Yes, during the school year we require that undergraduates work at least three hours a week. During the summer, we ask undergraduates to work four hours a week at minimum.

We ask that students be at least committed for the semester, but ideally, longer than that. It may be cheesy, but you get out of being in the lab what you put into it. This being said, we are very understanding about scheduling, and students have definitely taken semester or year-long breaks from the lab and then come back.

That is totally fine! We simply ask that students communicate their schedule to us in a timely matter. The lab manager will also reach out regarding special scheduling over breaks.

At the beginning of the semester or summer, we send out an email to confirm that people are continuing with the lab and then ask for their availability. Generally, people will work the same shifts throughout the semester on a weekly basis. Lab meetings are scheduled using when2meet in order to make sure that everyone can attend!

Depending on funding, there are seasonally paid positions (usually in the summer). If this is the case, lab members will be made aware of any opportunities present.

To get units as a Berkeley student, the school generally requires that you are on a project. Unless you are an undergraduate recruited through URAP or SPUR (which you can learn more about here), then you will probably not get units for helping out your first semester since you won’t be on a research project.

If you do end up receiving units for your time at the lab, you will get one unit per every three hours that you are in the lab helping. Keep in mind that just because you are working on a project, doesn’t mean that you are exempt from participating in animal care.