<p>I am a freshman computer science major and I am really interested in getting some experience in my field. I have applied to everything that I have seen so far. How should I go about getting to know about research opportunities?</p>
<p>And, being that I am from NJ yet go to college in DC, is there anyway for me to do research at an institution in my home state? How would I go about this? Thank you</p>
<p>It’s as easy as asking professors in your field of interest to work in their lab.</p>
<p>Bump?</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>What Neodymium said.</p>
<p>NeoDymium has it right, but do not expect too many yesses as a freshman - they well want to see skills or courses completed before they invest time in you.</p>
<p>I’d qualify cosmicfish’s statement.
Don’t expect the first professor you talk to to be willing to take you in, because most of them are looking for someone who doesn’t really need to be trained. But there’s also a fair number of professors who just ask for competency as a requirement. If you can show that you will pick things up quickly (you’ll be pretty clueless at the beginning, no matter how smart you are), at least a few professors should be willing to give you a chance as a freshman.
If you ask by email, make sure to send a resume. If you can show off a strong GPA or previous work experience (work on some project, even something like a robotics club or a personal coding project), that’s better than an email with nothing but a request from a person the professor does not know.</p>
<p>As NeoDymium said, make sure you can show any profs you talk to that you have good grades, especially in any classes in your major, and that you can learn quickly. At least at my school, I know a decent number of kids who did work for professors but they did more basic work like data analysis, so there may be opportunities where you don’t need any particular skills yet.</p>
<p>Some people I know even did work they had no experience in. One of my friends got research this past semester working on robotic prosthetic arms that allow the owner to move the prosthetic limb with their mind and via tightening of muscles around the prosthetic. He had never dealt with robotics, but he had shown he could program decently and had a great GPA so the prof thought he could do well.</p>
<p>Just do as good as possible, understand you may not get any opportunities and just work to sell yourself.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice guys.</p>