<p>Hi everyone, I recently went down to visit Tulane since I was admitted and it seems to have many things that interest me (my major is cell/molecular biology and linguistics, and i'm interested in all things science, travel, and community service). However, I was very surprised when I saw the city itself; it didn't really seem like much was "happening" there and there didn't seem to be many companies or other places that would provide internships or jobs to undergrads. Furthermore, the location of Tulane itself was very removed from the city and I got the feeling that all the research opportunities and jobs are found through the school. I'm just curious to know how available these internships are and if there is truly a wide array of them as everyone says. Ideally, I would love to do some research in the science fields, possibly do something small in writing/journalism, anything travel, community service, teaching, or foreign language related. If anyone could provide some insight on what that scene looks like at Tulane that would be so helpful. Other than Tulane, I'm looking at pitt just because its a larger city. </p>
<p>@am0003 - Just to be clear before I go into one of my long-winded (so to speak) responses, are you talking about summer internships? If so, then I guess you are saying you would stay in NOLA for the summer?</p>
<p>I was specifically talking about interships during the school year, but if you can offer anything about summer opportunities that would be great as well!</p>
<p>OK, that helps. Since you are talking about during the school year, I am wondering what the difference is between an internship and doing research on campus. I understand there is a difference in the environment and gaining some experience within the corporate world, but if you are looking for opportunities to be involved in work that concerns your areas of interest (and my apologies but I am not coming up with a way to connect molecular biology and linguistics into one type of job. Although they are both interesting majors they seem fairly disconnected to me. However if you are thinking of trying to establish a connection between biological pathways and language, that would be fascinating!) then it seems to me that finding a professor doing research you are interested in and joining their group would make the most sense. Especially since during typical days during the semester you won’t have a lot of spare time to go to a job.</p>
<p>It is true that the school is going to be the basis for helping you find most opportunities. I think that is true most places when you are talking about internships rather than a regular job. New Orleans is a smallish city. Pittsburgh is not only larger, but has a much larger corporate base. Historical sidenote: until the corporate upheavals of the 1970’s and 80’s with so many mergers and takeovers, Pittsburgh was home to more corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 companies than any city in the US other than New York and Chicago. US Steel, Alcoa, PPG, Westinghouse, Gulf Oil, and several others. So you are right with that legacy and the establishment now of one of the larger research and healthcare entities in UPMC, there are going to me more corporate type jobs in the area around Pitt. Tulane isn’t really that remote from downtown, it is only 4 miles. You could bike it easily, there is the streetcar (a bit slow admittedly), and Tulane runs a shuttle regularly because there is the medical school and now also the School of Social Work in the downtown area, not to mention some offices Tulane keeps there. So any science opportunities you would find within the medical complex are actually pretty accessible in a short ride. There are several start-up companies centered around scientific work done at Tulane, but I don’t know if any of them have roles for molecular biologists. The school would know. New Orleans has been cited as one of the hot entrepreneurial cities for the last several years. I know a lot of these revolve around IT and also biomedical engineering, and I am sure other areas as well. How this might impact you in particular is very hard to say.</p>
<p>Tulane regularly has groups travel to other countries for research, especially Central and South America from what I can see, and also I have noticed several groups going to Africa and India. Some of these are focused on scientific projects. Here is a list of various contacts and research groups associated with Tulane <a href=“https://tulane.edu/research/research-for-students.cfm?utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no-melt.student.research-ops&utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=yield.parent.research”>https://tulane.edu/research/research-for-students.cfm?utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no-melt.student.research-ops&utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=yield.parent.research</a> I would suggest that you contact the ones that seem most relevant to you and ask about opportunities both during the semester and in the summers. You might want to especially focus on the Center for Bioenvironmental Research. There is an area of research where I could imagine that a cell and molecular major could contribute strongly.</p>
<p>I am sure you will have more questions. Oh, I meant to ask. Where is home for you?</p>