Research?

<p>Can any Yalies relate personal experiences with research at Yale? My interviewer was awesome but not a science major :( How easy/difficult is it to find research opportunities? Have any of you started your own research project? I don't even know whether or not I got in, but thought I'd ask... Thanks :D</p>

<p>In my experience, it is very easy to find research opportunities (I am a bio major). There’s a listing online somewhere (I forget the URL) of PIs who are looking for students to work in their labs, but even PIs who don’t post to that list can still be open to working with you if you contact them. E.g. last year I emailed a biomedical engineering professor and asked if I could volunteer in his lab, and it was very easy to set up. This year, I am no longer working in that lab because another professor whose class I took in last fall offered me a spot in his lab, in a quite different but fascinating area of bio, so I switched over. I am not sure what you mean by starting “your own” research project - as in, something you design but still carry out under the auspices of a PI? If so, I haven’t personally done that (outside of a mini independent scientific research project for a class), but I definitely know people who are doing that. Different professors may vary in approachability etc., obviously, but I personally have yet to work with one who is anything less than approachable and accommodating.</p>

<p>My son is a MCDB major and found no problem getting summer research. You didn’t mention what area of science you are interested in but check out the following link as one example:</p>

<p>[Independent</a> research at Yale](<a href=“http://web.mac.com/michaelkoelle/iWeb/Internships/Independent%20research%20at%20Yale.html]Independent”>http://web.mac.com/michaelkoelle/iWeb/Internships/Independent%20research%20at%20Yale.html)</p>