How Did You Find A Research Position?

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Do professors mind if it's just for the summer? An also if you're a recent high school graduate who's oing to be attending a different college...? An also if you have zero lab experience.........?
 
idiotqueen92 said:
Do professors mind if it's just for the summer? An also if you're a recent high school graduate who's oing to be attending a different college...? An also if you have zero lab experience.........?
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No, not at all. That's exactly when I started - the summer after my sr. year of HS (although at the same college that I'm attending). Well, here are some possible outcomes.

Since you have no experiences, the professor might be reluctant, because he'll be teaching you more than using you. But, if you land a lab that needs just pure manual labor without much knowledge or experience, you are in luck. Since you are a recent high school graduate, means they can use you and not pay you (sad, but true).

If you just donate your time and slave for them, you might get some cool experience, see some experiments, meet grad students, and even get a publication or two (that's what happened to me).
 
In my experience, trying to get a lab position has been difficult. I e-mailed one professor twice, and met with her in person. I wanted to work with her because she does research that I genuinely am interested in and passionate about. And she still doesn't want me. She seems to harbor some disdain of me for no reason. =/

Asked another one and she said she's full until next year. Soo I dunno what I'm gonna do. Our department's getting a new professor who has done some interesting research in the past next semester, so I think I might ask her and meet with her in the fall. I dunno how everyone else makes it look so easy.
 
Thanks for the responses 🙂. Would it be better asking person with a separate lab (multiple graduate students and undergrad students) or just a random person who seems to have no assistants (not that I can tell)? Also...how did you get a publication??
 
Someone asked about outside funding - some universities offer small "grants" for their students who wish to pursue research. My university offered grants for the summer and both semesters during the school year, which ended up paying about $10/hr. If you were researching in the summer, you could even apply for extra money for housing and food. Yes, the undergraduate population at my university is very spoiled.

Someone else asked about getting published (sorry, I'm new at this and not great at quoting yet). It really varies from lab to lab. I work on a team of two people (the other person being my direct supervisor), so he was constantly bouncing ideas off me, sometimes I would see a flaw in an experiment and correct it while we planned it, and every now and then I come up with a good idea that we decide to test. It's good to work with people who like to have your input and see you become a better researcher. He has me make my own protocols from literature searches now and all sorts of fun things like that. He also gave me a random software project to work on and didn't expect much to come from it, but I took it very seriously, got it to work, and presented my results with this nice program as first author on a poster at a symposium. Take initiative if it comes your way.

Back to original question:

I looked through professors in a department at my university. They all happened to be affiliated with the med school, and some of the labs weren't even part of my university but were at the hospitals affiliated with the med school of my university.

I found 3 doing research I was really interested in. I read the papers enough to be able to write a blurb about how blahblahblah interested me and how I'd love to join the team. One professor told me she didn't have any more room - all of her post-docs had assistants of some sort already. The other two got back to me.

With one professor, I would have microdissected all day long, which is a rather tedious process involving looking at a slide through a microscope all day long and using a laser to pinpoint individual cells (cancerous cells, in this case) and dissect those cells out of the rest of the tissue sample. Once that was done - which was going to take months - they were going to have me run basic blots and look for biomarkers.

The other lab offer was much more dynamic. They started me out on a cloning project, which is pretty cheap if you already have the starting materials. Once I "proved" myself there (got something to work), I got to do more complicated experiments. I asked if I could stay on and write a thesis, and the lab basically hugged me (already posted here, but free labor is a plus for any lab).

This lab hired me when I graduated from college. We are getting a summer student starting sometime next week. Our plans are to have him make some stock solutions (I could really use some) and start a cloning project, during which he will learn useful skills that could get him a better lab job (he goes to school far away from my lab). If he's good at "practice" cloning, we might order a new plasmid and have him carry out something we care more about. If he's inept...I'm not risking him wrecking my experiments. I'm also hoping to have him inventory my freezer - touching lots of things at -80C makes me cranky.

So, some crappy work, some good work.
 
