Hey guys,
I’m an incoming college freshman and I’m wondering how I should go about pursuing research in college (specifically biomedical research). How should I go about finding positions in labs and connecting with professors? Will I be expected to have prior research experience?
Thanks!
Are you assigned a mentor in your field? If so, introduce yourself to them very early in the semester. Many professors will invite you to assist in their research unless they only use grad students. Look at the bios and CV’s of the science staff at your college. If they are doing interest in an area you would like, contact them. Also, go to the career center and see if they have a list of available research open to undergrads.
I am not in college yet, but I did research over the summer at UCSD, and the mentors I met there essentially told me that most undergrads don’t have a good shot at getting involved in research until, at the earliest, their sophomore year. But that probably depends on the size of your college. They said the best way to get involved in research is to take lots of science (especially lab) classes relating to the area of research you’re interested in early, and get to know the professors who teach those classes. You could, after taking and doing well in their class, ask if they would be willing to let you work in their lab. You have to go in understanding that you aren’t going to be helping the lab much at first… The lab will be helping and teaching you. It takes while to get to a point where you are actually useful in the lab. But, that is a part of the “cycle of academia/research”… everyone, even top-notch professors, started out kind of clueless at first, so most researchers are wiling to help out college students since they were helped out themselves.
That was one of the reasons that my daughter chose the school that she did. While many schools give lip service to undergrad research, her school actually works hard to promote it and match undergrads to research opportunities. The location of the undergraduate campus can also affect the opportunities. At Rochester, for instance, the hospital and med center are right next to the main undergraduate campus. She had a position on a research team within the first two weeks of her freshman year and had has the opportunity to work on a total of three research studies (two biomedical and one epidemiological) over the past three years.
Many LAC’s that are strong in STEM fields will offer plenty of research opportunities beginning freshman year. There will be no grad students to compete with. There are also a number of small to midsize research universities that these opportunities will be available to undergrads.