<p>I'm kind of confused about SRP 99: is it required to get into any form of research? Also, any general advice/links is really appreciated. Do you just email a professor after looking them up or do you only contact people who have put something up on the research page? Thanks~</p>
<p>Nope! You can get into research just by emailing professors even if you don’t enroll in SRP99. You can email whoever you want. Make sure you’re interested in the work they’re doing though. It’ll save you a ton of grief if you end up finding out you don’t like it.</p>
<p>Sounds good! So do you just look up their research groups on pages? Also, do you attach a CV with the email?</p>
<p>Yes to both.</p>
<p>Hi, I just graduated UCLA majoring in physci and am going to stanford for med school next year (only want to give some background and cred on what i’m saying - nothing else). I highly recommend joining CURE at UCLA (if ur not already in it). They offer great mentorship from senior/junior undergrads for fresh/soph.</p>
<p>Or join the UCLA biomedical research minor. Dr. Ira Clark is amazing at helping undergrads get good research experiences. </p>
<p>Though I did alright at UCLA, in hindsight I’d tell my freshman self to follow the below steps:
- Ask yourself what science topic in science class did you enjoy reading/studying the most? Be honest, if you don’t like studying science, then don’t do research! Don’t just do it for ur resume or getting into grad/med school. Do what you enjoy and are passionate about, that’s number one.</p>
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<li><p>Look up which labs at UCLA that are well-known for research in that topic. Having a good mentor is important in research. Sometimes this can be the lab of the department chairman/vice-chair. Or of a “distinguished professor.” BUT most professors without chair or distinguished designations are great as well so the key is to look for a good lab. CURE at UCLA helps with this b/c you can ask around about how supportive a lab is. How well-known ur PI is in his/her field of study also affects the weight of ur recommendation letter when u apply to med/grad school (but this shouldn’t be ur main focus at all, just a bonus). </p></li>
<li><p>(b) check SRP listings for labs researching ur interested topic and with openings.</p></li>
<li><p>Look up papers the lab has published (search the PI’s name is Pubmed or NCBI) and google the lab’s website - the PI’s name + lab (ie “Albert Einstein lab”). This is where CURE at UCLA helps a lot. Ur CURE mentor can help you with reading scientific papers and understanding the ongoing projects in the lab (which u can get from the lab website). Key is understand what exact projects the lab is running.</p></li>
<li><p>Prepare a CV. A CURE mentor can help with this too.</p></li>
<li><p>Send the PI an email of max 400 words (shorter the better cuz researchers don’t have time to read long emails) summarizing ur CV strengths and attaching ur CV. CURE mentors can help with wording ur email and figuring out which CV strengths to present in the email. I just finished working at a lab and my PI forwarded everyone at the lab on avg 5 emails per month from students… What happens is ur email will either (a) be ignored by the PI (in this case he/she is most likely not supportive and not worth ur time) or (b) in my lab at least (I don’t know about other labs) the PI will forward ur email in original wording to every researcher in the lab. Then, the postdocs/grad students will look at ur email for (1) a CV… if there’s no CV most post docs/grad students won’t have time to email u to ask for one unfortunately, (2) anything that stands out (ie a high gpa, sat score, interesting extracurricular - if you have any of these definitely write it into ur email to the PI - My name is X and I’m a X year X major undergraduate with gpa X, sat score X, and have experience working in X), (3) why ur interested in the lab - which is why its important to read papers and the lab website - if u can show u can understand their ongoing research to some degree it’s a plus.</p></li>
<li><p>Repeat until you get an interview chance from a lab (you may need to send up to 20 emails so don’t get discouraged if u dont get into the first lab u apply to).</p></li>
<li><p>Read papers and understand the lab’s ongoing research. Dress professionally and ace ur interview! CURE can help with this too.</p></li>
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<p>The biomedical research minor can help with the above steps as well.</p>
<p>I don’t recommend applying to and emailing a bunch of PI’s and applying to a bunch of SRP openings just for the sake of applying and having a chance to get into one, without looking into each lab’s research topic. Doing research just for ur resume or grad/med school isn’t the best mentality going into a lab. </p>
<p>Sorry for the marathon reply. Hope this can help a bit. Best of luck!!!</p>