<p>I am an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech majoring in mechanical engineering and I have about 12 months before I submit my application for M.S. to the top 5 engineering universities. </p>
<p>This is where I stand right now:
Minor computer science
GPA 3.9 (most of my curriculum over now)
1.5 yrs completed (including summer), 1.5 yrs to go (including summer)
2 semesters of research, first didn't go so well (went into my transcript as B), second I did training unofficially on a topic with a professor I plan to stay with for the rest of my ug
Tutor for core classes for a year, vice president of ASME chapter in Tech, program coordinator of a club called Student movement (service), Freshman Seminar Class team leader
I'll be applying to become a Calc class TA for the coming fall, which I hopefully should get.</p>
<p>I understand my research is not up to the mark yet, but my first question is will my strong academics kinda buffer that? Will facts like getting my B.S. degree in 3 yrs, minoring in computer science which complements my research and having a high GPA from a really tough school help me stand out even if I don't end up with a strong research profile.
My second question is what am I supposed to do for the next 12 months so that I do have a good research profile and if 1 year is long enough? I am planning to present my work in Tech's Spring symposium (Mid March). Awards are given out at the end but having worked on the new topic for not so long, I highly doubt my chances for the best researcher award or the best presentation. And hopefully I will get a good recommendation letter from my mentor. Late summer, I will also apply for this funding award. I want to be part of the symposium for an experience and apply for awards so that I can show that I have presented my work and for expereince.
However, apart from this I am not sure what else I am supposed to do. I am not aware of other presentation opportunities later this year. How does the process of writing a thesis work? Do students state their thesis in their applications? Do you need to publish a paper? I've heard that's really difficult. What constitutes a good research profile for an undergraduate student and what can I realistically do in 12 months to achieve that?</p>
<p>You get a grade for doing research? Most students work in labs outside of their course work.</p>
<p>In any case, you are indeed performing research, and that will count. A year performing solid research should be enough to make the adcoms take your application seriously, especially since you will be coming from a respected engineering school with an excellent GPA. Don’t worry about whether you have publications or not – most applicants do not, and adcoms don’t weigh undergraduate publications as heavily as many would like you to believe. (Graduate student and industry publications are entirely different.) </p>
<p>You should concentrate on cultivating faculty relationships for your three letters of recommendation, especially since you and your first PI did not click. You might also want to consider going elsewhere for research over the summer to provide some research diversity, unless you don’t want to leave the current project for that period of time.</p>
<p>But haven’t I still not stood out because don’t all students applying to MIT have a good academic record and some research experience? Is that why you mentioned recoms because they are what determine the standing out factor?</p>
<p>adcoms don’t really care about awards unless it’s like Goldwater</p>
<p>Try to build up the research experience…you still have time…and you’re already doing it!..</p>
<p>So it’s enough to say I worked on a topic for 2 years? Shouldn’t something else show the depth of one’s research experience? Would it be legit and plausible enough then to show to the adcoms that I became one of the key members of my prof’s research team and to present my thesis (is thesis a tough ask for ug research?)?</p>
<p>The strength of unpublished research (and even most published) is really shown in the LOR from your advisor. If you do not have a LOR from a research advisor then your research will be assumed to have consisted of making coffee. The LOR will note the quality of your efforts and contributions.</p>
<p>In general, as Mom noted, publications only really count if they are really published - somewhere people will read it, not an in-house newsletter or the UG thesis section in the department sub-basements. Does ANYONE not involved in an UG thesis ever read it?</p>
<p>The title and the description of your thesis should be in your SOP.</p>
<p>As Cosmicfish points out, they will not know the depth of your research until they read your LORs and, if applicable to your field, interview you. Quantity is not as important as quality. Still, you will need three LORs, at least two of which must demonstrate a knowledge of your research capabilities and a prediction of your success in graduate school. If your third letter can also do that as well, you’re golden, at least in terms of LORs.</p>
<p>Coming to the topic of LOR’s, I had asked something on how to get to know professors for a good LOR. Can anyone of you answer those questions in the thread Graduate admissions 101 or here? Is it fine to get a second LOR from an academic professor who is not so directly related to the topic of the research?</p>
<p>You should have at least 2 from your research advisers, and you get to know them by just demonstrating your ability in their lab. As for recommendations from faculty members you have not done research under, just ace their class, ask intelligent questions, and visit their office hours consistently. It does not have to be every time office hours are held but I think more than a couple of times a semester is necessary. One of my LORs was from a faculty member and while I did not visit her office hours, I usually stayed after and asked a question or two. When I asked for an LOR, we met for an hour or so and discussed my research interests and past experience (I brought a rough copy of my SOP and a CV).</p>
<p>I did not remain in contact with another research adviser, which is why I needed a faculty member to write a LOR. I think the people you work for will give you the better, more detailed LOR because (1) you have spent more time working with them and members of their lab and (2) they can speak of your research ability whereas faculty members cannot. I know that my two research advisers both gave a 2 page recommendation whereas the faculty member gave 1, so the detail is definitely different.</p>
