Getting a research position

<p>Hi guy, I’ve been looking into undergraduate research. And for those of you who have had research experience, how was it? About how many professors did you have to contact to secure a research position (science or humanities)?</p>

<p>For me I got connected. I play ice hockey and so does a professor here, and he needed a goalie for his adult league team, so I joined. Turned out he was a high ranking guy in the engineering department and I’m an aerospace engineer, so I got hired to the wind tunnel on campus. I love it, it’s interesting and I learn a lot. But I know I got into it a lot easier than most people.</p>

<p>I’m friends with a PhD student, and her advice to anyone looking into a research position is to contact any faculty that are doing research you’re interested in. Another friend of mine (a freshman at the time) followed that advice and got into a lab within a few weeks. So check out what some faculty in the field you’re looking into are doing and contact them. The worst that happens is you don’t get a reply (most at least respond), but as the old saying goes: “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”</p>