<p>I'm a junior who's interested in Biology. I live in the Chicagoland area, so I think that there should be some internships available for high school juniors over the summer (I will be a senior next year). How do I go about finding one? Should I email colleges or there professors? Should I call? What should I do and what should I say when I get in contact with someone? I am new to this.</p>
<p>… bump</p>
<p>I’m not sure about college professors exactly but I am doing a similar process tho asking companies for internships instead.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Look at college faculty lists for universities in your area. (eg UChicago)</p></li>
<li><p>Find maybe 10 professors whose research matches what you want to do.</p></li>
<li><p>Research those professors’ papers and presentataions as much as possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Email them while impressing them with the knowledge you gained by doing research. eg “I am interested in how you extended the use of protein simulation in your research.”</p></li>
<li><p>Hopefully get back a response. If not repeat steps 1 -4.</p></li>
<li><p>Make a choice :D</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ what do you say when asking for internships?</p>
<p>bumping a bump.</p>
<p>@cyberchondriac</p>
<p>Emailing random companies asking them for a chance to work with their engineers for free! :D</p>
<p>I haven’t yet received a response from any of them yet tho :(</p>
<p>Yeah but what exactly do you say? Just straight forth say I’m a junior with straight A’s that wants an internship or say something like ‘im interested in freely assisting you and getting to gain valuable knowledge from your thing’</p>
<p>Basically this
</p>
<p>I add things like how I found their company and what cool things they do that I want to be involved with.</p>
<p>I am following up with a call because so far all of them haven’t even replied :mad:</p>
<p>Though I’ve never tried this method myself, based on what I’ve read on here, HitMan, following up with a call is not something expected. I think that no response is typically taken to mean that they are not interested, and that you should try emailing more people. I feel like that would just get awkward on the phone with them trying to figure out how to tell you no.</p>
<p>It is recommended that when you email a professor who you are interested working with, you should cc their administrative assistant (basically his or her secretary). Professors are almost always swamped with a lot of work, and it may take a while for them for them to respond (or they may not even respond at all). Administrative assistants are usually much prompt and will probably give you a response fairly quickly.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t ask for the internship in the first email. I would try to get a conversation started and then maybe throw it in somewhere. Like maybe in the 2nd email mention how it you would like to visit the lab and then eventually lead into it. Show the professor that you care. Keep in mind, he most likely has plenty of grads and undergrads that he can take instead of you. You have to show that you’re most interested and committed since his other candidates will be more knowledgeable and capable.</p>
<p>If you are perhaps interested in the medical field, there are some internship/volunteer opportunities at chicago hospitals.</p>