<p>Hi all,
I am a rising senior studying computer science who is interested in pursuing a PhD in order to become a professor or do research in industry.</p>
<p>I went to one of my professors in the winter and asked him if I could do an independent study with him to get research experience, and he was willing to help and said we could come up with something to work on during the winter semester and do the independent study during the summer.</p>
<p>What I have been working on is a pedagogical tool that would be used by a professor in the biomedical sciences department for one of his classes (it could possibly be used by others, though). However, this feels more like a big semester long project rather than "research". Of course, I did have to learn new technologies for the project and develop my own algorithms, but this is something that I do at my job as well. I will be presenting a poster of my work in September, but I feel like what I'm doing isn't really what grad schools are looking for when they say research experience.</p>
<p>Maybe I'm just worrying too much, but I have been working at a software engineering firm since my freshman year, so I haven't had a lot of time to gain a lot of research experience. Are my concerns legit, or should I just calm down? x_x</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Sounds like research to me. You've worked on a problem and RESEARCHED (I hope) the information needed to solve a problem. It might just feel as though you worked on a long "project" because the idea of the "project" wasn't yours initially. You should still try to get more research experience though because 1 semester may not be long enough to be a top candidate for graduate school.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply.</p>
<p>I did, of course, research the biological information and various technologies I would be using to implement the project. I do also plan on doing another independent study next semester to add to my research experience.</p>
<p>This leads me to another question though...does some of the projects that I've worked on at my job count as research? For example, I've had to design some algorithms for lane sortation in a warehouse (as part of a conveyor controller application). I've also done some system analysis for a warehouse management system, among a large variety of things (having worked there for 2+ years).</p>
<p>Obviously, I'm concerned about getting into a good grad school. My work pays the remainder of my tuition, so I do put in a lot of hours for them in addition to school. I feel like this puts me at a disadvantage to other students who are more able to pursue research opportunities. Anyway, thanks again.</p>
<p>I think if you've held a good job and shown yourself as dedicated reliable worker it'll be a huge mark in your favor. A lot of grad students tend to be a little...uhh...flaky about coming in every day and putting in solid hours. While the stuff you did at work might not really be "research," it is independent work where you've had to develop things on your own when you didn't know exactly what the answer was going to be. Research, to me, is generally "expanding knowledge to humanity."</p>
<p>That's how I would define it as well, which is why I am questioning the "research" that I do now. However, I should say my professor probably did the best he could do for me considering time constraints, and I will likely be getting a good, if not great, letter of recommendation from him when the time comes. I'm glad that my work experience will have some effect...I never seem to read about it being a very big factor in graduate admissions, but I will certainly use it to my advantage.</p>
<p>Wow this sounds exactly like research, granted not the wielding a pipet at a lab bench type, but since you're in computer science I am sure that make sense. Anything that you do in your job is also relevant experience for an application providing that it relates to your field. If this weren't true there would be no point for people in the sciences to work as a lab tech.</p>