<p>I have been emailing some professors at my local state university in order to find a mentor for a research project and how I would like to discuss their research with them. I finally received a response from one of them saying,</p>
<p>"Thank you for your interest in my research. I am out of town this week for a conference. Why don't we meet sometime next week and discuss? Please let me know which day is most convenient for you. By the way, my research involves all four division of chemistry (organic, inorganic, analytical, and physical) but it does not include biochemistry.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to hearing from you"</p>
<p>I feel like I caught a big break, but the email sounds a bit general. What do you guys think about it? Is this discussion going to be like an interview to see if I am competent enough to be in a lab? Does his response mean that it is likely that I will be able to work with him and such, or am I being too optimistic?</p>
<p>Thanks! :]</p>
<p>It’s sort of an interview, but realistically, if he’s meeting with you you’re pretty much in. They don’t really interview high school students or even undergrads really.</p>
<p>He might ask what classes you’ve taken to see whether your background is sufficient.</p>
<p>People don’t meet you unless they have some space. That is a pretty lengthy email and not general.</p>
<p>It sounds like you mentioned in your email that you want to work in biochemistry and he is pointing out that he does nt work in that area. So when you go to meet him, don’t say that it is the area you want to work in since he clearly stated he does nt.</p>
<p>If you want to meet him, ask him to suggest a convenient date and time to meet. Be prepared to talk chemistry.</p>
<p>Brush up on what the research areas and see if you can find some papers of his to read before you meet.</p>
<p>…omg, after like 2 weeks of not receiving any emails, every single professor that I have emailed responded saying that they would “love to talk to me about their research and my role in the lab.”</p>
<p>._.</p>
<p>Do you guys have any advice on how to politely turn down a professor’s offer? My emails were all sincere and took a great interest in their research so I am finding it hard to say no to some of them now.</p>
<p>Thank them for the opportunity and say yoi have gotten another position. Just make sure the mood of your email is sincere gratitude. Dont make it sound spiteful. Make sure to apologize, but not excessively.</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T959 using CC App</p>
<p>I would actually get a position before you turn down others. In the future, it is best to ask one professor at a time so that this doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how I would proceed.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would pick the one you are most interested in, make an appointment as soon as possible (Monday?), then wait to reply to the other ones. I wouldn’t be too particular, but you might want to make sure that you will be actively participating in the research and not just washing glassware or something. There was a professor at Yale who did this to their undergrads. However, this is extremely rare so you don’t necessarily need to ask this.</p>
<p>Basically, what generally happens is that you will start out helping a grad student or a postdoc on a part of their project. You will learn a few techniques and then become more and more independent. However, for the summer it will be like you are working for the</p>
<p>I agree with collegealum. My son, a freshman, did some work in the lab as a first-semester freshman. At the end of the year, a professor said he would meet with my son to discuss possibilities of summer work. It sounded very promising, but when they actually met, the prof said my son really didn’t have enough experience yet. He DID say to contact him next year, so the meeting wasn’t wasted.</p>
<p>Oh i see, I am planning to do research this summer as well as next summer. I was expecting to be primarily watching, reading all about the research, and learning how to use equipment this summer.</p>
<p>I realize it is still too early to be thinking about this, but if it takes a while for most students to become independent, how do they submit their work for science fairs such as intel? I wanted to begin a summer ago(between 9th and 10th grade) but realized I needed to take atleast Ap Biology before I begin any labworks. Well, I’m not doing research just for competitions, more for curiosity, but when I actually do some research I think I might want to enter some competitions.</p>
<p>Sounds promising. When I tried to get in touch with professors I did -sort-of- the opposite - I first asked them to speak and then, at the end of our meeting I asked them whether I can work in their lab or not. </p>
<p>@DannyNobel, could you please post the email you sent for this professor (I did not see it).</p>
<p>Talk to at least a few professors first before you start turning others down.</p>
<p>Find someone young and ambitious out to prove themselves. They will give you a lot more work and need to publish.</p>
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<p>^^I don’t think that is really necessary. </p>
<p>Unless there is a stark difference in funding (as in, a lab looks like there is no funding because there are no grad students or postdocs,) it doesn’t matter at this level. And you are more likely to publish as an undergrad/high school student in an established group. It can take several years for an assistant professor to publish their first paper. Typically, they give an undergrad/high school student to a senior grad student, who will be publishing soon in an established group.</p>
<p>It takes awhile to become independent, but you don’t have to be independent to submit an Intel project. There are many levels of independence anyway. By the second week you should be probably doing work in the lab under supervision by the grad student. After a couple of times, you should be able to do a lab technique without supervision. By the end of the summer, you should be able to participate in lab meetings and design experiments, assuming you had the right background to begin with. For intel, they want you to have your own project (or a piece of a larger project) and be able to explain your project and field questions. It’s the same thing as what would be expected if you were a grad student.</p>
<p>Chemistry can take more time to become independent in the lab than biology, typically. The learning curve will be harder if you are doing synthetic chem but haven’t taken organic chemistry.</p>