The grad student doesn't want me on the team or the PI doesn't? I'm assuming the PI does, as he easily could have told me he didn't want me on the team after my first project (that was the point of the first project, to see if he would let me on the team). He said he wanted me on the team and was going to try to pay me. So I don't see why he'd say that if he didn't really want me on the team. Unless he's secretly evil and enjoys jerking people around lol but he seems really nice.
As for the grad student, I think that could be a distinct possibility.
I'm supposed to be helping him with his project, so maybe he doesn't want help and the PI just sort've forced me on him? In which case, he probably hates me. Sigh. I'm really not interested in stealing his fame or whatever (I don't even think I'm interested in publishing anything, although my PI said he'd be willing to be my mentor for my honors thesis if I decided to do one). I really just want to learn and see if I even like working in a lab. Why does everyone have to be so competitive??? It just seems strange that a graduate student would feel threatened by an undergrad. I mean, I know nothing. Lol. How saddening.
Do you think the PI would be annoyed by the grad student's behavior (assuming the PI wants me on the team) or is this just normal? I could just ask the PI for another project, I guess. But now that I think about, another grad student in the lab was asking me about my interests and she was nice but she was like, "well, the lab next to ours really does more work with that. Have you talked to them?" Which I didn't think anything of but what she said isn't exactly true (the grad student I'm with is doing what I was talking about, which I'm assuming is why the PI put me with him). So it seems like the grad students have a negative attitude towards undergrads in the lab. Which is ridiculous- how can you possibly know if you want to go to graduate school if you don't ever work in a lab as an undergrad?! She particularly asked about whether I was interested in doing an honors thesis (I don't know yet, that's something you start the summer before your 4th year here, typically). So maybe undergrads doing honors theses annoys them particularly? Why, I have no idea. I was actually initially trained by an undergrad (the only other undergrad who works there) and she's doing an honors thesis and so maybe they dislike that for some reason?
And since the PI specifically invited me to be on the team, I think it would look really bad if I just decided to leave when I was the one who approached him about working in the lab in the first place. I want to try to make this work. If the grad student really is trying to discourage me from working with him though, then he's extremely immature, I must say. And he's older than me! Instead of blowing me off, why not say: "You know, I don't really need help with my project right now. I could train you on one of the machines, but I think it'd be best for both of us if you asked the PI for another project." Instead, he chose to be a passive aggressive jerk. But I'm still hoping this is just a big misunderstanding. Perhaps he's just really busy.... and the other grad student simply dislikes anyone new in the lab....
I'm deluding myself, aren't I?
Sigh.
Does the fact that it seems to be the grad students (not the PI) who don't want undergrads around change things?
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