When should I email professor about research?

[ytt9953]

Hi everyone,
I will be a junior at ucd
I wanted to possibly work in a lab this incoming school year. I want to start this fall quarter and be involved as long as possible.
I'm at home right so I'm not in Davis, but I was wondering when u guys think I should contact the professor to let them know I'm interested? Our summer doesn't end till end of sept. So I don't want ask to early but I don't want to ask too late where there would be no spot available.
In other words when should I email the professor ? Haha
Thanks guys

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[Romz]

Hi everyone,
I will be a junior at ucd
I wanted to possibly work in a lab this incoming school year. I want to start this fall quarter and be involved as long as possible.
I'm at home right so I'm not in Davis, but I was wondering when u guys think I should contact the professor to let them know I'm interested? Our summer doesn't end till end of sept. So I don't want ask to early but I don't want to ask too late where there would be no spot available.
In other words when should I email the professor ? Haha
Thanks guys

Hi,

Personally, I liked to e-mail a month and a half to two months in advanced to make sure that there was no last minute scrambling. I surveyed a few potential projects of interest and ranked them in the order from "absolute must" to "i'd like it". Sometimes the PI won't be accepting students and sometimes they'll scoop you up - it's honestly a toss up. Some people may find my timing a little too early, but I've experienced first hand the stress that some of my friends went through in trying to establish a position at the beginning of the school year. Remember, the PI will usually expect you to understand the project and start as of the first week of classes.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Yes email them asap, sometimes they take weeks to respond, or you need to email again and then they tell you no. So instead of doing what I did, which is email a prof.... wait wait wait... ignored or rejected... email another, just get on it. Rejection is an expected part of the process, you can't wait around or else you will find yourself another year down the road with nothing to show for it. I just graduated from UCD, which lab are you interested in?

 

[efle]

Don't you have a class you can sign up for that is Research for Credits? Usually there is a list of professors that take undergrads for that you can peruse. If you're doing it old school like I did and just cold emailing PIs that interest you, get in it ASAP! Unless you're very lucky it will take a few weeks an many emails to get some people interested in taking you on in their lab

 

[ytt9953]

Yes email them asap, sometimes they take weeks to respond, or you need to email again and then they tell you no. So instead of doing what I did, which is email a prof.... wait wait wait... ignored or rejected... email another, just get on it. Rejection is an expected part of the process, you can't wait around or else you will find yourself another year down the road with nothing to show for it. I just graduated from UCD, which lab are you interested in?

I was thinking about doing work with dr. Siegel in the genome center . I had him for 118c last quarter 🙂

 

[ytt9953]

Thanks guys I'll get to it asap🙂