Abdalla
Video Transcript
I shouldn't be doubting myself, I should be going out there and trying new things and applying for things I wanted to - even though I'm scared to apply to them because I'm scared to get rejected.
Hi, my name is Abdalla and I'm working as a Research Assistant at the London Regional Center at Robarts Research Institute. We basically help the research community here at Western and at different universities and institutions to process their DNA samples and then send them results in a timely manner.
Why did you decide to do a long-term internship?
My internship is for 12 months. To be honest, this was one of the scariest factors about the internship because it meant I had to take a year off school and then take an extra year. But then I looked at it this way: There's no point in rushing my undergraduate degree. And compared to a four-months internship, four months is really very short for you to get the full experience of working somewhere.
What is your proudest accomplishment in the internship?
I work with my coworkers to design a poster about RNA seq, which is a next-generation sequencing-based assay that studies the RNA inside cells.
What advice would you give to students considering the Science Internship Program?
I think the biggest advice is: don't stress out too much. By the time you graduate you have relatively more experienced than the average student graduating that year. So even if you're not sure you actually want to do the internship. There's no harm in applying and getting into the program.