Stewabeet said:
Someone asked about outside funding - some universities offer small "grants" for their students who wish to pursue research. My university offered grants for the summer and both semesters during the school year, which ended up paying about $10/hr. If you were researching in the summer, you could even apply for extra money for housing and food. Yes, the undergraduate population at my university is very spoiled.

Someone else asked about getting published (sorry, I'm new at this and not great at quoting yet). It really varies from lab to lab. I work on a team of two people (the other person being my direct supervisor), so he was constantly bouncing ideas off me, sometimes I would see a flaw in an experiment and correct it while we planned it, and every now and then I come up with a good idea that we decide to test. It's good to work with people who like to have your input and see you become a better researcher. He has me make my own protocols from literature searches now and all sorts of fun things like that. He also gave me a random software project to work on and didn't expect much to come from it, but I took it very seriously, got it to work, and presented my results with this nice program as first author on a poster at a symposium. Take initiative if it comes your way.

Back to original question:

I looked through professors in a department at my university. They all happened to be affiliated with the med school, and some of the labs weren't even part of my university but were at the hospitals affiliated with the med school of my university.

I found 3 doing research I was really interested in. I read the papers enough to be able to write a blurb about how blahblahblah interested me and how I'd love to join the team. One professor told me she didn't have any more room - all of her post-docs had assistants of some sort already. The other two got back to me.

With one professor, I would have microdissected all day long, which is a rather tedious process involving looking at a slide through a microscope all day long and using a laser to pinpoint individual cells (cancerous cells, in this case) and dissect those cells out of the rest of the tissue sample. Once that was done - which was going to take months - they were going to have me run basic blots and look for biomarkers.

The other lab offer was much more dynamic. They started me out on a cloning project, which is pretty cheap if you already have the starting materials. Once I "proved" myself there (got something to work), I got to do more complicated experiments. I asked if I could stay on and write a thesis, and the lab basically hugged me (already posted here, but free labor is a plus for any lab).

This lab hired me when I graduated from college. We are getting a summer student starting sometime next week. Our plans are to have him make some stock solutions (I could really use some) and start a cloning project, during which he will learn useful skills that could get him a better lab job (he goes to school far away from my lab). If he's good at "practice" cloning, we might order a new plasmid and have him carry out something we care more about. If he's inept...I'm not risking him wrecking my experiments. I'm also hoping to have him inventory my freezer - touching lots of things at -80C makes me cranky.

So, some crappy work, some good work.
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Excellent post!👍
 
NKChemEng said:
I've found four positions in total.

The first one was a blind email to a professor, asking if he needed any help around the lab, and that I would be happy to do anything for no pay (this was my first lab job, so I wasn't asking for anything). Got that one easy, and got a publication out of it too.

The second one was also similar - I talked to a professor who was doing research that I liked, and he just took me on. By this point I realized that professors like to have students interested and willing to work with them. And as a freshman, I was a good applicant because they could keep me/train me.

Two more were through a family friend, but those aren't positions. More like shadowing in some clinical labs.

Cold emails work well. Trust me. Professors like students who'll want to work for them.
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👍👍exactly what I did and it worked although right now I am having a little trouble getting into a lab
 
(sorry for jacking this thread) buuut
1. How far in advance do you contact professors to ask if you can join their labs?
2. What sort of hours do you usually work in a lab? What if you're going to school full time and you only have one day a week you can volunteer time? Is this looked at favorably or do professors want people who can work full time?
 
