Student blogs

Going into my dry‑lab thesis, I expected smooth sailing. No wet-lab delays, no failed experiments—just clean analysis. Instead, I learned that even without a lab bench, a thesis can be full of surprises. Here are a few things I didn’t expect but ended up shaping my experience.

Dry‑lab analysis also takes longer than planned

Since I am doing a dry‑lab thesis, I was expecting analysis to not take as long. I expected that fewer things would go wrong and that everything would go according to plan. However, that ended up not being the case at all. Since it’s dry‑lab, it’s very easy to re‑run and re‑do analyses a million times, which ends up taking just as long as a few analyses would in wet‑lab. In my experience, supervisors will usually want to address every research question, which of course is very time‑consuming. Furthermore, a few issues arose in my code, which meant I had to rerun and redo things a second time. Let’s just say that what I thought would take 8 weeks ended up taking 16.

Lab environment

Lab environments can differ so much, and they make all the difference. Luckily, for my thesis, the lab environment has been really nice! My lab group is way more tight‑knit than I would expect, which makes it a great working environment not only to ask questions and get help, but also socially. I eat lunch with my labmates every day, and it’s just fun to get to know a whole new set of different people!

A lot more independence

During my master’s thesis, I’ve gotten a lot more independence than I had during my bachelor’s. Of course, this is normal, but I did not expect the difference to be so big. With more independence has come a lot more responsibility, which can feel overwhelming at times but also rewarding. For me, it has been important to remember that although I do have a lot more independence, the thesis is still not a job but a learning experience. We are still students after all. This mentality has helped me take a breather and deal with the responsibility without stressing myself out too much.

Working hours

Since I’m doing dry‑lab, my working hours are 8–17:00. This of course depends on the lab, how flexible the work is, and the requirements of your supervisor. Going into the lab from 8–17:00 has really been a big adjustment for me, as up until now I’ve been used to the student’s flexible working hours.

In the end, my thesis experience was different than what I initially expected it to be. It really challenged me, taught me a lot, and gave me a glimpse of what real research feels like. I’m excited that I’m almost done, but also very grateful for the time I had at my lab, even if it felt unpredictable at times.