<p>I'm interested in bio/biomed stuff. Pay isn't necessary, internships are great, hell, volunteering is fantastic so long as it's interesting and will help me get basic lab experience. How would I go about getting myself involved? The primary strategy I've heard is e-mailing a prof at a local university and asking outright if it would be okay to help with their research, but what exactly do you say and are they generally receptive to this sort of thing? Would they want to know class schedules/test scores/etc? What kind of work would be expected and how much would one be expected to know upon going in? Would this even be possible for a sophomore, or am I going to have to wait until junior year? Any estimates on how many people I'm going to have to bug before I get a yes? (Could I possibly ask any more questions in one paragraph?)</p>
<p>I guess I could answer some of your questions since I just spent a few weeks finding a professor that was willing to work with me and had a flexible schedule. I did email may professors at like 4 local universities in bio- something field since I'm very interested in anything bio and it is generally really hard to narrow it on one professor in case they dont accept high school students. I guess if you still dont get responses, you could call them but I didnt have to go this far. I mean if you want to know how many I emailed, I think it may have been about 70 professors and maybe 10 replied, ~5 asked to talk to me to see if we could figure stuff out so its really hard but if you can show that you just would really love the experience, I guess that helps. You dont really know what to expect going in, I suppose if you get professor in an area you are very interested in and know about, i guess it helps. if you have any research lab skills, it would also help to so the professor is like o i wouldnt have to waste so much time teaching this student all new stuff. I think its very possible to do your sophomore year if you really want to. I waited til my junior year just because I never really was focused on it and i felt it would be way too much work to draw up like 70 emails off the internet and at the end og my junior year, my teacher gave me a list so that made it easier. I dont know how many universities are near you but I basically had about 5 labs to choose from after emailing about 70 people. Location and traffic may also b a factor. Hope I helped.</p>
<p>Now0502 - you've helped immensely, thank you :)</p>
<p>70? Okay, that's about a realistic number. Did you write each professor a different email? </p>
<p>I live in Chicago, so the only local colleges would be either community colleges, or places like University of Chicago, Loyola, and Northwestern.</p>
<p>What kind of colleges did you email? Should I even bother emailing professors at UofC and Northwestern?</p>
<p>I was a bit luckier. I e-mailed 3 professors. One from GWU and 2 from UMCP. The one from GWU responded. The other 2 did not. He offered me a nonpaid position with completely flexible hours. I'm only doing 1 day/week, 2 hrs/day.</p>
<p>Wow. I finally have power. yay. ok. Let's see, if I wrote every professor a different email, I would have about 70 pages of stufff so no. I guess you could write separate email for like say biology professors and another one for chemistry professors but I wouldnt suggest writing a different email to all the professors because if you were thinking about matching your interests with their research projects, the websites that usually post their research projects arent updated regularly (from experience with my professors). I didnt email any professors at the community colleges here because I know they definitely dont have decent research labs so I just emailed private universties. I mean there are 4 of those that are quite small around my area so I emailed them. I also emailed the University of Miami and did get some replies so if doesnt hurt to email professors at UofC and Northwestern but I didnt go to UMiami because its a 2-hour drive roundtrip and thats too much travel time I dont have. Also, I also went email crazy because I know how low the response rate for professors are so I wanted to have sorta a selection to choose from based on how far these people are and which project interested me the most.</p>
<p>What did you say to the professors you turned down?</p>
<p>Thanks for your input now0520.</p>
<p>Back to a question that was asked earlier, how much knowledge should a person have going in? What if you just have an interest in the field and want to pursue it further? Do the professors expect you to actually have some concrete knowledge on their research? Isn't that a lot to ask of a high school student? Also, when is the best time of year to inquire about research opps? Would it be better to email professors before the summer or inquire about a weekend position? I don't really know much about research and am searching for any opportunities. any advice would really help. thanks.</p>
