https://www.bcm.edu/careers

Baylor College of Medicine

Student Helper

June - August 2023 • Houston, TX

What I liked

Working at BCM was an amazing experience! Experiences will vary based on the focus of the lab, but Ira lab taught me foundational biological research techniques. I was exposed to more specialized and advanced techniques than educational labs at an undergraduate college can offer. The PI, lab manager, post docs, and graduate students were all wonderful people and each person took time to teach applicable skills from their project. I would highly recommend work like this to anyone in the natural sciences.

What I wish was different

Advice

Write your own protocols for everything you do! I was very grateful that I was told to do this because I referenced my protocols all summer. It makes keeping a lab notebook easy and minimizes the number of repeat questions needed.
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Tropical Diseases Lab Intern

June - August 2023 • Houston, TX

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Make the most of your experience.
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Research Assistant

June - August 2021 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I really liked the supportive community at Baylor.

What I wish was different

I wish there were more in-person components.

Advice

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Student intern

June - July 2020 • Houston, TX

What I liked

Being able to hear from other medical students how their experience is like being at Baylor College of Medicine.

What I wish was different

The internship was virtual because of the pandemic. I wished it could have been in person so that I could really meet these amazing people.

Advice

One piece of advice is to take your opportunities. UIW provides many opportunities for your career goals and it is up to you to take them.
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Breast Cancer Oncology Clinical Observer and Shadower

May - July 2019 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I enjoyed the hands-on interaction in the clinic as well as interacting with patients and their families. Along with the breast cancer oncology team, I firsthand saw patients on a regular basis and was able to listen to their concerns and treatment plans.

What I wish was different

Advice

I would advise those interested in the medical field to get first hand experience in their interested type of clinical setting. My observership was unlike any experience I have had and it positively broadened my view of healthcare as well as patient demographics.
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Student Intern

May 2015 - August 2019 • Houston, TX

What I liked

Working with children in the Cancer Center at Texas Children’s.

What I wish was different

I wish I was able to work overtime.

Advice

Always be willing to take the initiative and try new things!
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SMART Student Researcher

June - July 2019 • Houston, TX

What I liked

Brilliant summer. I loved doing research for 40 hours a week.

What I wish was different

I wasn't a huge fan of Houston itself.

Advice

Find a place where you can love where you live.
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Biology Research Intern

June - July 2019 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I loved working at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Medical Center as it was a hub of brilliant scientists and leaders in the field. My lab was very inclusive and supportive and my mentors were helpful and helped increase my passion for scientific research. The program coordinators did a great job or organizing events and such for us and I learnt a lot about the field from various experts.

What I wish was different

I wish I was more informed about the timeline of my project as I ended up working weekends and was in the lab almost every single day.

Advice

I would suggest making sure you use the full extent of this experience by talking to the researchers, attending seminars, putting the maximum effort into research and interacting with the members of your lab. Becoming friendly with your lab is a great experience as it not only builds connections but also makes for a better working environment.
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Bioinformatics Intern

May 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

Learned a lot about real world bioinformatics, very flexible hours, great work environment.

What I wish was different

Wish there was more computationally rigorous projects.

Advice

Pursue research if you are self motivated and truly passionate about the work or you will get bored very easily.
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Neuroscience Research Assistant

August 2017 • Houston, TX

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

I think that sticking in one lab over a longer period of time is much more beneficial after a certain point than hopping around labs. Although the lab I am currently in is not what I want to do in grad school, staying in one lab has allowed me to move onto doing more advanced things like go to conferences as well as gain a deeper connection with my PI. Hopping around labs a lot makes it difficult to really delve into the intricacies of research because you are perpetually stuck in this "training phase" of that lab. I was considering leaving the lab after one year because I realized I wanted to do research in a different realm, but I didn't and I am actually really glad I didn't. Of course I enjoy the research I am doing now, otherwise I definitely would not have stayed. I really recommend maintaining some tenure in a lab, especially if you have an excellent PI as a mentor (which was my case) and are gaining really important technical skills that will help you no matter what lab you are in.
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student researcher

June - August 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

They really took an interest in helping me learn new things and I had the independence to decide which areas I wanted to research.

What I wish was different

I wish I had gotten a little more supervision when learning new programming languages at the beginning because I was mostly teaching myself.

Advice

Ask lots of questions and don't be afraid to tell them what YOU want to get out of the experience.
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Cancer Researcher

June - August 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I liked the coding

What I wish was different

I wished there would be more networking.

Advice

Come prepared to pick what research you’re interested in.
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Research Assistance

May - August 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

The guidance and support offered by my research lab.

What I wish was different

Spend more time reading articles and understanding everything that was happening in lab in my first semester there.

Advice

Take time to fully understand what is happening in your lab. This will make your experience much more meaningful.
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Junior Technology Engineer

May 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

The people, the start-up vibe, the complexity of projects assigned to me and the other Junior Technology Engineers

What I wish was different

More organization in the summer program where we hosted exchange students from a UK Medical School

Advice

Branch out and learn as many new skills as you can
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Undergraduate Researcher

May 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I was able to get exactly the kind of research experience I was hoping to receive. I have experience working in cancer biology laboratories, however, I was hoping to gain exposure to organic synthesis and drug discovery. I was able to learn lots of new analytical techniques, and learned how to operate many instruments that are fundamental in chemistry research.

What I wish was different

I was more than satisfied with my experience, I would not change anything about it.

Advice

Often times in organic synthesis, your reactions will fail which can cause a great deal of frustration. It is essential that you do not become discouraged, but instead, take each failure as an opportunity to learn and develop new tactics to help in future reactions!
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Project Intern

June - July 2017 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I loved assisting on a clinical trial, and actually making an impact in the Public Health world.

What I wish was different

I just wish we had gotten to the "nitty gritty" of the internship sooner, for we didn't start working on the clinical trial until 3 weeks in to the internship start date.

Advice

Do something you are interested in, curious about, or passionate about. Working in these fields, will give you a definitive answer as to whether or not you could see yourself doing that job in the future.
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Strategy Department Intern

June - July 2017 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I loved how helpful everyone was in the department. I felt as though I was in good hands and I got a lot of great experience outside of the mostly pre-medical background I have had in my time at Rice.

What I wish was different

Nothing.

Advice

Be open to new experiences, especially if your track doesn't necessarily align with the internship that you end up at.
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Student Research Assistant

January 2017 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I like that I could create my own experimental idea and have help planning and setting up the idea throughout the week while still doing things independently. I like how I was allowed to learn from failures and successes with no judgement and I like that I felt like a part of a team. I got to do my own research while helping with other experiments going on in the lab.

What I wish was different

I wish I had more time to develop my skills more through practice rather than through error.

Advice

Do not be afraid to ask for help. The people you work with started out just like you and are willing to help you in any way they can.
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Junior Technology Engineer

May 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

The exposure to multiple aspects of the med center and the relaxed atmosphere. We also had lots of cool tech and money available for our use.

What I wish was different

I wish it had been more structured; we were given too many projects for us to complete, so we kind of split our time poorly. We also didn't have much supervision or guidance, it was mostly left to ourselves, so it wasn't as organized as I was hoping it would be.

Advice

I would recommend to always ask questions when you're at an internship, because people won't always come find you and offer to help. Also, if you have (a lot of) down time, use it to learn a new skill or just do something productive!
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