Research as a Career?

So here i am, one academic year later. After a long and tedious 3rd year, i am finally going to my 4th and last year after the summer break. It's so weird; looking back, time really seem to fly even though last academic year was the most eventful and busy of my undergraduate years.

During my 3rd year, I complete my UROPS project which left me only with doubt to whether i should be pursuing Research as a career. Though i did learn many stuff in the process, it was also a very traumatic experience for me. I faced various difficulty in trying to synthesis my target molecule and still had no significant result when the dateline to my project was closing in! I had to skip lecture to try to complete the project, not to mention the long hours in labs and the Saturdays burnt in the lab. And all these while, there were also the endless assignments i had to complete and submit towards the end of the semester. As a result of the UROPS project, i neglected the rest of my modules and was left to catch up on these modules towards the very end of the semester. This left me feeling uncertain and out of control for the first time in my undergraduate life. But praise be to God; He really did pull me through this difficult period.

Now that exams are over, it's time prepare for my final year project (FYP). I have already asked prof Tan Choon Hong to be my Supervisor and will have to try out in his lab starting next week. I seriously hope that my experience with FYP will not be a reflection of my experience with my UROPS project. Since i had such a bad experience with my UROPS project, only a pretty good experience with my FYP will persuade me to pursue my Ph.D. So right now i'm crossing my fingers, waiting to see how next year will unfold.

So, research as a career? It remains to be seen...

MJ