With respect to #2, I would say to expect a minimum of 10 hours a week in a lab, with more more likely. If you can't commit time to a lab, not only will you probably not make much progress, but you'll also be left out of the loop on a lot of things. That was my experience when I wasn't able to devote enough time to it.
 
violetchild said:
(sorry for jacking this thread) buuut
1. How far in advance do you contact professors to ask if you can join their labs?
2. What sort of hours do you usually work in a lab? What if you're going to school full time and you only have one day a week you can volunteer time? Is this looked at favorably or do professors want people who can work full time?
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1. As early as possible

2. 1 day a week isn't going to work if you want to have any sort of meaningful project. It would be better if you could do 2 hours a day x 5 days rather than one full day. That is, unless you are planning on just washing glassware, which isn't the greatest use of your time anyways.
 
violetchild said:
(sorry for jacking this thread) buuut
1. How far in advance do you contact professors to ask if you can join their labs?
2. What sort of hours do you usually work in a lab? What if you're going to school full time and you only have one day a week you can volunteer time? Is this looked at favorably or do professors want people who can work full time?
Click to expand...

1. Maybe a month-ish? Bear in mind you might need to email more at once if these are busy professors. If you don't get a reply in a week or two, follow up with another email (your first email in the bottom of the new one) to make sure they saw it/don't think you're emailing bunches of professors.
2. I agree with Nick: most want 10/wk. It is most beneficial to be able to spread out your time over at least two days in my experience - more days with less hours/day is better than one day at 10hrs (or 8 hrs, whatever). That being said, I went from full time in the summer to working 2 days/wk (about 6-8hrs each day, some time spent on my own arranging my data) during fall semester senior year while I was writing a thesis. Now, spring semester was another story...

But anyway, most of my friends would put in a few hours a few days/wk.
 
blizzah said:
1. As early as possible

2. 1 day a week isn't going to work if you want to have any sort of meaningful project. It would be better if you could do 2 hours a day x 5 days rather than one full day. That is, unless you are planning on just washing glassware, which isn't the greatest use of your time anyways.
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:zip: reaaallllyyy happy I've never cleaned glassware. Autoclaves used to scare me.

Anyone else like the smell of luria broth once you hang out with it enough?
 
Stewabeet said:
:zip: reaaallllyyy happy I've never cleaned glassware. Autoclaves used to scare me.

Anyone else like the smell of luria broth once you hang out with it enough?
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They still scare me - a girl in my school burned her eyebrows off because she was texting while trying to open the machine. Natural selection, I guess
 
Hmmm so if I wanted to start in the fall semester, I should email the prof. near the end of july?

EDIT:

300th Post!

"Spartans, what is your proffesion??"

"Ah-ooh! Ah-ooh! Ah-ooh!"
 
Doc of the Walk said:
Hmmm so if I wanted to start in the fall semester, I should email the prof. near the end of july?"
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In my experience, the professors will want to meet with you. They might just email you back and say, "K, email me again when you're actually in my vicinity." At my school, it was most normal to start asking for positions within the first couple of weeks of school, and expect to start a few weeks after that (in time to get one of those nifty grants my school offers). But I think an early email wouldn't hurt.

You could also always do your searching for who you might want to work with now, and just hit the "Send" button closer to school time. Maybe you could email a week or two before you get back to school. Eh. Really, there isn't a "right" answer for this, which is why I'm going all over the place. It's touch-and-go a lot of the time with this sort of thing, I'm afraid.

Maybe that helps...a bit?
 
raltima07 said:
One of my favorite movies of all time -
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That movie always makes me feel like a man. Minus the CGI 12-pack those guys had...

Stewabeet said:
In my experience, the professors will want to meet with you. They might just email you back and say, "K, email me again when you're actually in my vicinity." At my school, it was most normal to start asking for positions within the first couple of weeks of school, and expect to start a few weeks after that (in time to get one of those nifty grants my school offers). But I think an early email wouldn't hurt.

You could also always do your searching for who you might want to work with now, and just hit the "Send" button closer to school time. Maybe you could email a week or two before you get back to school. Eh. Really, there isn't a "right" answer for this, which is why I'm going all over the place. It's touch-and-go a lot of the time with this sort of thing, I'm afraid.

