<p>Ok.. Hopefully I'll be heading to college this fall.. I had no prior research experience (because there isn't any in my high school and country).. I plan to major in the sciences.. and if I really love the sciences go to grad school..</p>
<p>How can I start getting research experience in college when I didn't have any in high school? Will the professors trust me from day 1? Do I have to wait? For how long? Where can I start? I really don't want to wait anymore.. and I don't want to waste time anymore.. four years pass by quickly..</p>
<p>PS I'm heading to a LAC, so I don't have to compete with grad students..</p>
<p>Don't worry you don't have to get in research your freshman year, get some lab experience from your classes and you won't have a problem. Just go and talk to a professor in the field you want to study and they will help guide you along. Professors generally want to see students who try hard and want to lear succeed.</p>
<p>Just go and talk to professors. Almost NOONE has any research experience heading in (yes, SOME do, but it's not expected at all) and they can probably get you in on something. It might not be that great freshman year but as you go up in class you should be able to leverage the experience into better gigs. If you can get a couple professors email addresses from the school and ask them if they know anyone looking for freshmen research assistants that might not be a bad idea.</p>
<p>I had no experience. I was an engineering student and I just asked a professor that I didn't know to sponsor me. I applied for a grant to NSERC (canadian institution, I believe) and got a grant due to high grades. I was given a project in microbiology by the professor that was sponsoring me.</p>
<p>You can email them as an interest check. I don't think theres anything wrong with emailing professors before you get on campus, but once school starts you should go in person. A basic "Hi, my name is X, I saw that you were a professor in "subject" and I am interested in doing research in that field, I was wondering if I could meet with you once school starts to talk about research opportunities." wouldn't do any harm.</p>
<p>^Is it awkward /wrong to email more than one professors? I'm going to a small school.. so there's every chance that they may talk to each other..</p>
<p>It wouldn't be awkward because its not the talk of the town to get an e-mail from a student interested in research. It's probably something they see a lot, and nothing they bring up to one another.</p>
<p>Actually, it's probably better to email many professors because you may hear back from only a couple (if any) of them. I'm not technically doing "research" - more like grunt work - this semester, but I got the opportunity through an instructor I had first semester.</p>
<p>Email. Meet the professors who are conducting research in which you are REALLY interested in in person by appointment. Bug them, email them some more, try to make yourself look good (competent, etc).</p>
<p>Eventually, you'll get a research job you'll enjoy doing.</p>
<p>this is from experience. Before i got my chemical engineering department research job, i emailed my research professor 100 times before getting the job (these emails consisting of my resume, many questions, and oh, more questions).</p>
<p>I agree, your chances will be greater with newer, younger professors.</p>
<p>use the forum search function to look for older posts by molliebatmit. She went to MIT and did a lot of research as an undergrad. She discussed several times how she got started. She also was one of the people who had a blog for the admissions dept at MIT and I think you can find those posts with google.</p>