Hey guys so I just finished my sophomore year of high school!
A few months ago, I emailed a professor and they allowed me to be in their lab!
But then this happened my first day a few days ago:
2 undergrad interns who joined that day
Me
5 mds
the head director of the lab
one of the mds gives the 2 inters a project, and then she asks the director if she should give me one and the director is like “no he doesnt need one, he wont do a report”
However the undergrads have just as much experience as I do.
Do yall think if i work really hard and read the papers im given really fast and thorough the director would be more inclined into letting me do a project?
she’s only letting me stay one month, while the she’s letting the undergrads stay 2 months
Also, if i want to ask another professor if i can be in his lab starting november, what would be the best time to email him? august? september? october?
Well the PI of my lab currently is not letting me do a project, so I can’t really answer that :P. I would assume you have to read a lot and know techniques to do a project though. I think this explains it rather well:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/top_science-fair_success.shtml
/bump.
So then should I wait until the end of June to ask if i can stay longer/do a project? My school’s science club requires that I do a science fair project and I really want to make a project from my research experience (or at least help work on a project so that I know how it works)
I would ask the director at the end of June to ask if you can stay longer or do a project. In the meantime, you should do your best to impress the director, work as hard as you can, write a report on what you do every day/week, even if it is not required, and most of all, try to contribute as much as you can to the project.
I would ask the other professor around the end of September, beginning of October.
Also, I would like to congratulate you on being able to get a professor to let you work in their lab. Most high-school and even undergrad students are not able to do this unless they are very academically gifted. I will be going into 10th grade and I’m also working in a lab this summer (and maybe for the rest of the year), however, I’m fortunate enough that one of my parents was able to arrange an internship for me through their connections to the university and the lab.