Maybe that helps...a bit?
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Haha it does, thank you! I think I will take my time and write a detailed e-mail for each professor and send it near the fall semester start
 
Doc of the Walk said:
Out side funding? What do you mean?
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Stewabeet said:
Someone asked about outside funding - some universities offer small "grants" for their students who wish to pursue research. My university offered grants for the summer and both semesters during the school year, which ended up paying about $10/hr. If you were researching in the summer, you could even apply for extra money for housing and food. Yes, the undergraduate population at my university is very spoiled.
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And there's also outside funding sources as well. I was very, very lucky in that my university had ample gubment funds for their undergraduate students. I applied to anything and everything I was eligible for. A lot of times there would be a chemistry news board in front of the department and/or professors' office with advertisements for $$$$$.

I had been going into my organic chemistry professor's office hours and talking about chemistry, homework, etc. throughout the semester for awhile before I had the balls to even bring up research. I was shy, cute, and naive back then. :laugh: I didn't realize he pretty much retired from research save for some computational stuff he does for other labs. It wasn't until after honors organic chemistry lab that I started shopping around for a lab to join. I didn't feel like I would've been much use before that.

As far as time goes, it's hard to say. My biology friends seemed to have more of a set schedule, whereas us chemistry people were slaves to the chemistry so to speak.

Just be genuinely interested in the person's research, do not mention that you hate this crap and you're just here for the LOR and be prepared to do *some* grunt work. I've seen pre-med students say that at every institution I've studied at and it drives me insane.

I also used to make new students in the lab cut plates and make TLC stains as a litmus test. If they're going to do a sloppy job why would I trust them with something important?
 
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At a bar.

I met up with a guy I knew but hadn't seen in a few years, he mentioned that he was leaving for medical school in a few weeks and was looking for someone to take over his projects.
 
Went through the HR website and was hired.

This is incredibly anomalous as everyone who also works here had a connection in the first place. And there were over 100 people who applied to this spot. In the end, I got REALLY lucky.
 
Hi again.

So I did send a couple of emails...but I think I may have written pretty bad ones. Am I supposed to talk about the professor's research a lot? I mostly talked about how I don't know anything but am hard working...and two words on their researcg interests. Am I supposed to be interested in topics I can't even understand (or pronounce)?
 
idiotqueen92 said:
Hi again.

So I did send a couple of emails...but I think I may have written pretty bad ones. Am I supposed to talk about the professor's research a lot? I mostly talked about how I don't know anything but am hard working...and two words on their researcg interests. Am I supposed to be interested in topics I can't even understand (or pronounce)?
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Willing to learn, interested in professor's research topic, hard-working. You're sort of expected to not know much, but you should have a general sense of what the topics are about.
 
A lot of times professors are happy to have you work for them if you offer to do it for free. I got my first lab position by asking my professors if they or anyone else they knew needed student volunteers. Turns out that one of my professors needed a student for a project and I started volunteering in her lab (this was halfway through my first semester at the school). The next semester I signed up to do research for credit, and then I applied to work full time in the lab over the summer in a research program (the professor only had to pay me ~$4 per hour and the university paid the rest of it). The research program continued during the academic year on a part-time basis, so I continued to get paid for my research 2nd year at the university.
 
I wouldn't emphasis that I didn't know anything...Maybe mention what lab techniques and what general concepts you've covered in classes.

I'm pretty sure I got put with my team because I mentioned I had used a fluorescent microscope before, and we do fluorescent microscopy alllllll the time. ->less likely to ruin a $60,000 microscope
 
Doc of the Walk said:
I am just curious, for those of you who are working in a research lab, how did you end up being there? I am very interested in working in one, and I just wanted to see how others embraced the opportunity.
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I found my research position by

1) getting a meeting with the chair of the MD and MD/PHD programs at the universities in my area. I spoke with them about how I wanted to do research over the next year and they took my resume and distributed it out to everyone in their departments

2) Every week I looked through the staff/faculty positions at the universities to search for research positions and applied to every one of them that came in

3) ask your advisors and professors who work in tandem with other professors at surrounding universities to recommend you to the positions if and when they are available
 
A lot of people have been mentioning to emphasize you will work for free, and I agree, but be open or curious to your PI about the option to allocate some funds for you.

