<p>Hello, I am currently a high school freshman taking Accelerated Chemistry this year and then AP Bio and AP Physics B next year, and then AP Chem the next. Anyway, is it possible for me to get any medical research experience with a professor or should I start off at a lower level (I.e. grad. student, etc.)? If so, who should I approach and how should I approach that person?</p>
<p>Also, do any of you know any research opportunities (I know about Northwestern Feinberg, but that's prob. too difficult to get as a freshman) in the Chicagoland area? </p>
<p>I plan to start researching in December of freshman year and try to research throughout the year and fresh-sophomore summer. </p>
<p>THANKS for your help!!</p>
<p>I really don’t know of many research opportunities for so young a candidate. The youngest students many labs take are high school juniors or seniors. Part of this is due to the lack of the knowledge required to work in such labs. Such research requires knowledge that is much more advanced than AP Chem or AP Bio and the information you learn in those classes serve as the basis for quickly acquiring the highly specialized knowledge required for wet lab work. </p>
<p>For instance, I could tell you to run Westerns on protease levels (Src tyrosine kinase, FAK, etc.) in treated cancer cells, but if you do not have a basic understanding of how these proteases function (which requires an even more basic level of knowledge in how the cell and its extracellular matrix functions), you will be reduced to doing a mechanical process, i.e. running the Western without actually knowing the purpose of what you’re doing. This knowledge takes a long time to take on and if you were to start research in your freshman year of high school, you would spend a great amount of time just building the foundations. </p>
<p>If you find a lab that will take you, great, but expect to do a lot of the grunt work and not get a lot of input into the thought process of the experiments themselves. The program I was in was during the summer between my junior and senior years and I felt that if I had done it any earlier, I would have been at a severe disadvantage and the publication that I have coming up from that research would not have materialized at all. Best of luck in your search though!</p>
<p>Age might be a significant issue - a lot of labs do not allow kids who are not yet 16 to be there, due to liability concerns. You can look for established programs, but they often are intended for kids in later grades. Your best bet is to look online at research being done by univs near you, and contact professors directly via email offering to intern for free at their lab if you think you are interested and have a suitable background. Even if you eventually get handed off to a grad student, the primary researcher (prof) would need to sign off on you being in the lab. Really, lots of networking is the best way to do this - either know someone who knows someone, or be prepared to send out a lot of contacts hoping a couple are interested.</p>
<p>Also, when you send out emails to professors, make sure you emphasize that you are willing to devote a few years to working at their lab (and make sure that you are willing to do so). Because it will take months to a year to fully train you on what the lab does and the techniques they use and a few more months for you to immerse yourself in the literature, the PI wants to know that you are committed to working for the lab, as he will be spending a lot of resources in teaching you how to do the job. And you will only start to make meaningful contributions in a couple years. So don’t give up hope!</p>
<p>The best way to get in is to just send out a lot of emails to professors. If you contact enough people, you will eventually get a favorable response. I am a rising junior (age 15) and this summer I am working at the University of the Sciences, though I am just an analyst. However, the professor I was working with made it clear that in the future, I would be able to work with either him or the grad students on actual projects. Keep in mind that you have to work your way up to the level of research that you’re looking for, and you will probably just start out at a desk job because you don’t have research experience.</p>
<p>A good idea is to aim for the professors in the specific department you are interested in (chemistry? biology?), but don’t be discouraged if you are unable to get into the department you want- any experience at all is better than none. Try asking your teachers to see if they have any connections to local universities, and if they can put you in touch with a specific professor. They would be glad to help you- my AP Chem teacher was the one who referred me to USciences. Another tip: lesser known universities tend to accept more high school students as volunteers, probably because they want to get some exposure and more applications. Experience at a small university is just as good as experience at some well-known university like Northwestern.</p>
<p>Frankly, professors have very little motivation to hire a highschool student to do actual lab work… It’s more likely to snag a “lab technician” type position, which is a glorified name for someone who does all the annoying, repetitive work in the lab, rather than actual research. Still gets you good exposure to the lab environment and looks good at a resume. </p>
<p>If you end up contacting professors, make sure you say you’re willing to take any role, even if it’s not direct research. </p>
<p>Some universities/graduate schools have summer intern programs for HS students so try to be on the lookout for those.</p>
<p>unless you have connections it’s hard</p>
<p>Ok, thank you all for your replies. All your advises will be helpful for me. I think that I’ll wait until junior year to do research internships. It’s just that I’ve seen some applicants to Guaranteed Medical Programs with 4 years of research and 2 published papers, so I assumed that they started freshman year. Anyway, my hopes seem bleak as I do not have too many connections. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I am a graduate student, and I wouldn’t mentor a high school freshman or sophomore. I might consider mentoring a high school senior. You simply don’t know enough, and would probably be more work than help in the 9th or 10th grade. I doubt most professors would be interested in that kind of commitment either.</p>
<p>I think you’re starting a little too early - try towards the end of your sophomore year.</p>
<p>A high school student with 4 years of research and 2 published papers? I am skeptical; I would like to see that. I’m not even in a strict lab science (I am in psychology) and it is hard for me to imagine even an exceptionally bright high school student with enough training and knowledge to contribute meaningfully to a publication.</p>