Does undergrad research pay?

<p>I know many med students get payed for doing research, but does undergrad research pay? If I were to get a summer research opportunity, I would take it with or without the pay, but it would be nice to not have to get a separate summer job.</p>

<p>Sometimes, especially if you're on work study and/or have previous experience.</p>

<p>What exactly is an undergrad allowed to do in research? Is it looking things up or more hands on stuff? I know it depends on what the topic is...but I have no clue what to imagine...</p>

<p>Hands on stuff. I don't see how you can stare at a beaker and expect it to wash itself.</p>

<p>It is possible to get a paid summer internship. I know that in my school and in most colleges, students are paid hourly. I mean the pay isn't spectacular but it is roughly higher than min. wage for me. Of course you being paid depends on your knowledge, work-ethic, and of course previous experience is always a plus. I mean that is something that you need to negotiate with your lab. Though don't go to a lab because it pays you more money. Do it because you like the topic and you don't regret coming to lab every single day. Trust me I speak from personal experience and I was never paid as of yet.</p>

<p>Just to add about what you do. Usually you begin by observing your mentor with him/her teaching you techniques. This usually takes at least a month. Then little by little you will be bombarded with work. I mean in the beginning your main hands-on work may be to wash beakers and stuff. Don't let that discourage you. Everyone begins the same way. Most important thing is to show that you are interested and willing to work hard. Once ppl see that you are dependable, your work will greatly increase. Hope this helps.</p>

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[quote]
It is possible to get a paid summer internship. I know that in my school and in most colleges, students are paid hourly. I mean the pay isn't spectacular but it is roughly higher than min. wage for me. Of course you being paid depends on your knowledge, work-ethic, and of course previous experience is always a plus. I mean that is something that you need to negotiate with your lab. Though don't go to a lab because it pays you more money. Do it because you like the topic and you don't regret coming to lab every single day. Trust me I speak from personal experience and I was never paid as of yet.</p>

<p>Just to add about what you do. Usually you begin by observing your mentor with him/her teaching you techniques. This usually takes at least a month. Then little by little you will be bombarded with work. I mean in the beginning your main hands-on work may be to wash beakers and stuff. Don't let that discourage you. Everyone begins the same way. Most important thing is to show that you are interested and willing to work hard. Once ppl see that you are dependable, your work will greatly increase. Hope this helps.

[/quote]
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<p>Thank you for giving me a serious answer.</p>

<p>Glad I could help.</p>

<p>Yeah, thanks for your in-depth answer =)</p>

<p>Example of High Shooler's working as Laboratory Assistant (paid summer position) - Handling animals (blood pressure, pre-op, post-op care), making electrophoresis gels, taking pictures of cells - cardiac and renal research in a laboratory. Undergrad. would be allowed more responsibilities.</p>

<p>Just as a side note, lab jobs vary from lab to lab because each lab has its own policies about what it allows its students/volunteers to do. I can say from personal experience that when I was in my first lab, I was not allowed to even touch the animals because my mentor was scared of me getting hurt or infected by the animal. She told me that technicians handled animals, not students. Though I did hands-on research like eletrophoresis, cell culture, RNA extraction, homogenization, etc.</p>

<p>Job safety is always one of the management concerns in any job situation in regard to anybody. There are measures at place that are develped to prevent injuries and procedures in case that they happen. In case of paid position, you have to go thru safety training, including safe way to handle animals if they are involved in your job responsibilities, and there is worker's comp. to pay in case of injury. In addition, lab. animals are specially raised and expensive, they are usually much safer to handle than average pets.<br>
Labs are different and they have different policies and unspoken rules. A lot of it is a matter of luck. That job was very interesting with a lot of hands on learning experiences.</p>

<p>aaa, for incoming freshmen, is it possible to get research in freshmen yr w/o any experiences and how do freshmen ask for these research? like viaing many emails to professors under the department listings or is there some other way.. thank you! and for voluntering, do we join an organization and do the volunteering that way or is it better meaning more control to just go somewhere urself individually and volunteer somewhere like a hospice, hospital, etc?
-thank you</p>

<p>i guess that means there is no other way of getting research on campus besides that way and it wouldn;t really matter for the second question lol -_-</p>

<p>lol I love it when people answer their own question and the answers are mostly correct.</p>

<p>Getting undergrad research essentially consists of emailing a bunch of professors and telling them how interested you are in their research. The response (and interview rate) is usually very low which is why you have email a lot.</p>

<p>How you find volunteering is not important compared with what you are doing during your volunteer activities.</p>

<p>tys =D charrrr</p>

<p>I just finished a 4 month summer research. I didn't do any grunt work. I was thrown right in there and was given a project that is now being continued by a post-doc. It was hard, as I was much more green that anyone else in the lab, and I was given an assignment of equal difficulty, but everyone else was pretty helpful.</p>

<p>I was paid $1800 CAD per month, as I applied for a scholarship contingent upon completing the research.</p>

<p>is it possible to begin research in the middle of the semester as a voluntary research assistant therefore getting no credit? And by contacting staff members via email, since we have to email quite a bit to see if there are even openings avaliable, wouldn;t it be difficult to really study up in all of the subjects before even getting an interview, so would the first email to faculty members be like only a couple of sentences, should we even attach a resume on this first email? =/ like what exactly do we need to talk about in this first email besides our interest? should we mention our qualifications? =/ arhhhh</p>

<p>Yes a resume is a must. If you have no previous experience, then put all classes that are relevant to the field that you have taken.</p>