<p>How do I go about getting it as an undergrad at a top private research institution? Anyone have any positive or negative experiences they'd like to share?</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is get lots of emails out there. I have gotten numerous research opportunities in the past just by getting my name out - so many students are too afraid to approach professors. Start out by approaching professors you know and whose work you’re interested in. Research on your university website for other people doing interesting research. Then put together a good resume and send it out! The worst that can happen is that people will say no, and a lot of bigger grants these days have room for a student or two to even get paid.</p>
<p>Yea I think my main problem is I feel intimidated by professors…</p>
<p>you would think it would be easy though because I’m not particularly interested in pay, and who couldn’t use a bit of free manual labor around the lab?</p>
<p>Just send out emails, and don’t take it personally if you get a lot of nos (a lot of labs just don’t need extra help or don’t have room, so it may take a few tries to find a lab that can take you on). No reason to feel intimidated by profs, working with undergrads is part of their job in academia and they know the drill. </p>
<p>I started in a lab just washing dishes and doing grunt work, but was able to pick up some lab skills and leverage that into a better position in a lab that interested me more (and paid me!). Just find whatever you can and work your way up, if you need to.</p>
<p>How hard is it to get research experience at a school that is not so highly ranked?</p>
<p>what do you mean by research? I’ve never understood that… do you mean like protein folding?</p>