How Do I Get Into a Research Program?

[BellaEXE]

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Background: High school student concurrently/dual enrolled at a community college. Will finish high school with 29 college credits. Accepted to dream college next fall. Full-time employee for >2 years. 1000 hours of non-clinical/research volunteering.

I visited with a large research center a few months ago. Have been in contact every so often with one of the doctors who supposedly wishes to get me in. Almost seems as if he is slow playing and just wasting my time. (I believe it could be because he is waiting until I graduate to take on a volunteer undergraduate instead of high school student.)

However, I hate wasted time and have been in contact with another research lab. I am being given a tour of the facility and will spend most of the time with the supervisor for the laboratory.

How do I go about getting into a lab? Whether it be the first, or second I could not care less. Just wish to donate my time in hopes of helping others, which is why I am frustrated with the wasted time by the first lab. What should I wear? First lab I visited and had an interview with I wore a suit and tie. Should I change the outfits to something more casual or continue on with the formal attire?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Getting into a lab is as simple as finding a lab that’s willing to pay you to work. You can send cold emails to any MD PI (I’ve had better luck with MDs vs PHDs personally), say you’re interested, and offer a CV and past employer reference.

It’s a lot of emails for relatively few gigs though.

And personally I’d wear a button down, slacks, and a tie (if you’re male). No tie.

 

[BellaEXE]

Getting into a lab is as simple as finding a lab that’s willing to pay you to work. You can send cold emails to any MD PI (I’ve had better luck with MDs vs PHDs personally), say you’re interested, and offer a CV and past employer reference.

It’s a lot of emails for relatively few gigs though.

And personally I’d wear a button down, slacks, and a tie (if you’re male). No tie.

Should I go for paid or simply volunteering? I currently hold a 40 hour work week job that pays decent. If available I'd of course love to be paid, but with me only looking to research 10 hours a week I figure this might be hard to receive pay for.

 

[crepuscular.ray]

Should I go for paid or simply volunteering? I currently hold a 40 hour work week job that pays decent. If available I'd of course love to be paid, but with me only looking to research 10 hours a week I figure this might be hard to receive pay for.

At some universities you can do work-study for research if you've qualified through FAFSA, but the time commitment really depends on the professor. I second cold-emailing but also your new university may have student work pages and things like scholarships for research projects -- you just have to put yourself out there in all the ways you can, and something should work out. Good luck!

 

[deleted1011020]

Should I go for paid or simply volunteering? I currently hold a 40 hour work week job that pays decent. If available I'd of course love to be paid, but with me only looking to research 10 hours a week I figure this might be hard to receive pay for.

Hey, I was in a similar position during undergrad (took a full course load, worked, did research). If I can give you one piece of advice: look for a paid research position in an academic/medical setting and take the likely pay cut (if financially doable). At this point it might be difficult but after 1-2 years of course work it should be easier to find one. Keep an eye on stuff like LinkedIn/Indeed. They have e-mail subscriptions for specific job searches that you can setup.

If not too many spots exist in your area and are willing to relocate temporarily, look into the NIH (and other large research universities) that have short-term paid programs. Its honestly one piece of advice I wish someone gave me while I was in undergrad. Alas, you live and you learn and hindsight is always 20/20 but hopefully it helps you moving forward.

At least at my school, hell would freeze over before they pay an undergrad to to do research. This is institution specific though and you have to make that determination for yourself at your school.

 

[atm14834]

I reached out to a professor on my campus I was interested in working with (granted its a small school). After a year or so, I helped her write a grant and she wrote in a salary for me until the grant ran out. I got another job as an analyst through a scholarship (We had to have a certain number of points to keep our scholarship, and one way to earn points was to tour a lab.). They offered me an internship and then a job and the job wound up coming with a research project. For me, part of it was luck, and part of it was being patient and just initiating the conversation that you want to work with someone.

 

[Seihai]

First semester of research is typically volunteering; after that, you can typically seek pay or credit for your research.

If you want, you can also apply to summer research programs that will usually pay you a stipend for working in a lab for 3 months over the summer; however, these are largely done with the goal of enrichment as you aren't truly expected to be highly productive with just three months of work.

 

[BellaEXE]

Getting into a lab is as simple as finding a lab that’s willing to pay you to work. You can send cold emails to any MD PI (I’ve had better luck with MDs vs PHDs personally), say you’re interested, and offer a CV and past employer reference.

It’s a lot of emails for relatively few gigs though.

And personally I’d wear a button down, slacks, and a tie (if you’re male). No tie.

At some universities you can do work-study for research if you've qualified through FAFSA, but the time commitment really depends on the professor. I second cold-emailing but also your new university may have student work pages and things like scholarships for research projects -- you just have to put yourself out there in all the ways you can, and something should work out. Good luck!

Hey, I was in a similar position during undergrad (took a full course load, worked, did research). If I can give you one piece of advice: look for a paid research position in an academic/medical setting and take the likely pay cut (if financially doable). At this point it might be difficult but after 1-2 years of course work it should be easier to find one. Keep an eye on stuff like LinkedIn/Indeed. They have e-mail subscriptions for specific job searches that you can setup.

