Possible to get research position at a university other than the one you attend?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Forgive me, here, if this is an obvious question with an obvious answer, but is it reasonably possible to get a summer research position (preferably paid since I desperately need the money and my parents are jobless so footing the bill for rooming, etc would be tough on them) at a university other than the one you go to without applying to one of those REU program things (seeing as the deadline was a good few months ago)? </p>

<p>I am currently a sophomore, rising junior getting a degree in Environmental Engineering. My previous summer plans sort of fell through, and since the university I attends uses the semester system, I feel like I'm pretty much screwed in terms of finding an engineering research position here because the term ends in less than a month. Ideally, I would get to do some sort of research and not some menial office job. I am hoping that maybe if I ask a few professors at universities on the quarter system I would have a better chance. Am I just grasping for straws?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You would have very litle chance of that. The time it takes to train an undergrad to be useful in a lab is generally much more than just the summer and it wouldn’t really be worth it for that professor to pay you just to train you and have you leave.</p>

<p>However, why do you feel it is too late to get a position t your current school. Research is a year-round thing, and even at schools on the semester system (the vast majority of engineering programs) the professors and grad students are their working their butts off all summer. It may actually be to your advantage to play up te fact that you can stay over the summer to work for them. Just know that finding a spot just for the summer will be tougher than finding one that you participate in during the school year too.</p>