Should I Be Enjoying My Physics Internship?

[hylander4]

This summer I've been working in an experimental cosmology lab, and its really not inspiring me to go into the field of experimental cosmology at all. At first I was pretty gung-ho about everything, but the work never really got interesting. I spend half my week looking up information about trivial things on the internet, about an hour actually thinking about a problem, and then the rest of the week writing a report about the tiny problem that I solved.

I'm glad that I've learned how to use a bunch of different software sweets, but, honestly, I had more fun (and got paid more for) killing bugs last summer than I'm having in this internship.

Did you guys enjoy your internships? Is this a bad sign for me if I had been thinking of a Physics PhD?

[Dembadon]

I don't think it's wise to compare the work of an internship with that of a Ph.D. holder. :wink:

My advice is to give it some time. There's nothing wrong with finding out what you don't like about a subject.

[Chronos]

All jobs, especially internships, suck until you prove yourself by competently executing menial tasks. Once you master coffee 101 [or lunch boy], your stock will rise. Einstein got his start as a patent clerk - you think he didn't lick any boots?

[Vanadium 50]

I spend half my week looking up information about trivial things on the internet, about an hour actually thinking about a problem, and then the rest of the week writing a report about the tiny problem that I solved.

Apart from occassionally substituting "grant proposal" for report, that's not too different from a week of mine.

[twofish-quant]

I don't think it's wise to compare the work of an internship with that of a Ph.D. holder. :wink:

Except that in this case, it's pretty close to what a typical graduate student/post-doc/professor does.

[Dembadon]

Apart from occassionally substituting "grant proposal" for report, that's not too different from a week of mine.

Except that in this case, it's pretty close to what a typical graduate student/post-doc/professor does.

Good to know!