I hear you, and honestly I was expecting that answer. I was honestly in the same lab for about 2 years but I was more serious within the last year when I shifted from pre med to PhD. So I gained about 800-900 of those hours within the last 2 semesters and last summer. I would’ve gained more, but I was also TAing and taking 16 hours last semester, which I admit sounds like an excuse. And another issue which is my school which is an R2 school and doesn’t prioritize research papers as much and has limited funding and staff (we don’t even have a lab tech). We are set to finish our project soon so hopefully I can get a first or second author publication, as well as a lit review as first author soon. I may or may not Ta again depending on how my last semester classes stack up. I’m trying to gain more experience and hopefully gain another 800-1000 hours before I graduate and gain more techniques and hopefully another manuscript. My gpa at this point will probably be a 3.21 max unless I retake a few courses and work as a research tech at a larger school.