<p>I'm a college junior majoring in biology with hopes of going to graduate school or doing an MD/PhD program, and after going through summer internship applications twice (thrice somewhat?) I thought I would give some advice that I think would be helpful for science majors seeking research internships and that I've gained from my professors, PIs, mentors, friends, and my own mistakes. This could probably be true for any major though, but I guess it's geared toward science students. Any questions, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>In regards to finding, seeking, and obtaining an internship:
1) Start early and Google, Google, Google every possible variation of undergraduate research you can think of. Actually set aside time to first finding internships rather than saving time just to apply to them. I probably started my Googling around October and whenever I had a chance, I would try to find some opportunities. Actually set aside time to first find internships to apply for. By late November, I had a list of ~15 internships I was interested in. By early December, I chose 3 to apply to, and during my winter break I started the applications. Before I left for winter break, I asked my professors for letters of recommendation. Research internships tend to have early deadlines (some in mid-December, but usually by late January or February 1 in my experience), so its imperative that you start the process early.</p>
<p>2) If you have never done research before, find programs that emphasize accepting students who have a lack of research opportunities at their own institution, or who are willing to take on freshmen and sophomores more than sophomores and juniors. Also, if you are a minority, take advantage of applying to programs specifically for minority/disadvantaged students. This includes first-generation students and women! Chances of acceptance are much better and I guarantee you will meet interesting people and make good friends that will also be in the program.</p>
<p>3) Apply to as many as possible, but focus on a select few. I only applied to 3, and this was probably too little. Luckily, the one that I really wanted was the one and only one I was accepted to; it was also probably the best-looking on my resume which was even better. One of the other applications came in 1 day late (so again, start and finish early) so it was unfortunate. The third application was in marine biology, something that I wasnt really interested in and so didnt convey my interest very well. I had a friend who applied to ~10 programs. If you have the time to apply to 10+, and can make those applications good too, then by all means go for it. In my personal opinion I think around 5-10 is a good number though. By focus on a select few, I would rank all of your applications by which one you would like the most and work hardest on those at the top.</p>
<p>4) Be honest. This is my personal opinion, and maybe its simply because I write like I talk, but when I wrote my personal statements and cover letters for this past summer, I basically said, No, I dont have much research experience, but you have to start somewhere. Obviously I said it a bit more eloquently, but that was the main gist that I got at first. Often times not having previous research experience is a negative on an application, but students do have to start somewhere. So even if you dont have research experience, there are many ways to say youre ready to give it a go. I discussed how Ive worked 40+ hour weeks before from previous employment, so working full-time wouldnt be daunting. I talked about my work ethic, which was probably reiterated by my recommendations, that I was in an honors lab section, and that I was enthusiastic about the process of learning (which is research essentially). Make your cons into pros by looking at other experiences, even if they may not be science-oriented.</p>
<p>5) When asking for letters of recommendation, ask in person and ask if they would be willing to write a FAVORABLE letter. ASK EARLY! I recommend at least a month in advance. Believe it or not there is a huge difference between taking the time and courage to ask your professor in person versus giving them an email. One of my professors really emphasized asking for a favorable letter, and I agree with him. Professors will most likely write you a letter either way, but when you specifically ask if they will write a favorable letter, and they say yes, you know a good letter will be on its way and you know that you have that professors confidence in your abilities. Ive never done this, but if they say no, you can retract your request and seek someone else (though the fact that you ask them should mean you think they will write you a favorable letter). Once they do say yes to writing, always provide them with at the very least, a resume/CV, unofficial transcript, information and address of the program, and a reason or short snippet on why you are applying to the program. You may not have your personal statement ready by this time, but that doesnt mean you cant give them a reason. The smallest thing you could do is an objective on your resume/CV. Also always follow with a thank you card. A small gift is also nice if youre willing to shell out the money. And dont just write thank you. Actually say something. There has to be a reason you asked that professor for a letter: you enjoyed their class, advice, office hours, etc. etc. Be a personable person. </p>