<p>But MaceVindaloo (and anyone else who can answer) but doesn’t having only one semester of experience with a professor and working with several profs reflect bad on you…like i mentioned my first PI and I didn’t click, and I am planning to work with 1.5 yrs to 2 with a PI I do like working with…but to get another LOR I need to find another research topic and professor and work I’ll prolly end up working for 1 semester before applying for M.S. And can you work with two profs at the same time?</p>
<p>its okay if you only have one recommendation from your current research mentor. If you work in two labs, it is unlikely that you will be able to devote sufficient time and effort to either while still taking coursework and maintaining your GPA. </p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you directly discuss all of these issues with the professor you are currently working with. This individual will then learn more about your long-term commitment to the field and may also suggest colleagues in the dept that could write letters of rec for you based on collaborations or other interactions.</p>
<p>I think perhaps talking with individuals within your lab might be the most useful. They might be collaborating with other labs and you can help in some way. I know that for my research I often had to come in on weekends, and so I helped another lab member who would have had to drive 45 minutes to do 30 minutes of work during that period. </p>
<p>I do not think you could handle two independent projects at once, and I think your PI’s would not be happy with that either. You need to (1) ask around your lab to see what recent graduates think about the situation and if they have any solutions and (2) make sure to sell yourself properly to get the recommendation you want. I cannot say how having 1 research rec and 2 non-research will affect you and to what degree, but if that turns out to be the only option, make sure you prepare for your meeting with them very very well. I had an hour meeting with my faculty member and I was asked a variety of questions about why I want to do this and what makes me suitable for this career. If you do this properly, I think the faculty member can tie in what they saw from you in class to how it indicates your ability for research. </p>
<p>You are applying to top schools, but masters programs do admit a bit differently than PhD programs (but because of the quality of school you are applying to, who knows how much they require from you). I would definitely ask your lab members about this too because that is what I did and it was very comforting for me. I am sure you have career services as well, and perhaps they could give you more insight though I would trust people in the lab more.</p>
<p>Frankly, the only thing troubling me is that B in research because that would raise a large flag for me. Usually students get As in those courses so that does indicate something serious happened. Personally, you have an amazing GPA for being in engineering and you have research experience, so I would think if you got proper recommendations from the faculty members of your choice, it would be OK, but I do not know engineering programs enough to be confident in that statement.</p>
<p>I’m reading a lot about this research and it sounds like a lot of work. Isn’t it really just getting hired as a lab assistant and helping out in a lab? You don’t have homework, there’s no final, and thank GOD there’s no lab write ups.</p>
<p>Is this all? you squeeze out a butt load of time out of your schedule to be professor’s little helper? It doesn’t seem like it’s what’s really required of us to be accepted to top grad schools. I don’t think it stimulates creativity and problem solving, which I though were the qualities that grad schools look for in research.</p>
<p>And I don’t think anyone actually explained this in the above posts. What does publication really mean? you try to get your name on one of the papers the professors publish, right? But what do you need to do for that that’s beyond being a lab assistant?</p>
<p>For some individuals, being a lab assist is no more than being a set of mindless “hands”. this is NOT the type of research experience that will help one enter research. Instead, being part of a research lab can be almost like entering a family. You become involved in research discussions about developing testable hypotheses and designing experiments that really test the hypothesis. You become involved in understanding how to analyze data and how to determine if the experiment was designed appropriately so that the data are interpretable and able to prove or disprove the starting hypotheses. </p>
<p>Being an author on a publication means you have contributed intellectually to the research study being published. Exploring research in this manner helps you decide if the extreme amount of work involved in this career choice is rewarding or only a lot of work.</p>
<p>ISUclub if you are hired as lab assistant that means at least from what you understand at this point, is to wash dishes and flasks in your lab. that is not what research is all about. when we speak of doing research it means that we are actively engaged in our projects, conducting experiments, gathering and analyzing data, thinking of the outcomes and future directions of the project. this is where the creativity and independence kicks in. </p>
<p>The publication is more like the fruit of our labor. it comes at the very end when we have sufficient data to back our hypothesis and the reviewers say that its good to be published. A publication as undergraduate most often reflects what kind of effort you put in your research project. </p>
<p>if you are looking into going to graduate school then you must show that you are passionate about what you do. conducting scientific research is not a trivial endeavor but a committed one.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I started this thread and I’m writing after a long time just to report my progress. I am now involved with two ongoing research projects with two profs. I was also in their class and I work well with them so I hope I get good LOR’s from them. The other one will come from a prof who only taught me one class (no research). We were able to get to know each other in a personal level. </p>
<p>I have applied for a research award that gives me a stipend. And I hope I can present in the spring event. I have also been assigned for a TA in the fall. I am going to see if I can publish a paper of give a presentation in an important conference or anything. I am not very confident about being able to do it before winter when applications come by.</p>
<p>I hope I’m on my way to get to the top M.S. programs. Additional comments would be helpful. I have another question though. I understand that getting into PHD is more difficult than getting into M.S. But does that mean I can’t apply to M.S. without mentioning that I have the intention of completing PHD too.</p>