<p>I'm a sophomore chemical engineering. I'm not sure what field to choose in research. I'm not even sure about my major. I currently have a research job, but I don't really like it. The professor doesn't really take me seriously and the subject is boring. Does anyone have a good strategy as to how to plan out your research through your undergrad years so that you're all set once I'm an early senior applying for top grad schools</p>
<p>If you’re bored of your major already then maybe it isn’t for you. Do you really want to go to grad school studying a subject you find boring?</p>
<p>my classes will get more interesting. All underclassmen find their intro classes boring.</p>
<p>Read research articles. Read as many as you can. Ask to work as an undergraduate research assistant wherever within your department - if the major is meant for you, you will find satisfaction in at least a portion of the work. </p>
<p>Apply to REU internships. I recommend trying some of the more exotic ones, such as RISE (application period begins in January, so line up your letters of reference in November)</p>
<p>Figuring out what you love is basically a crap shoot… keep working in whatever laboratory you can until you do, and then specialize. My undergrad research is not related one bit to what I’m doing in Graduate school… so don’t worry about that - I still learned how to work in a research laboratory environment and demonstrated superior skills.</p>
<p>As you take your upper-division classes something will click. It might be something obscure… like a small portion of one class. I fell in love with computational chemistry after learning about Hartree-Fock (a three week portion of a single class). </p>
<p>Above all, keep an open mind. </p>
<p>Also, make sure you rack up the experience by interning and working as an undergraduate researcher. Waiting around to find one’s true passion before one joins a lab is a recipe for disaster. You’ll never find it without experience.</p>