When I first spoke in person with my current PI, I said straight out I can work more if you have some sort of stipend available, otherwise I needed to find another job to help pay for parking/gas. Started in August, working full time essentially, then one day in late September he came up to me and said that he secured a small stipend for me that would start in October. Stopped looking for another job after that, and started looking for summer funding instead, which I've secured. (FYI, assistant professors probably will not be able to do this for you. My PI has been at the university for 20+ years).

Bottom line: it doesn't hurt to ask if they have funding available or you, otherwise ask if they know of any programs/opportunities, or search yourself.
 
Is anyone else having a hard time finding a job? I've applied to like 20 places around new york and boston, mostly to hospitals and research labs at universities and haven't heard back from any. I also tried cold-emailing and got a few replies but mostly that the labs were full. I did get an interview but that didn't pan out. It feels frustrating to sit around doing nothing, knowing full well that it will look bad when they ask me what I'm doing for interviews.
 
These are some guidelines that I wish I had known early on in my undergrad career before I started doing research:

1) When meeting with a professor, ask explicitly to have your own independent project. While working on someone else's project can be just as fruitful (ie third or fourth authorships on papers), it eventually just becomes technician work. You didn't design the experiment, the hypothesis, write the paper, or anything useful, you just followed protocol. However, some PIs will not be receptive to this idea of giving you your own project if you're just starting out in a lab. You will have to learn the basics and prove yourself. I would say that the first year you are in a lab, you will mostly be learning the rudimentary techniques.

2) Check out the lab environment. Are people in the lab really often? If you ever have a question, could you go ask someone real quick about something? Is the lab equipment appropriate? Are there group meetings often? All of these things enrich your experience in a lab. I worked in a lab, where we had one set of pipetters for about 2 post docs, 4 undergrads, and 2 grad students. It didn't work out very well. But I had a lot of support for my thesis, posters, etc, so it was a decent experience all in all. Also, you don't want to work with a bunch of goofball undergrads who don't get anything done. Be aware.

3) Big lab vs small lab This kind of goes hand in hand with #2, but I'll expand a bit. I'd consider a small lab as a lab with less than 10-15 post docs, grad students, and undergrads. You get a lot more time with your PI in a small lab, which can result in positive letters and a great experience if your PI is great. However, small labs comparatively also have less funding, so chances of you getting your own project are kind of small. Large labs with more than 20+ post docs, grad students, and undergrads tend to have more funding but its a trade off for time with your PI. You will probably only get to see your PI once a week IF he/she is not travelling.

3) Mentorship Who's going to be your main mentor? Who's going to teach you most of the rudimentary techniques? Some post-docs could care less about your experiments. They just want to get as many papers as they can, as fast as they can, and try to land a tenure track position. One of my post-doc mentors was always in a bad mood 24/7, and he wasn't very approachable. On the other hand, I had a post-doc mentor who was super awesome and we even became really good friends. I also had a professor as a mentor, and she was quite approachable as well. It really comes down to what you like best.

4) Publications I wouldn't worry too much about this. There are other things you can do that you are more in control of. Some professors only want to publish in big journals, and sometimes that can take forever. Sometimes you'll get a project that just won't work. Don't worry. As an undergrad, you're better off doing good research, and trying to apply for competitive research based scholarships, grants, and etc. There are tons of things you can do if you are enthusiastic about your research. Apply for travel grants to go to poster conferences, apply for scholarships based on research, etc.

5) Time You really have to commit at the very least a couple days a week to your research. It really all depends on what lab you are in. If you do cell culture work, expect to go in at least once a week just to take care of your cells. If you do biochemistry with purified proteins, you can get data every day you go into the lab. With cell culture you usually wait a day or two, and have to come in just for an hour to add something small. What I'm trying to say is that depending on the lab, you might have to plan your day around your experiment if you are taking classes at the same time. Be aware of this.


kpcrew2oo2 said:
Is anyone else having a hard time finding a job? I've applied to like 20 places around new york and boston, mostly to hospitals and research labs at universities and haven't heard back from any. I also tried cold-emailing and got a few replies but mostly that the labs were full. I did get an interview but that didn't pan out. It feels frustrating to sit around doing nothing, knowing full well that it will look bad when they ask me what I'm doing for interviews.
Click to expand...

