awesome Thing We Want To Do, and we won't know until January. Still, I have been assured that if I want it, the project will be my "baby" and I can start now and make some serious headway in a year's time. It's a collaborative thing, but the biochem/molecular biology aspect will be handled by us exclusively. So in that sense, he's right in that I'll be representing our lab's contribution to the project. There is plenty of other stuff going on at X's that I could get into if the funding doesn't come through. I kinda wish I could tell you guys what we want to do, but apparently this is one of those "will self-destruct in ten seconds" things. :/

So my problem is, Y seems way too interesting and I want to kind of explore my options. He should be back in town this week; we'll definitely have a chat then.

Before anyone tries to tell me I'm thinking about this too hard-- SHADDAP. It's my life, my time and I want to spend it in a way that's going to give me maximal gain. You know, because I'm "career-oriented." Ugh. Well, I'm gonna go get "Diet Coke-oriented." :)