<p>How important is it to have done undergraduate research in the same field as what you're applying to grad school for? Would undergraduate research in, say, nanostructured materials "count" for a student applying to a geophysics graduate program (or vice versa)? </p>
<p>Or would it be better for an undergrad student whose interests have changed to leave one research group and go to another? If possible, please also discuss issues relating to productivity and time losses associated with transitioning from one project to another.</p>
<p>I am mainly asking about competitive research-oriented graduate programs, but I would like to hear thoughts relating to other contexts too.</p>
<p>Hi Mr. Nifty,
I would switch labs, if you can. The nano work you’ve started will be continued by someone else; eventually your name will end up on a paper, probably as (n-1)th author, but it’s still a publication. Being in a geophysics lab will show that you know what you’re getting into come application season. Your experience there will make you easier to train in grad school, always a bonus in the eyes of future advisers and probably adcomms. You will gain a recommender that the geophysics admissions committees will be more likely to have actually heard of or even met. And you will have a better understanding in the end of what type of geophysics work you want to do in grad school, which will come across in your SOP and make you look mature and focused.</p>
<p>My interests changed, and I left my first research group after only one year. You might encounter the problem of potential research advisers thinking you are not committed to projects, and therefore not taking you. One of the people I asked to work for told me to stay in my lab another year and then reapply! But you will probably find someone awesome to work for anyway, like I did. If you are worried about how productive you will be when you switch labs, there is a simple solution: work harder.</p>
<p>It’s perfectly acceptable to have undergraduate research (or an undergraduate major) in X and apply to a graduate program in Y. Graduate schools understand that undergrad is a time for figuring things out.</p>
<p>You will, of course, want to make a strong case for changing fields to Y, and that might include switching labs – it’s up to you.</p>
<p>Grads schools are more concerned that you demonstrate an interest/potential to do research than actually digging your heels in as an undergrad and getting work done in a single lab. I will add a bit to what mollie said, graduate schools unerstand that 20 year olds still might not even know exactly what they want research so switching is perfectly ok. Heck, being in grad school now makes me believe that grad students don’t even know what they want half the time. </p>
<p>Unless you absolutely love the project you are working on, I would think it might be beneficial to hop around a bit as an undergrad.</p>
<p>hi guys i am a electrical student and i fancy aerospace engineering i am presently doing my undergrad in INDIA i dont even know what is undergrad research does this means we have to some kinds of projects practically or even theoretical projects are taken into account.i learned few programming languages like c,c++ besides my original electrical engineering subject does these come under my undergrad research?
thanks</p>
<p>Hi Krittu,
We’re talking about working in a professor’s laboratory, making discoveries (hopefully) that will be published in scientific journals. Undergraduate research in engineering is rarer. Many engineers get internships instead, where they work on building something, rather than contributing some new knowledge set to the field of engineering at large. But you can also ask your profs what kind of research or other projects they’re doing and whether you can work for them.
Learning programming languages on your own time is called “independent study”; if you learned them in a class, even if it wasn’t required, then that’s just considered coursework. A theoretical project can be research, but you have to be the first person to come up with it and your work has to be publishable. Otherwise you’re just thinking, which doesn’t count. ;)</p>
Oh, I so agree with this – it’s surprised me to see the number of people who actually go through the process of declaring a lab, only to switch a year or two later.</p>
<p>Personally, I applied to biology PhD programs with a neuroscience background, claiming that I wanted to do straight cell biology – cancer! cytoskeleton! protein-protein interactions! And I rotated through three labs doing very different things… and ended up in a mouse neurobiology lab, just like what I thought I didn’t want anymore.</p>
<p>thanks snowcapk but what is engineering internship i made a remote controlled hovercraft does this come into my engineering internships?
if not what should i do to have some under graduate research i dont think i hav profs who really are intrested in doing discoveries
and does top 10 grad colleges require their grad applicants to be having good undergrad research experience
and the independent study is of any use?</p>
<p>Krittu, internships are short periods of employment (usually 2-3 months) with an employer. The “remote controlled hovercraft” and the independent study will definitely help. Try to improve upon that hovercraft and talk about it in your application. Undergraduate research is strongly recommended for Grad School.</p>
<p>thanks gupta in my place i have a college which hav summer programs where i can learn about advanced technologies and do some projects in the lab
for example subjects like vlsi,embedded systems in this coll i can get both theoretical and practical knowledge does this come under undergrad research?
i dont think i hav places over here to hire me for few months and they wont be willing to because i still in my second year so internships is out of my mind . so can you guys tell me what i have to do for having undergrad reasearch and i dont hav profs who are really intrested in doing some discoveries
thanks</p>
<p>Well, one option is to look overseas or around the country for an internship or research project during the summer. Internships (and some research fellowships) pay $$$, so you should be able to cover cost of travel, room & board, etc. while you’re working. For aerospace, try looking for internships at Boeing…not my field so I don’t really know the big names, sorry. For research fellowships, try the Summer Undergrad. Research Fellowships at Caltech (<a href=“http://surf.caltech.edu/)%5B/url%5D”>http://surf.caltech.edu/)</a>, for example. You will have to identify your own prof to work under for that program - unfortunately, only US citizens can work on projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, but many aeronautics profs also work on campus.</p>
<p>thanks snowcapk but my chances of going abroad for internships are very much less so i wanna ask that i hav a college in my place where i can learn new subjects theoretically and perform experiments in the labs i would also be assigned with projects and i also get certified for joining this course does this come under undergradresearch?</p>
<p>Krittu, it doesn’t sound like it would qualify as undergraduate research, unless the experiments have never been performed before and contribute something to the scientific community, meaning that your findings would be publishable. But, it does sound like a really useful class! I would take it. You can include in your statement of purpose when you apply for grad school that you are prepared for research work because you have learned lots of relevant lab techniques through coursework.</p>
<p>thanks snowcapk so by joining this course can i get into top colleges without doing undergrad research i hav no resourses to do undergrad research or internships in my place i hav another question that when student does his undergrad research but could not find anything so what happens to this student can he include in his sop that he did undergrad research or not?</p>
<p>Hi Krittu, I don’t know how not doing undergrad research will affect your chances. Since you don’t have any option about it, I guess you’ll just have to sit tight and see. I would apply to a master’s program or two just in case, because that would let you get started in research if it turns out you really need that in order to be admitted.</p>
<p>If a student does do undergraduate research, but had no results, it still counts. The student should get a recommendation from the researcher he/she worked with, and the researcher will explain that the student really did try and is likely to succeed in future research. If there is no one to write that LOR, well, then you know what it looks like.</p>
<p>thanks snowcapk what are the other factors does the colleges require from their graduate applicants other than GRE,TOEFL,undergrad research?
i think i would do some projects do independent study instead of undergrad research can this really help me?
thanks</p>
<p>I am kind of on the fence about this one. Independent study is tricky because you can’t really prove you’ve learned something. You could say, “I did independent study in thermo and then I took graduate-level statistical mechanics and got top marks.” Or, “I taught myself C and then I took a course in compiler design and got an A.” That might show that you learned something in your independent study necessary to prepare you for a rigorous class. Otherwise, what can you prove? Grad schools can’t believe an unsubstantiated fact.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would join a robotics or engineering competition. (Try the InterWeb, I’m not in the field.) Building a winning project would show your mastery of a lot of skills and also give you some much-needed experience in the field.</p>
<p>Grad schools also require great grades and good recommendations.</p>
<p>thanks snowcapk
can u give any more suggestions for going into a good grad school
does the courses i take in independent study affect my graduation application like is it resonable to do independent study in java and applying for aerospace?
thanks</p>