I would continue volunteering at the hospital and perhaps volunteer at a lab for a bit. The funding situation is pretty bad and most PIs are reluctant to hire postbacs and pay them ~$25k when they could pay a post-doc $40k who probably has double the experience.
 
Doc of the Walk said:
I am just curious, for those of you who are working in a research lab, how did you end up being there? I am very interested in working in one, and I just wanted to see how others embraced the opportunity.
Click to expand...

Advice from my dept. chair was to read a couple of the recent papers, drop by the office and ask. Apparently physically dropping by shows sincerity. I was too lazy though and never did that. I just PubMed-ed the hell out of all the professors here in my field of interest (neurochem & neuropharmacology... not a huge population haha) and emailed the one I liked best. It ended up working out pretty well.

Do read the papers! This is not only to show that you care about their work but also will prevent you from ending up doing research that you hate. Make sure you at least scan the methodology sections so you have a good idea what kind of thing you'd be doing.
 
whiteshadodw said:
These are some guidelines that I wish I had known early on in my undergrad career before I started doing research:

1) When meeting with a professor, ask explicitly to have your own independent project. While working on someone else's project can be just as fruitful (ie third or fourth authorships on papers), it eventually just becomes technician work. You didn't design the experiment, the hypothesis, write the paper, or anything useful, you just followed protocol. However, some PIs will not be receptive to this idea of giving you your own project if you're just starting out in a lab. You will have to learn the basics and prove yourself. I would say that the first year you are in a lab, you will mostly be learning the rudimentary techniques.

2) Check out the lab environment. Are people in the lab really often? If you ever have a question, could you go ask someone real quick about something? Is the lab equipment appropriate? Are there group meetings often? All of these things enrich your experience in a lab. I worked in a lab, where we had one set of pipetters for about 2 post docs, 4 undergrads, and 2 grad students. It didn't work out very well. But I had a lot of support for my thesis, posters, etc, so it was a decent experience all in all. Also, you don't want to work with a bunch of goofball undergrads who don't get anything done. Be aware.

3) Big lab vs small lab This kind of goes hand in hand with #2, but I'll expand a bit. I'd consider a small lab as a lab with less than 10-15 post docs, grad students, and undergrads. You get a lot more time with your PI in a small lab, which can result in positive letters and a great experience if your PI is great. However, small labs comparatively also have less funding, so chances of you getting your own project are kind of small. Large labs with more than 20+ post docs, grad students, and undergrads tend to have more funding but its a trade off for time with your PI. You will probably only get to see your PI once a week IF he/she is not travelling.

3) Mentorship Who's going to be your main mentor? Who's going to teach you most of the rudimentary techniques? Some post-docs could care less about your experiments. They just want to get as many papers as they can, as fast as they can, and try to land a tenure track position. One of my post-doc mentors was always in a bad mood 24/7, and he wasn't very approachable. On the other hand, I had a post-doc mentor who was super awesome and we even became really good friends. I also had a professor as a mentor, and she was quite approachable as well. It really comes down to what you like best.

4) Publications I wouldn't worry too much about this. There are other things you can do that you are more in control of. Some professors only want to publish in big journals, and sometimes that can take forever. Sometimes you'll get a project that just won't work. Don't worry. As an undergrad, you're better off doing good research, and trying to apply for competitive research based scholarships, grants, and etc. There are tons of things you can do if you are enthusiastic about your research. Apply for travel grants to go to poster conferences, apply for scholarships based on research, etc.

5) Time You really have to commit at the very least a couple days a week to your research. It really all depends on what lab you are in. If you do cell culture work, expect to go in at least once a week just to take care of your cells. If you do biochemistry with purified proteins, you can get data every day you go into the lab. With cell culture you usually wait a day or two, and have to come in just for an hour to add something small. What I'm trying to say is that depending on the lab, you might have to plan your day around your experiment if you are taking classes at the same time. Be aware of this.




