Pre-meds, how can I get clinical experience and/or a research position at ucla?

<p>I'm a second year, and I seriously have to start NOW because I have no experience in anything. Can someone please recommend me different ways to get clinical and research experience, or if you have a position like this, can yo tell me how you got yours?</p>

<p>srp yo 10c</p>

<p>I got my research position through a friend who graduated last quarter (I had no experience prior as well). If any of your friends have research positions, you should talk to them and have them ask their mentors if there is any more room in the lab or whatnot.</p>

<p>My floormate who is a freshman landed a research spot (with no experience I believe) just by going to his professor’s office and talking to him. While sending emails with a cover letter/CV is what people usually do, actually meeting with the teacher proves that you’re highly interested. I emailed tons of professors before and only one offered me a research spot (which I turned down for the one I’m doing now).</p>

<p>As for clinical experience, that’s really easy to get through the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. You can either volunteer or do a more intensive internship</p>

<p>[Westwood</a> Intern Program - UCLA Health System Volunteer Services](<a href=“http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=894]Westwood”>http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=894)
15 hrs/wk for 6-9 months, with a letter of rec upon completion</p>

<p>[Westwood</a> Student Volunteer Program - UCLA Health System Volunteer Services](<a href=“http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=66]Westwood”>http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=66)
Regular volunteering, I think it’s 4 hrs/wk and letter of rec once you reach a certain number of hours</p>

<p>More info on the volunteering:
[Westwood</a> Volunteer Opportunities - UCLA Health System Volunteer Services](<a href=“http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=68]Westwood”>http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=68)
[Care</a> Extender Program- UCLA Health System Volunteer Services](<a href=“http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=74]Care”>http://www.uclahealth.org/body_volunteer.cfm?id=74)</p>

<p>You should also look into some summer internships
[Tom</a> Frederick](<a href=“http://people.rit.edu/gtfsbi/]Tom”>Tom Frederick) </p>

<p>good luck!</p>

<p>^^ typical pre-med mentality right there</p>

<p>lol @ health management internship.</p>

<p>haha I don’t know if you were referring to me, but I’m not actually a pre-med. :)</p>

<p>I’d uprate hellohelloduh’s post, it’s pretty informative. Terranoxic’s is … not.</p>

<p>Regarding research, start with an SRP 99 ([SRP](<a href=“http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/urc-care/srp.htm]SRP[/url]”>http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/urc-care/srp.htm)</a>) with a professor. Ideally:</p>

<p>a) You did well in their course
b) Their research is incredibly interesting and you know something about it
c) They are faculty in your major / department</p>

<p>All of the above three criteria will give you a good relationship with the PI, maximize your eventual letter of rec, and make research more enjoyable.</p>

<p>After you do a 99 to learn the basics, do 199’s (which are more independent research projects with a culminating paper or report).</p>

<p>My organization (ISPE) is emphasizing undergraduate research this year. Check it out @ [UCLA</a> ISPE | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook Public Group | Facebook”>Facebook Public Group | Facebook). We will hopefully have a workshop with URC/CARE soon, and we will be periodically updating interesting medically-related research positions from our faculty contacts.</p>

<p>Regarding volunteering, I did Care Extenders and found it to be a decent introductory perspective of the inner workings of the hospital. However, no more than a week of experience is necessary; if you love medicine you’ll soon wish you could do more technical medical work. I HIGHLY recommend getting an EMT license - it is incredibly fun, practical, and impressive. I’ve been working with a group of UCLA EMS alumni to get an ER Technician volunteer program started but there’s a LOT of red tape. My friends who have worked for UCLA EMS have had great experiences there. Check it out @ [UCLA</a> Center for Prehospital Care](<a href=“http://www.cpc.mednet.ucla.edu/cpc/]UCLA”>http://www.cpc.mednet.ucla.edu/cpc/)</p>

<p>there’s other threads on this topic which I think I’ve posted on… in general, try to meet people in person (they’re usually busy, they don’t hate you if they take a while to respond to emails). UCLA Faculty Research interests website is a good place to look for professors (as is within your classes). Keep in mind that research is different depending on the field of study (duh!) so keep your eyes out. </p>

<p>Summer research internships are typically through programs called REUs - schools like diversity so definitely apply outside of UCLA’s handful of programs. They’re usually paid (~10/hr) but very competitive. You can REUs for almost any science field.</p>

<p>I’m a BioEng so if you’re looking to do any research related to this - drug delivery, medical devices, microfluidics - the professors in bioengineering have top notch research labs that will teach you a ton (but you’ll have to work hard). Dr. Kamei is a good guy to talk to.</p>

<p>Deuces, whose lab are you in? I’m in Wu / Tawil.</p>