<p>Hi, I’m going to be a sophomore in IOE. I would like to do research but don’t have experience. How should I go about getting involved in research? Do I just ask one of my professors some time during first semester? Or is it better to do well in the class and then ask at the end of the semester? I applied for UROP but after the deadline, so I probably won’t get in. Also, how much time does a research position usually take up per week? Is it a very big time commitment? I know my GPA is most important and want to do well to get a good internship next summer.
Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>collegegirl, try to talk to professors. if you did well in classes freshman year, then i don’t see any reason to wait until the winter. do you know what field of IOE you’re interested in doing research in?</p>
<p>Just walk up and be like “Yo, I’m a female in engineering” …lol</p>
<p>IOE seems super popular on CC too.</p>
<p>in all seriousness, though, i don’t think being an URM helps with getting a research position nearly as much as it does with getting an internship/job, if at all.</p>
<p>I’m really not sure what field of engineering I’d like to do research in. That’s why I thought it might make sense to see how IOE 201 and 202 go. I did pretty average last year, so I hope that my GPA wouldn’t hurt me. Is it competitive to get a research position? What has your past IOE research been like?</p>
<p>You can major in IOE and do research outside of IOE.</p>
<p>I am in IOE and I worked on robot last year for research.</p>
<p>CollegeGirl, if you want to do research, take 310 next semester and make the class a priority. The professor takes A LOT of kids for research in 310-ish things. If you like the stuff just ask her if you can do research with her.</p>
<p>i think the biggest divide in IOE is between IE/OR and ergonomics. they are substantially different from one another, so you should have a feel for what interests you more. </p>
<p>it’s not necessarily competitive per se since not many students are interested in research, but the type of role/position you’ll take on is extremely dependent on your credentials. if you don’t have much experience with ioe material, then you’ll either spend your time learning those concepts or doing tasks that are probably a bit dull like literature reviews. Prof. Amy Cohn is a big proponent of undergrad research, so you could try reaching out to her about positions. I know quite a few students join her group after taking IOE 310 with her, but most people take that course during junior year. If that doesn’t work out, send me a PM once school starts because i think there might be some spots opening up in the group i work in.</p>
<p>why do you want to do research? is it just to pad your resume to get a summer internship or are you actually considering it for a career? if you’re actually interested in research, i can offer more specific suggestions about developing research skills and how to get the most out of research experiences. if research is more of a resume booster for career fair, though, all you need is to get a position and you’re set – it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you can spin it properly on your resume.</p>
<p>the research i do is within the operations research realm of ioe. i started working this past september, and i’ve really enjoyed it. i spend almost all of my time working alone, but i think most other undergrads work in groups with fellow students. again, i think whether you work in groups or alone is largely dependent on your background coming in. once you get going it’s actually really fun and interesting. i started out doing some data mining/analysis type tasks and now i’m working on more theoretical optimization techniques. it’s an awesome feeling when you get to work on things that have literally never been done before and discuss it with really intelligent people (faculty advisers).</p>
<p>@nubswitstubs</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the detailed message you sent me!</p>
<p>Q1) If I have AP credit for calc1 (AP scores already sent), can I ditch the AP credits and take calc1 at Michigan for the credits?</p>
<p>Q2) How are the engr101 labs factored into your grade?</p>
<p>Q3) What’s the policy for make-up math (particularly interested in calc2) exams?</p>
<p>Sorry for the odd questions, but I’m in a bit of a dilemma. I enrolled in calc2 already but I didn’t pay attention to the exam schedule and the exams apparently conflict with my engr101 lab. So I emailed the engineering department (<a href=“mailto:jrwolfe@umich.edu”>jrwolfe@umich.edu</a>?) asking for permission to drop the lab section and add one that doesn’t conflict with the calc2 exam schedule (engr100/101 apparently requires departmental consent to add/drop…) I doubt she’ll let me though… So that leaves me with a few options:
a) skip my current engr101 lab on calc2 exam days (Q2 is relevant here)
b) ask if I can make up calc2 exams (Q3 is relevant here)
c) avoid this conflict and drop down to calc1 (Q1 is relevant here)
d) they let me enroll in the other engr101 lab and I’m good to go (highly unlikely since there’s only 1 spot left in that section and another orientation group is registering tomorrow at 8am…)</p>
<p>Any thoughts/advice?</p>
<p>I didn’t take 101, but the labs are just as many people as they can fit in a computer lab. </p>
<p>How is there a conflict? That shouldn’t happen. Or are the math exams in the evening and so are your labs? </p>
<p>You seem to have a legit excuse to switch to another lab. It would suck to have to drop down a math just for this. I’d email the 101 prof and whatever the general engineering student support thing is and ask to have your lab switched. </p>
<p>As far as make up exams and what not, that’s really all on the Prof. It would also be .ore likely that he’d let you take it early, not later. But again, he might not change at all.</p>
<p>Do not drop to Calc 1 … take Calc 2</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the conflict. Just don’t worry about it. </p>
<p>Keeping it short.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Luckily got in touch with the person in charge of 101 (at 7:40 in the morning lol) and got the override!</p>
<p>should i feel bad about not getting an internship being an ME and going into my junior year?</p>
<p>@TheLae</p>
<p>“should i feel bad about not getting an internship being an ME and going into my junior year?”</p>
<p>NO. It’s NOT easy to get an internship. </p>
<p>These are some questions you should think about:</p>
<ol>
<li> Did you apply to a LOT of companies? </li>
<li> What companies did you apply too?</li>
<li> How many interviews did you have?</li>
<li> What, if any, feedback did you receive from recruiters?</li>
<li> How does your resume look (both content and format wise)?</li>
</ol>
<p>A company representative once told me that if you want 3 offers, then you need to apply to 20 places (or maybe it was 60 places). Anyway, the point is is that you usually need to apply to a lot of places. </p>
<p>My advice for this upcoming school year:</p>
<p>Go to the career fair and apply to every applicable internship. You’ll definitely want to have an internship experience under your belt before senior year.</p>
<p>Well it depends. I’ve talked to a lot of recruiters about what the average work experience they see applicants have, and it is probably on average a little over one. So, you aren’t really behind. It does kind of suck though, and definitely would have been a lot better if you got one. Just one work experience should be fine though if the rest of your resume is great. </p>
<p>“How many positions did you apply to?”</p>
<p>That’s the big question. To get my first internship between So and Jr year I applied to around 70 different positions. I had to call HR departments repeatedly and track down contacts. I had to do whatever extra I needed to get an interview. I eventually walked away with 2 offers and I picked the better one. You really need to put a lot more time into it than you might think.</p>
<p>ThisIsMichigan made a very good point.</p>
<p>Also, some application processes are long, while others are very short.</p>
<p>There are plenty of internship opportunities posted on Engenius that only require a resume. If you meet the minimum qualifications for a position on Engenius and all you need to do is send in a resume, then you should apply to it (unless the position sounds like something that you are NOT at all interested in).</p>
<p>I’ve been accepted at Texas State for engineering technology, any thoughts? Is it a great paying degree? Any one get a job recently with that degree? How was school?</p>