I would continue volunteering at the hospital and perhaps volunteer at a lab for a bit. The funding situation is pretty bad and most PIs are reluctant to hire postbacs and pay them ~$25k when they could pay a post-doc $40k who probably has double the experience.
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👍
 
You're gonna hate me for this, but I was actually recruited to a lab. One of my TA's must have really liked me b/c the PI told him to find some undergraduates. He chose me and another kid lol. Ya, I'm that awesome🙂
 
whiteshadodw said:
These are some guidelines that I wish I had known early on in my undergrad career before I started doing research:

1) When meeting with a professor, ask explicitly to have your own independent project. While working on someone else's project can be just as fruitful (ie third or fourth authorships on papers), it eventually just becomes technician work. You didn't design the experiment, the hypothesis, write the paper, or anything useful, you just followed protocol. However, some PIs will not be receptive to this idea of giving you your own project if you're just starting out in a lab. You will have to learn the basics and prove yourself. I would say that the first year you are in a lab, you will mostly be learning the rudimentary techniques.

2) Check out the lab environment. Are people in the lab really often? If you ever have a question, could you go ask someone real quick about something? Is the lab equipment appropriate? Are there group meetings often? All of these things enrich your experience in a lab. I worked in a lab, where we had one set of pipetters for about 2 post docs, 4 undergrads, and 2 grad students. It didn't work out very well. But I had a lot of support for my thesis, posters, etc, so it was a decent experience all in all. Also, you don't want to work with a bunch of goofball undergrads who don't get anything done. Be aware.

3) Big lab vs small lab This kind of goes hand in hand with #2, but I'll expand a bit. I'd consider a small lab as a lab with less than 10-15 post docs, grad students, and undergrads. You get a lot more time with your PI in a small lab, which can result in positive letters and a great experience if your PI is great. However, small labs comparatively also have less funding, so chances of you getting your own project are kind of small. Large labs with more than 20+ post docs, grad students, and undergrads tend to have more funding but its a trade off for time with your PI. You will probably only get to see your PI once a week IF he/she is not travelling.

3) Mentorship Who's going to be your main mentor? Who's going to teach you most of the rudimentary techniques? Some post-docs could care less about your experiments. They just want to get as many papers as they can, as fast as they can, and try to land a tenure track position. One of my post-doc mentors was always in a bad mood 24/7, and he wasn't very approachable. On the other hand, I had a post-doc mentor who was super awesome and we even became really good friends. I also had a professor as a mentor, and she was quite approachable as well. It really comes down to what you like best.

4) Publications I wouldn't worry too much about this. There are other things you can do that you are more in control of. Some professors only want to publish in big journals, and sometimes that can take forever. Sometimes you'll get a project that just won't work. Don't worry. As an undergrad, you're better off doing good research, and trying to apply for competitive research based scholarships, grants, and etc. There are tons of things you can do if you are enthusiastic about your research. Apply for travel grants to go to poster conferences, apply for scholarships based on research, etc.

5) Time You really have to commit at the very least a couple days a week to your research. It really all depends on what lab you are in. If you do cell culture work, expect to go in at least once a week just to take care of your cells. If you do biochemistry with purified proteins, you can get data every day you go into the lab. With cell culture you usually wait a day or two, and have to come in just for an hour to add something small. What I'm trying to say is that depending on the lab, you might have to plan your day around your experiment if you are taking classes at the same time. Be aware of this.




I would continue volunteering at the hospital and perhaps volunteer at a lab for a bit. The funding situation is pretty bad and most PIs are reluctant to hire postbacs and pay them ~$25k when they could pay a post-doc $40k who probably has double the experience.
Click to expand...

I concur with everything in this thread, with one additional sentiment on big vs small labs:
If you're in a small lab at a prestigious place, you'll have both PI time and little-to-no funding problems if the PI is already established at the place. 🙂:luck:
But getting into that kind of situation is mostly luck :luck::luck::luck::luck::luck:

Keep trying!

