<p>Happy holidays everyone! quick question here:</p>
<p>I plan on transferring to UCLA for next fall and was curious as to how i would get on board with doing research and extra lab work with a professor/ where i could find out which professors are doing what.</p>
<p>in fact, this isn't a quick question, i am wondering how this process works. is it an outside of class process in which a select few participate in research with the professor?</p>
<p>if anyone could help me understand this better i would greatly appreciate it, since i want to get my foot in the door and started early in buffing up my grad school application :)</p>
<p>Don’t know if UCLA does this, and it might not even apply to you as a transfer student, but many departments have a structured undergraduate research program. You should write to the department head, or pay a visit and speak to him or her about this. Whether or not this is the case for UCLA, you can always create your own research opportunities. Study the website and read up on each professor’s current research. Write to the professors whose research appeals to you and explain your situation and what you would like to accomplish by working in that group. Make sure you let them know about the courses you have completed. Be proactive and assertive. Most profs willingly take on enthusiastic undergraduates to do research generally under the supervision of a senior grad student or post-doc. It can be a great way to get your feet wet and discover something about where you would like to direct your career. Good luck!</p>
<p>I second writing to individual professors. I don’t go to UCLA, but that’s how I got into research at my school.</p>
<p>So this research is outside the classroom? kind of like an internship?</p>
<p>Even if im not taking the professor’s class, i can still preform research under them?</p>
<p>Yes, it’s outside of the classroom, sort of like an internship. You don’t need to be taking that professor’s class(es). Usually it’s helpful if you have some basic background, such as if you’ve already taken General Chemistry I and II (and perhaps General Biology I and II depending on what you want to research), though some professors still allow freshman to do research.</p>
<p>Many schools also allow you to earn credits for doing research. Sometimes it may also be considered “honors research”. Many schools also have specific programs for undergrads to do research, where you can also get a stipend, attend special seminars, do research over the summer(s), and a notation on your transcript.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is to check out the UCLA Chemistry Department’s website (which seems to be down at the moment), check out the research that individual professors are doing (science department websites usually divide up the faculty research interests by type, such as Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry, to make it easier to find faculty in the area you’re interested in), then email those professors and see what they say about you doing research with them. It can’t hurt, and the worst thing they say is “no”, and you move on (we’ve all had this happen).</p>