<p>How important is this summer research stuff?</p>
<p>Those who have done it - how would I go about getting summer research with a college professor or any sort of organized research. I know its kind of late and getting close to summer, but I am desperate to get in some kind of research.</p>
<p>Thanks, Mike</p>
<p>Frankly it's probably too late in the process. But I would e-mail frantically looking for professors in your school's biology, chemistry, biochemistry, etc. departments and ask if they have any openings. Even grad students might be helpful to check with.</p>
<p>Make clear to them that you do not need any money, that you're willing to work simply for the experience. (If that's not the case, then I think you stand extremely little chance at any kind of position.)</p>
<p>During which summer is it recommended to start doing research? Summer after freshman year? Or the summer before?</p>
<p>As early as possible. Probably mandatory by summer after soph. year. Of course, there are other things you could do, too (serious clinical initiatives).</p>
<p>I've talked to some faculty and students, and everyone has generally told me that students don't get involved in research until junior year. Do premed students just have to get started earlier (for competition)?</p>
<p>I'm going to be a freshman in the fall, and I already have a year's worth of unversity research, which I'll be continuing through the summer. I may get a publication off of it (according to what I've heard, this is something big for an undergraduate). Do you think that this is enough for now?</p>
<p>Also, by clinical initiatives, do you mean volunteering at hospitals and working with patients?</p>
<p>1.) I'm not sure what your sources are, but all of my friends do research throughout the entire year and summers starting pretty early.</p>
<p>2.) Sounds like you're off to a solid start, but the more you can do, the better. A publication would in fact be a reasonably big deal.</p>
<p>3.) If you were planning on applying with no research at all and doing something clinical instead, by a "serious initiative" I would mean something along the lines of doing several months of work in, for example, international medicine.</p>
<p>i've e-mailed 6 professors in July
1 said he is moving to europe
1 never replied (as it turned out he was older guy working only with post-docs)
4 i've interviewed with - two said it is too late and their labs are stuffed at least until summer ends - and two said i'm welcome to join whenever</p>
<p>younger professors (assistant level) are more likely to get undergrads to help them out in lab because they are not yet established and have fewer grad students joining their group while just as many ideas to work on as older profs -- rec letters from older profs, especially someone more or less famous, weight more however</p>