<p>Hi,</p>
<p>So I've been reading around on CC and I've realized that many people are involved in lab research/ lab assisting at universities and what not. What sort of approach should I take if I simply want to assist/ help out a professor in his/her lab work but do not have a proposal or project of my own? Also I am very interested in biochemistry but I do not have much extra knowledge outside of school learned procedures. I am a junior in high school by the way.</p>
<p>What should I do/ is it even possible to me to find a position like the one I mentioned?</p>
<p>Thank in advance!</p>
<p>I’m bumping this because I’m pretty curious too.
For me, I met a proffesor at a top 20 university at a college fair who happened to work int he field I’m entering (chem e.) and I’m going to email him.</p>
<p>I had three research opportunities, and they were all pretty easy.
My school is very big, and there are lots of opportunities. What I did was, I simply went to the college website, and went into the faculty information to find out what kinds of research they were doing. After I figured out which professors I wanted to work for, I emailed them about my interest in the position and reason behind them. Just email them with good enough reason. Also, don’t forget to include your resume.</p>
<p>Thanks @dhs911230, unfortunately I don’t have much on my resume that has to do with research… should I still send them one?</p>
<p>Well my guy hasn’t responded yet, should I send it again or should I just be more patient (he’s a college proffessor after all). I’m just worried he ignored my email.</p>
<p>Yeah same @zeppelin7 I emailed a professor about two weeks ago and she hasn’t replied.</p>
<p>@redrabbit23 So I was talking to one of my senior friends who actually gave me the idea for lab research and he said that he should have replied by now, so to send him another email. So I’m gonna resend my first email, and if he doesn’t respond in a week, I’ll probably just find another professor</p>
<p>@Zeppelin7
you should send it out to multiple professors from the start and then accept offers from the best one out of those professors who actually respond</p>
<p>Professors can get pretty overwhelmed, so not responding to an email doesn’t mean they’re brushing you off. As a general rule, send a friendly reminder email and thank them for their top. Chances are, they couldn’t deal with it when they initially saw the email and it then got lost in the abyss of their inbox.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology Thanks for the reply. You actually caught me right on time, I was about to just resend my first email but friendly reminder does sound alot more uh friendly. </p>
<p>@jimmyboy23 yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I personally liked this one because he was really friendly when we talked in person but thinking on it, It’s probably a good idea to have other options in case this falls through</p>
<p>Have someone look at your email before you send it. Be sure you are not requiring much of the professor, or he will put it aside until he has time to deal with it (i.e. never, but he will INTEND to!). Send a reminder if there is no response after a week. Few people will brush you off- it is unprofessional. If they do not tell you to go away, assume it is just in the “low priority” pile, and send them a reminder.</p>
<p>Keep the email short and to the point. State that you are a HS student, and you are looking for a summer internship. Specifically point out how your interest aligns with specific parts of published papers of his that you have read, and state that you would like to be a part of furthering that research. State any special skills you have (can you code in C#?), or just declare that you will work hard if given the chance. Ask that he pass on your email to the appropriate person to speak with you about a summer position within his research group. It is 99% guaranteed to be unpaid.</p>
<p>Try to target 3-6 research groups. Be very targeted and very specific.</p>
<p>@ItsJustSchool Great advice thank you, I actually sent out emails to other professors before reading your post but ended up basically doing what you suggested and two replied the following day! :D</p>