Dory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do?
Marlin: No I don't wanna know.
Dory: [singing] Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.
Marlin: Dory, no singing.
Dory: [continuing] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. I love to swim. When you want to swim you want to swim.

Maybe not ENTIRELY applicable...but I'm in a Dori mood. 🙂
 
At my school, there is an option to do independent research for class credit instead of taking an actual lab course for your major. That's how I found mine. I added a second major, and to fulfill the lab requirement for both majors, I did lab research instead of separate lab classes for each major. Perhaps there's something like that at your school? It's basically free labor for the lab, and that usually guarantees that you'll do actual research and not dishwashing. The only thing the student has to do is find a professor who will let them into the lab.
 
There are a lot of them, especially the top ranked ones. Like JHM, great research and getting published is how some of the JHU undergrad got into JHM, but it's not like they're the only ones that have access to the research, you just have to search for it, they have great ones for the summer. 🙂 I found a lot on this website, the school I want to go to has some too. I'm doing one next summer but for hs.

https://www.aamc.org/members/great/61052/great_summerlinks.html 😀
 
Sorry for the bump again but I wanted to say thanks to all you guys, your advice really helped out.
 
Not to be a thread necromancer... But shotgunning from what I've read seems to be the best approach and I'm on the hunt to start doing some research (cleaning glassware really, haven't done research before).

If we acquire multiple acceptances to different labs we should theoretically pick the best one, but what about the rest of the positions? What should we email them back with? Just say sorry I actually emailed another professor and got a position there instead? Help would be greatly appreciated!
 
I e-mailed quite a few professors for research positions. Unfortunately, only one responded and I was accepted into the lab the following week. True Story.
 
I got four years of in-school research through a full ride scholarship program for students interested in research. My school set it up and helped me pick a professor mentor, they are awesome.

I got a summer research internship at Roche Diagnostics through a formal application process, and I hope to get one in NYC the summer after through an similar, competitive application process as well.

I like research if you couldn't tell 😀.
 
It really depends on where you're looking. Boston, for example, is overrun with med and grad students. The student-researcher to lab ration is rather high for medical research. San Francisco on the other hand will be a bit easier than Boston, with isolated institutions like Penn State SOM having increased odds with decreased choices.

Unfortunate to say, but you'll need to do a lot of begging. Type up a nice resume. Oh and clean up your facebook page, cuz PIs will google you.
 
Yeah, I started writing my emails to the professors I want to work in a research lab with. Its taking a while because I want to make them seem as geunine as possible and to convey my interest in their lab. I'll update if I get into one
 
Really? I just kept it short and simple.

Dear Professor, I'm from this school and I have a broad interest in this topic related to your research. I previously worked in a lab on this. I'm looking to gain some additional experience in a lab, etc.

The last person I emailed was really pleasant and his lab works on something I'm really interested in, so that was great. I'm not getting paid, but I'm happy to be able to get the experience.
 
I know at my school, there is a whole office dedicated to getting undergrads involved with research, and they post a list of profs, their research interests, and their contact info, as well as requirements they have for their student assistants. (All voluntary, of course.) It's been invaluable to me just to see what was out there; this year I hope to follow some leads myself and build my connections in the department I end up in.

Maybe see if your institution has something similar, too?
 
I emailed a bunch of professors in different departments. My old organic chem professor said he had a spot. I've been in this same lab for both undergrad and now a Chem master's program for my gap year.
 
Just out of curiosity, does it matter whether the research is clinical or lab based? Based on past experiences, I've grown fond of clinical research as opposed to making solutions, etc..do medical schools favor one over the other?
 
How long should I stay in a lab for? I've been in one since February (full-time this summer) and would really like to switch into a different lab, but I also don't want to look like I've just bounced around (this is my 3rd lab in 3 semesters). I also don't know if I'll be able to get a project in my current lab; over the summer I just helped out a graduate student.
 
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