Research at another unviersity

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>Hello all, I'm currently a freshman at Cornell University, prospective mechanical engineer, about to finish up this year. I've started (perhaps much too late) trying to search for a summer job. Initially, I thought about staying over at Cornell, but it's too late to set that up, and I would quite like to go home this summer.</p>

<p>One of my TA's asked me if I had any plans for this summer, like an internship or research, and I said no, which got us into a little discussion now. By now, it seems my only options for summer work would be to try and do some research at a nearby university back home. My TA said she did research one summer at MIT even though she didn't go there.</p>

<p>I mentioned that I live in central NJ, less than 20 minutes from Princeton, and she suggested I try and apply for research there, and she said she would be willing to write a recommendation for me. I don't mind being doing grunt work in a lab, any sort of employment this summer would be great, and research, at Princeton none the less, would be grand.</p>

<p>My question now is, is this actually a realistic proposition? To try and ask a professor at Princeton (or even any other university near home) if I could help out with research and get a summer job? This late in the game too?</p>

<p>I may sound extremely ignorant, and indeed I am, I have no idea how any of this works, which is why I'd like more information.</p>

2

<p>if you’re a cornellian engineer with decent grades, that’s most likely sufficient credentials to do an internship at princeton or wherever else - just email the professors / other lab staff, and tell them you’d like to help out</p>

3

<p>There are many formal summer internship programs at universities where they solicit their own students and students from other universities to apply. One of my nieces is doing a summer internship at MIT this summer. The application deadlines for the formal internships are usually earlier though. Your TA may have been referring to one of these.</p>

<p>Of course it is possible to “cold call” a department at a school looking for research. My niece found a research position in her own school this was as a freshman during the regular school year.</p>