<p>Hey there! I know Rutgers is a major research university and everyone seems to make a point of saying that undergraduates can find their way into research, but I do have a few questions for anyone who can answer them...</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How readily do professors accept freshmen and sophomores as assistants (even for grunt work) in their labs?</p></li>
<li><p>In reference to Aresty, how competitive is it for a freshman to be accepted in the Summer Science program? How about being a Research Assistant during sophomore year? </p></li>
<li><p>How independent is research that you conduct for your own experiment? Is it relatively easy to find a professor who is willing to supervise such research?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks to anyone who'd be willing to offer input! =]</p>
<p>ive had the same sort of questions and students have told me freshman can start research the minute they walk into rutgers, especially through their professors. professors are more than welcome to take anyone who shows interest and a sense of responsibility and that includes freshman and sophmores. a friend of mine even told me to contact professors over the summer through email as a way to get started, if you are interested in research in the beginning of your freshman year. research over the summer can also be easy to find, especially if you have some sort of experience with a professor. and yes finding professors to help with independent research is also fairly easy if you find a way to grab their attention. it helps to find out what the professor himself/herself is working on in the lab to find some commonalities between your interest and their interest. </p>
<p>im not too sure about the competitive programs.</p>
<p>hope that helps!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it’s THAT easy. So far, I’ve been rejected to the three programs I applied to. There are multiple people per spot for things like Aresty and most of my friends who applied were rejected. But I do know two people who got in. </p>
<p>Aresty Summer Science is pretty competitive (especially for the ones with medical science). I applied for both Summer Science and the Research Assistant positions and was rejected from both. I applied for a lesser know summer program and was rejected as well. I didn’t even get considered for an interview.</p>
<p>From the website:
“For our Summer Science Program, we receive approximately 200 applicants for 20 research opportunities. For our Research Assistant Program, we typically receive about 500 applicants for approximately 120 RA positions.”</p>
<p>I think the best way to get into research is by actually getting to know your professors. So while the actual programs are competitive, a lot of professors like to take their own students in if you show interest.</p>
<p>Hi, I’ve been doing research at Rutgers (albeit, in the humanities) since my sophomore year (I graduated two days ago). If you are interested in research, take a Byrne seminar: [Welcome</a> | Byrne Seminars](<a href=“http://byrne.rutgers.edu/]Welcome”>http://byrne.rutgers.edu/). Do your research beforehand and select a Byrne seminar that looks interesting and is taught by a professor in a field you’re interested in. These courses are designed to introduce students to the research their professors are doing. I would also recommend taking a First Year Interest Group (FIG) which will be taught by an upperclassmen and will be an opportunity to learn more about how to get involved in research on campus. Aresty is great, and you should start building your resume as soon as you get to campus so that you will be a competitive applicant for these and other programs. Always, always, go to office hours and show interest in your professors work. Get to know your professors, which is how I was able to do an independent study. I took my job as a Research Assistant (through Aresty) very seriously and was invited to continue doing research with my professor beyond our one year contract. I’m currently helping him turn a series of journal articles into a book. The final way that I got involved in research was by writing a senior thesis. Keep your grades up and, if you aren’t already a member, apply to your school’s honors program and write a senior thesis.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input guys! I’m going to try applying for Aresty later this year. </p>
<p>danicaRU: How would you recommend building up your resume? </p>
<p>I’m going to be a freshman on-campus, and I’m already in the Honors SAS program. The impression I got was that you have to take a certain science class freshman year for certain research projects. I’m AP’ed out of Chem and Bio, so I was planning on taking Orgo 315/316. Do you think that would count, or would the AP credit suffice?</p>