<p>If you apply for internships and do not get any
1) Dont get yourself down! It happens.</p>
<p>2) Dont be afraid to cold call. I put this separate from the above category because structured programs to apply to will often have supplemental activities with the other interns, lecture series, career workshops, etc. And often they are paid and provide housing. Cold calling wont necessarily give you all that. So if you dont get any, dont be afraid to send a few emails. Look at local research institutions in or nearby your hometown, and then look at faculty pages and their research interests. If the research sounds interesting, give them an email and see what they say. But dont email every single faculty member and dont email them all at the same time. Actually read through their research and legitimately ask yourself if it interests you, then make a list of a few (maybe ~5), rank them, and email them one by one. If your first choice says yes, great! If not, then proceed to the next.</p>
<p>To give you an example, I am taking a break from being a full-time student this semester and wanted to continue working in a lab after being in a lab this summer. I spent some quality time with the medical schools website in my hometown, and looked up various faculty. The first thing I looked for was if they usually had undergraduate students (either by the lab page explicitly saying they usually had summer students, or by looking at lab members and seeing current/past undergraduates). Then I looked through their research interests and ranked them. I then whittled and ranked it down to whose lab page seemed the friendliest did they have photos of lab members up? How many people were in the lab? Did the people look friendly? I then emailed with my resume/CV, a short explanation of my general career goals, why I was taking time off, and why I wanted to work in a lab (gain research experience, explore career options, etc.) My first choice said she didnt have room. Emailed my second choice, no answer after 2 days. Third choice, an answer. Now Im currently in that lab and couldnt be happier. A lot of students need to realize the effect that being proactive has.</p>
<p>(***I first did a semi-rank by the friendliness impression because all labs are not the same, and scientists aren't the friendliest people sometimes. If you can end up with a great, friendly lab who is excited to have undergraduates, and that also does great research you are in good shape. Some labs and some scientists are not the friendliest and aren't the greatest at teaching things, just like any other discipline. This can be torture for you as well as for them. Just like in sports you don't want a coach that is mean and discouraging; you want someone who is understanding and supportive.)</p>
<p>3) Utilize your network. While I was in my search in October, I contacted my alumna interviewer from when I was applying to college; she is a graduate student at the medical school near my hometown, and I had always occasionally sent her a few email updates on how I was doing at school. So I felt comfortable enough to ask her if she knew of any internships at the institution. She went out of her way to talk to a few people, I sent her my resume/CV, and a department chair proceeded to forward my resume/CV to faculty with a note that I was interested in working in a lab. I did end up getting an email, met with the PI when I was home over winter break, and essentially by Christmas had an internship in place. I ended up not taking it because the internship I did take I felt was a greater opportunity and was fully paid, but the fact is by simply emailing someone and sending a resume/CV, I had an internship for me and didnt have to go through an entire application with postage and stress. So, like I said, utilize your network. Family friends, parents of friends, anything. If youre a first-generation student whose parents dont really have high connections, then especially utilize your network from friends or from acquaintances, faculty, staff at your university, etc.</p>
<p>As for when you are participating and working in a research lab:
1) Before you meet with your PI, read their and their labs papers. Obtain background information and get a general sense of the techniques they use and the questions they are asking. Better yet, ask your PI prior to meeting with them for any relevant papers they think you should read that would be relevant to what youll be doing. It doesnt mean you have to be a genius and understand everything about the paper, but at the very least you should probably be able to understand most of the abstract and the general question asked along with the general conclusion. The entire point of an internship is to gain practical experience and learn, so youre of course not going to understand everything about the research.</p>
<p>I would also recommend getting more background information on their particular research field by reading reviews from journals. One of the first papers my post-doctorate mentor gave me in my internship this summer was a review on the specific protein complex we were studying. Reviews are incredibly helpful to read because they give you much more background information than research papers, and summarize the current research questions and answers. Your university should have access to prominent journals (i.e. for biology, Nature, Science, Cell, JBC), so utilize the access and find some relevant reviews. Also utilize PubMed, and the cited by list on the right side of the webpage.</p>