If not too many spots exist in your area and are willing to relocate temporarily, look into the NIH (and other large research universities) that have short-term paid programs. Its honestly one piece of advice I wish someone gave me while I was in undergrad. Alas, you live and you learn and hindsight is always 20/20 but hopefully it helps you moving forward.

At least at my school, hell would freeze over before they pay an undergrad to to do research. This is institution specific though and you have to make that determination for yourself at your school.

I reached out to a professor on my campus I was interested in working with (granted its a small school). After a year or so, I helped her write a grant and she wrote in a salary for me until the grant ran out. I got another job as an analyst through a scholarship (We had to have a certain number of points to keep our scholarship, and one way to earn points was to tour a lab.). They offered me an internship and then a job and the job wound up coming with a research project. For me, part of it was luck, and part of it was being patient and just initiating the conversation that you want to work with someone.

First semester of research is typically volunteering; after that, you can typically seek pay or credit for your research.

If you want, you can also apply to summer research programs that will usually pay you a stipend for working in a lab for 3 months over the summer; however, these are largely done with the goal of enrichment as you aren't truly expected to be highly productive with just three months of work.

Good news and bad news.

Pancreatic Cancer and Brain Cancer Research
The good news is that my interview today went fantastic and are interested in having me join. They understand my busy schedule and even offered to email certain types of work they will need completed to me to complete. Offered paid researching after 6 months of volunteering and informed me that I would be taking paid international trips if I am on the research program. The international trips would include visiting foreign labs, research conferences, and shadowing surgeons from other countries. The current researchers are primarily surgeons, but all have completed some form of graduate school. I was already shown the desk where I would be at and was even told welcome on board. All that is needed is for the supervisor to give me paperwork which he believes will not take long. This research lab is also a HUGE advantage to me considering it is at the medical school I am looking to attend. One negative that is also a positive is that of a language barrier. The supervisor speaks good English, but the other researchers only speak decent English. This becomes a positive due to the supervisor informing me that I could assist in writing publications because language is not the primary language of the researchers.

Cancer Biology Research
The bad news is that since I emailed a ton of doctors and researchers some are sort of interconnected. One of which individuals I emailed works and researches at the same medical school as the previous lab. I met him in person when he hosted a conference, so it did not take long for him to want to meet. He wishes to have a meeting in January when he returns from his research trip to discuss volunteering. Although his is not guaranteed I would wager that he would be interested in taking me up on volunteering because of our meaningful talk at his event.

The first research lab I applied for is basically out of the question for slow playing.

Unsure which one to choose, so what do you think?

 

[KnightDoc]

Timing is everything in life. Too bad you can't have your cake and eat it too! I can't think of any other platitudes right now, but why are you unsure which to choose? One is a bird in hand (ooh, another platitude 🙂), and the other is a similar, non-guaranteed opportunity at the same school. Why is this even a choice, and why do you care what a few strangers on the Internet would do?

Also, please forgive me for being dense, but is this a troll? If not, how did you go from not knowing how to get into a lab to being a high school student with two opportunities at a med school you would like to attend in a little more than 24 hours???

 

[BellaEXE]

Timing is everything in life. Too bad you can't have your cake and eat it too! I can't think of any other platitudes right now, but why are you unsure which to choose? One is a bird in hand (ooh, another platitude 🙂), and the other is a similar, non-guaranteed opportunity at the same school. Why is this even a choice, and why do you care what a few strangers on the Internet would do?

Also, please forgive me for being dense, but is this a troll? If not, how did you go from not knowing how to get into a lab to being a high school student with two opportunities at a med school you would like to attend in a little more than 24 hours???

I was needing advice on how to get into into a lab and get connected with those who can put me in one. It was not like I had absolutely no idea as to how to do so because I had already interviewed with one lab which has been slow playing. My post may have come off wrong, but I meant that both supervisors for the labs are at the medical school I wish to go too. I had already planned one interview that I attended today, while the other I received an email from asking if I could meet in January. One is guaranteed interest while the other is a meeting. Also who better to ask for advice then various individuals with far greater experience than I.

 

[KnightDoc]

I was needing advice on how to get into into a lab and get connected with those who can put me in one. It was not like I had absolutely no idea as to how to do so because I had already interviewed with one lab which has been slow playing. My post may have come off wrong, but I meant that both supervisors for the labs are at the medical school I wish to go too. I had already planned one interview that I attended today, while the other I received an email from asking if I could meet in January. One is guaranteed interest while the other is a meeting. Also who better to ask for advice then various individuals with far greater experience than I.

Sounds like you are doing better than most undergrads, so you probably don't need advice from anyone here! 🙂

You're going to be a full time college student in the fall -- do you really need anyone to tell you whether to take the non-slow playing bird in the hand or to turn it down so you could wait for the meeting next month, both of which involve cancer research at the same medical school?? If so, good luck!!! 🙂

 

[Frazier]

Look into public health dept (or similar) if your local university has one.
It is tougher breaking into bench/basic vs "soft" sciences as a young trainee.