<p>Generally, I suppose it would be nice to have a general background about the field in which you want to research but not too much. For professors who contact you back, I suppose you can read their published papers and see what their research is about but I dont think they expect too much from a high school student. I think taking the initiative to contact them is a lot. The best time in my opinion to ask for research is over the summer because most of the replies from the professors I've asked said to check back with them during the summer. If you have time, it would probably be nice to start research as soon as possible. Maybe you'll be lucky and find a professor willing to accept you now. Just try to find professors at nearby universities. Some professors dont stay in their lab on weekends so I dont know how that would work but I go to my lab about 2-3 times a week for like ~1.5 hours after school.</p>
<p>Bump - anyone who has experience doing this sort of thing want to post an example of what kind of work they do at the lab?</p>
<p>Currently I am working on growing my cells for RNA isolation to determine which mRNAs are regulated by a chemical</p>
<p>i am working with a biomed research group right now in an internship. See if your school has programs, if not, search for some in your area, at hospitals or labs, and at colleges and universities. just gotta know where to look, and now, the working world could give a rats behind about SAT scores, although AP bio, chem, anatomy, classes like that should definitely be mentioned. The most important thing is showing interest.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone who has contacted professors regarding a research position could paste in a sample email they sent because I am having trouble with initial contact with professors/what to say. Thanks.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was just wondering if anyone who has contacted professors regarding a research position could paste in a sample email they sent because I am having trouble with initial contact with professors/what to say. Thanks.
[/quote]
Yes, I'm having minor issues with this as well - how to address them, etc. Tips would be quite helpful.</p>
<p>Silent sailor,</p>
<p>definitly look at the Welch Summer Scholar Program</p>
<p>I did it a couple years ago and it was a great experience, not to mention it really helps if you want to get into a good school. You have to be either a junior or senior in high school though.</p>
<p>I live in NYC, so would i have a better chance in getting an internship through Columbia and NYU professors, or through Queens Community College and BMCC? and yes, a sample email would be helpful?</p>
<p>ya not to just post on this thread 5 years later but . . . </p>
<p>I’ve looked at some of the teachers at my local university (which is a large low key state average act 22 school where I would for sure be more competitive than the average college student) and have found some professors that I would really be interested in doing research with. Now how should I go about contacting them? There is one I REALLY want to do research with so I don’t really want to contact a bunch to start so I can’t really learn from trial and error, but I can from you guys!</p>
<p>If I would email him, what would I say? If he would think about it I’m sure he would agree, but that is what I need to make him do - think about it. Do you think I should attach a resume which has some really good stuff in? I am around the campus all the time also and it isn’t out of the way so an option definitely is going in at their office hours. What is better email or stopping in and dropping off and resume giving a pitch and then saying please think about it. I don’t want to overwhelm any of them, I really want them to think through the advantages of FREE LABOR!!!</p>
<p>Also my biggest dilemma is when to contact these people. I want to do research this summer so the issue is I don’t want to be to early and I don’t want to be too late and have the positions lined up. Also, it would be nice to wait till the end of march when I would officially be named valedictorian to possibly put on my resume but putting my rank would be the same thing I suppose.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Thanks!</p>
<p>It’s funny, I think I followed this thread when I was looking for research positions as a high school student, five whooping yrs ago!</p>
<p>I’m a Physics major in college and it is best to contact them via email. Profs read emails every day. When you write them, be succinct, but show your passion. Read their publications and show them that you know exactly what they’ve done (obviously in about two sentences, not a whole paragraph…profs aren’t the most leisurely people). Attaching a resume probably doesn’t hurt, but they may or may not read it. I think February is probably a good time to contact them, it’s better to be early than late. And if you’re close by, it doesn’t hurt to visit them during office hours if you don’t get any replies. But remember that the key is to personalize the email and make it short enough to get their attention. After all, you may be looking for a research position, but they want to make sure that you are passionate about their research.</p>
<p>I apologize for digging up an old thread, but would a professor get annoyed if you called them about high school research positions during office hours? I know emails are the conventional avenue of communication, but for some reason I think that I’d be better able to convey my passion and interest over the phone than through an email. Your thoughts?</p>