<p>I was wondering how early students get involved with research at UCSD. I’m Pre-med, so research is especially important. Is it common for students to get research positions in their freshman or sophomore year? Or do they generally get positions during their junior year? And also, is it hard to get a position in the medical school?</p>
<p>You can apply right away if you can demonstrate you have done some before or after about 30+ units...They want to see your GPA too.</p>
<p>That seems cool. Do people generally do research early on (I'm actually asking about all universities in general, not just UCSD)?</p>
<p>When I went on the UCLA Admit Day tour, my tour guide said some people start Freshman year, but most don't start until third year.</p>
<p>I think UCSD falsely advertises. Only about half of the engineering student they enroll EVER participate in research I think. Also, they brag about their 10 4-person research teams that partnered up with companies. Think about the odds of a random student getting into that program...</p>
<p>There is nothing false about it...It is open to all...You just have to have the grades and to seek out those opportunities. They don't come to you. There are lots of falsehood/half true on this board -- why not get it straight from the horse's mouth. You can email and talk to these undergraduate students at this lab as an example - <a href="http://be-web.ucsd.edu/faculty/area/cte/personnel.htm%5B/url%5D">http://be-web.ucsd.edu/faculty/area/cte/personnel.htm</a> (scroll down to bottom). There are other labs on campus.</p>
<p>Perhaps false was the wrong word to use. They don't lie, they just inaccurately emphasize.</p>
<p>Slorg, I don't understand what you mean by "inacurrately emphasize". I believe they said undergraduate research is available. But you have to read between the lines -- not everyone will be qualified to do it. This is true at all universities (i.e. UCLA, UCB, etc.).</p>
<p>What I mean is that UCSD doesn't try to portray typical student life. They parade their best students out to represent the school and brag about things that will be meaningless to most students. Other schools, especially big public schools, do this too.</p>
<p>Slorg, I agree...Every university is competing for the best students they could get. You just have to do a little research/homework before committing to a university -- just like buying anything...I am sure most of us are doing it by asking questions here on this board and elsewhere... ;-)</p>
<p><a href="http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/ugresearch/%5B/url%5D">http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/ugresearch/</a></p>
<p>usually people get into it the summer between 2nd and 3rd years or in their junior year -- but it is not uncommon for motivated students to start in their freshman year</p>
<p>most people don't do research their 1st year because they are unclear about what they want to do with their future, because they have not taken any labs to have any technical skills, and because they do not have established GPA or previous work experience to prove their ability</p>
<p>for volunteering you generally do not need to take a lot of courses -- you're there on free-come free-go basis so not much is expected of you -- the benefit of starting research early is that it increases your chances of getting your name on a publication -- if you spend your first year learning the needed skills and second year using these skills to work on a project alongside graduate students or post-docs, then when they publish they'll include your name on their paper</p>
<p>for paid position you usually need a resume, a GPA, previous lab courses, and of course good interviewing skills -- paid positions do not generally lead to research, but to performing some easy tasks for the group such as making buffers and autoclaving, which of course does not lead to any publications generally -- the group may promise to teach you some skills besides your lab assistant tasks, but not all people are so generous as to spend their free time teaching you or giving you responsibility over some part of their cherished project</p>
<p>to do research and get paid there are two ways about it -- one is to volunteer enough to gain valuable skills and then to persuade your advisor to hire you on a paid basis since you now can contribute significantly to the group's efforts -- another way is to get a scholarship or some kind of an award for your research</p>
<p>medical school labs are only a small portion of labs available at UCSD and TSRI so if you're targeting only those it'll be harder than to get into just any lab</p>