<p>2) Ask questions. This is difficult, and comes with experience, but at least dont be afraid to ask questions. If you don't understand something, say something! Questions are what they want, and questions show that youre interested. No matter how you feel, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Its better to ask a stupid question then to never know an answer and constantly be worried by something that may be bugging you. In class youre often given something and you simply take it in, but that doesnt translate into research necessarily. Research is essentially constantly asking questions. So practice at this and itll come more naturally. Dont hold back! For instance, to be honest for a good half of my internship this summer, I didn't really understand the research. Terrible, yes. But you can't really admit that you don't understand what you're doing daily after a good 5 weeks in lab. So if you feel you still don't understand the research or the questions being asked in the lab, then immediately go to your PI or whoever you work with and ask. It is easy to lose track of the bigger picture when what you do in lab is transformations or western blots.</p>
<p>If you're like me and it's been a good 5 weeks into the research, one way to get more information is to ask your PI for a grant relevant to your research. You could also do this at the beginning, but it might be a bit of a save for you after 5 weeks. Asking for a grant rather than telling them you don't know what you're doing is better because it shows you're interested in the career and want to know how what a grant is like, how it's processed. You also want to know more about the research. Basically, it's better than saying, "Uh, I don't really know what I'm doing. Sorry." A grant is something that your PI actually takes the time to sit down and summarize the background information, research, why the research, etc. etc. into one little neat summary. It was a lifesaver for me and a lot of things became crystal clear after I read my PI's grant.</p>
<p>3) Be engaged and make the effort to learn. Pay attention. Write notes. Dont act bored, even if you are bored and find out that bench research isnt for you. Just because bench research ends up not being for you doesnt mean you cant get a good letter of recommendation from the lab and PI. Make the effort to be a full participant in the lab and the research so that they can see you as a peer rather than just a student. Get to know the people in your lab. Utilize them and ask about their own career aspirations, how they got there, etc. etc. People love talking about themselves. As said before, be a personable person.</p>
<p>4) Admit to mistakes. Dont try to cover up something because theyll probably find out. Especially if this is your first time in a lab, you are bound to make mistakes. Your PI and the person you may be working with in a lab as your mentor (a graduate student or a post-doctorate) is in all likelihood expecting you to make mistakes. So if youre doing a bacterial transformation on your own for the first time and are of unsure of something, go ahead and ask. If you thought you were sure and realize afterward that a mistake was made and you think this basically ruined your transformation, go ahead and tell your mentor what happened. Everyone makes mistakes and every scientist was in your place at one point. A nice thing to do if you do make a mistake is first to think about what you could do to fix it without having to go to your mentor. If youre confident enough to just go ahead and fix it, then for sure try it. I probably wouldnt recommend this if its your first time in a lab because you probably dont know what you should do to fix it initially and say if your idea is to basically start over the entire experiment again, I would probably check with someone before you start an entire experiment over </p>
<p>5) Be independent. One of the greatest compliments you can get is that you are independent in lab, because this means they dont have to babysit you. Scientists are busy people, and having to double check everything someone else has done is tiring and annoying. Gain their confidence in you and make the effort to be independent and learn as quickly as possible. Know what youre doing the day you go into lab, know what youre doing for the week. Be organized.</p>
<p>6) Realize that teaching is a tremendous responsibility/effort, and takes a large amount of time and commitment. It is an investment of a labs time, money and resources, even if youre not paid. I particularly say this if you end up doing the cold calling when all your applications are denied. So be grateful that they take you in, and this includes internship programs, not just cold calling labs. Be interested, engaged, and personable. Give a thank you card and/or gift once your time in lab is done. Keep in contact with them (especially if youre going to want a letter of recommendation), let them know what youre up to, and who knows, they might want you again for the next summer. Working long-term in one lab has its benefits because the lab knows you better, you dont have to spend time learning things the second time around, and if youre there for longer than 10 weeks often times your project can be better.</p>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>