Research

[Youngm2194]

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Hi this is my first post so bear with me.
I'm going to be a junior in college this fall and this past summer I worked at Yale School of Medicine in a neurobiology lab everyday, unpaid, for 10 weeks. I also received an amazing letter of recommendation from the PI. I'm a neurobiology major as well and I would like to be a surgeon or specifically a neurosurgeon. How does this experience stack up to others? This was my first time working in a lab so Im just wondering how adcoms will view this relative to other possible scenarios. Essentially, how does this research experience stack up to other first experiences and can it be a good stepping stone? I received an open invitation to come back anytime I'd like as well

 

[Ismet]

First things first, "BEAR with me." 😛

It's an excellent first experience in research, and it's great that you have an LOR. Are you planning to get into a lab for the school year too?

 

[vanillabear55]

Hi this is my first post so bare with me.
I'm going to be a junior in college this fall and this past summer I worked at Yale School of Medicine in a neurobiology lab everyday, unpaid, for 10 weeks. I also received an amazing letter of recommendation from the PI. I'm a neurobiology major as well and I would like to be a surgeon or specifically a neurosurgeon. How does this experience stack up to others? This was my first time working in a lab so Im just wondering how adcoms will view this relative to other possible scenarios. Essentially, how does this research experience stack up to other first experiences and can it be a good stepping stone? I received an open invitation to come back anytime I'd like as well

sounds pretty good to me!
From speaking to different doctors- for med school, residency, fellowships, etc...they tend to prefer solid commitments to long term activities, opposed to laundry lists of short activities, so if theres an open invitation I would 100% keep doing that as long as you can ! Do you know if you have a shot at authorship ?

 

[Youngm2194]

I've contacted a few professors at my school (UConn) but nobody has responded 🙁 I did apply to multiple hospitals to volunteer in the ER so hopefully that works out. I think if I returned next year, with my knowledge gained this year, I may be able to make it into a paper, I'm not sure. I guess depends on the timing of what they have going on in the lab when I get there.

I was always iffy about premed but after working at Yale I definitely want to pursue it. I only have a 3.0 after 2 years but I'm committing much more time to studying so it should go up. Hopefully it's not too late

 

[Holmwood]

I've contacted a few professors at my school (UConn) but nobody has responded 🙁 I did apply to multiple hospitals to volunteer in the ER so hopefully that works out. I think if I returned next year, with my knowledge gained this year, I may be able to make it into a paper, I'm not sure. I guess depends on the timing of what they have going on in the lab when I get there.

I was always iffy about premed but after working at Yale I definitely want to pursue it. I only have a 3.0 after 2 years but I'm committing much more time to studying so it should go up. Hopefully it's not too late

Most professors prefer you meet them in office hours. Furthermore, their inboxes usually are cluttered. Just go in person. It'll be better, trust me.

 

[fellowstudent92]

^if you're talking about going up to random professors whom you've never seen, then no, don't just go up to them. It'll be extremely awkward. However, if you're talking about going up to professor for whom you have classes with, then yea that's a different story and you should totally do that. But for professors whom you've never met before, you MUST email first. It's only professional and not as awkward. Universities large like UCONN should also have research programs where they transition you into meeting research professors.

 

[Youngm2194]

I meant I emailed them, sorry for the confusion. None of them got back to me. I think focusing on school and some volunteer work is better knowing that I have some research under my belt and am able to do it next summer as well.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Most professors prefer you meet them in office hours. Furthermore, their inboxes usually are cluttered. Just go in person. It'll be better, trust me.

In this scenario you should email them in the morning. One of the first things they see in their inbox will be your email, if most of them have it on most recently sent.