How is undergraduate research at ucla?

<p>What percent of undergrads partake in undegrad research? How hard is it to find these kinds of opportunities? I'm looking at ucla and washu and jhu and the last two obviously have great science research opportunities but I like ucla too. I know that research is important in getting into grad school or med school.</p>

<p>From what I have heard, professors like when you have your own funding. I’ve gone up to two professors and both didn’t seem to want to take me in because they didn’t have any funding to pay me. So I was like ****, I’ll do it for free! Try to get your own fuding through NSF or NIH if you can. Maybe you can qualify for this: [URC-CARE</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/urc-care/]URC-CARE”>http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/urc-care/).</p>

<p>Search.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/644764-srp-info.html#post1061737342[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/644764-srp-info.html#post1061737342&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/558981-how-hard-get-research.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/558981-how-hard-get-research.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And here’s a copy of a PM i sent:</p>

<p>it really depends on what kinda research it is. rare clinical research positions will usually face the most competition. on the other hand, i was doing this crappy guppy research last summer [which i found via SRP 99]; all i was doing was looking at videotapes of guppies moving in a tank, and marking where they moved. the research PI there was happy to get ANYONE whom could sign up.</p>

<p>what im doing now is clinical research for cardiac anesthesiology at the ucla medical center. im in the operating room, setting up equipment and recording data about a novel method to record cardiac output from an endotracheal tube. side benefit is that i also get to do research on rabbits and pigs to find out the effects of vasodilators on cardiac arrhythmia and how it can improve myocardium twist. THAT research was found through contacting research professors from the anesthesiology research website. if you’re looking at doing clinical research, many departments will have a dedicated research website that list their research faculty and their interests. otherwise, you can also do a google scholars search for topics you are interested in that were conducted at ucla.</p>

<p>e-mail the research professor, asking whether their lab has space for a undergrad research assistant. include your CV or resume in your email, as that’s usually more impressive if you have the foresight to include it. thats basically what i had to do. </p>

<p>(P.S.: good luck trying to get NSF or NIH funding as a undergrad. wayyy outta your league. there are undergrad research programs which give you stipends, via CARE Scholars and such).</p>