If you’re someone hoping do a PhD or MD-PhD, then research is absolutely necessary… but in the past, I’ve had some students ask me how to even get started. In this blog post, I’ll be sharing three different ways people find research opportunities. I will mostly focus on biomedical type research (i.e. neuroscience, cell biology, informatics, clinical research, public health research, etc.) because that is what I have the most experience with, though my advice on finding a research “home” (lab) should be pretty similar throughout other disciplines as well.
When to start looking for a research lab…
If you’re a high schooler, do not worry/fret if you cannot find a position. I didn’t do any research in high school, still got into a great college, and still got into an MD-PhD program (I ended up just fine!). I would say that research in high school is useful but I don’t think it will set you behind if you don’t do it. In my opinion, your best bet would be to try to find things in your junior and senior year, because at that point, you’ve had some science classes under your belt, hopefully built up a bit of your high school resume, and that would likely look more desirable to a professor that you are wanting to work with.
For undergrads, I would start as early as freshman year when you get on campus, but I would say most people wait a semester or so so they can focus on transitioning to college, then they start research either the spring semester of their freshman year or the summer after their freshman year. Personally, I started the spring semester of my freshman year and it worked well for me–I honestly found it beneficial to focus on the high school to college transition during my first semester.
I do also just want to note: it’s never too late to find research. If you want to do an MD-PhD program, or a PhD program, you have to get research experience, and in my opinion, it’s better late than never. If you’re reading this and is a junior or senior in college without research experience, don’t panic–if the goal is a PhD or MD-PhD, I would just recommend taking some gap years to do research. I’ve made some other blog posts describing that here.
Method 1: Cold emailing
Cold emailing is probably the most common way people get research positions, and I think what gets recommended when people ask about how to get research positions. For undergrads, it looks a little bit like finding a bunch of professors at your university that do interesting research, and then just emailing them to ask if they have any openings in their lab. For high schoolers, it looks similar, and you would try to target professors who do research at schools near where you live (admittedly, there are a few more complications to cold-emailing professors when you’re a high schooler, but I’ll talk about that in a moment).
Typically these emails really just include the following:
- A short introduction to who you are (ex: your name, year, and major) and any relevant past experience (if you have any)
- Brief sentences expressing interest in the professor’s work and research
- Ask whether they are willing to chat about openings in their lab.
Sometimes students also include a resume; I personally did whenever I’ve had to cold email. While there are no guarantees that the professor will actually look at it, if they do and you happen to have certain skills or experience that they’re looking for, it might make it more likely for them to respond to you.
If you want an example template of what to email a professor, I have a free template here.
The downside to cold emailing is that professors are busy and they could just ignore you… or more often, they just take forever to answer. Sometimes, it really is a numbers game. My best advice is to stay the course if you are cold emailing—eventually, someone will give you a shot. In addition, another piece of advice I have is to stay open minded: for example, if your dream is to work in one very specific cancer lab at your university, know that it might not be possible—but are there labs that do similar things, or lab that might be able to teach you transferable skills so that you can do that kind of cancer research in the future. I think it is important to remember that sometimes, it’s not so much about the specific research that you’re doing, but more so the skills that you can gain from doing research.
One last note before we move on to the next method: for high schoolers, cold-emailing is a bit more challenging because not all professors are open to working with high schoolers. But, if you really want to do do research, I would encourage you to still try. In my opinion, the best way to target professors to email is just to check their lab websites and see if they have ever taken high school students in the past (sometimes professors will list alumni of their lab on their website!). The idea being, if a professor has worked with high schoolers before, then they might be more receptive to an email from you.
Connections, connections, connections
No, I’m not saying you have to be a research nepotism baby—just try to talk to people—especially other students.
In my opinion, networking your way to a research position is the easiest option, and it’s more doable than you might think. For example, in my freshman year, I joined some different mentoring societies. I wanted to get to know the school better, what opportunities are available, and to get to know some new people (especially upperclassmen). One of the upperclassmen I met through this endavor was involved in research: once I told her I was also interested in getting some research experience, she told me her lab has open positions, she introduced me to her professor, and that was pretty much it. I started doing research in the spring semester of my freshman year.
For undergrads, I think this strategy is a little easier because you are surrounded by peers, and there are lots of biomedical-focused clubs at research universities. You can look around at who your peers are doing research with, ask if their lab has openings, and email the professor yourself.
For high schoolers, I think this method looks more like asking your science teachers if they know anyone who might be open to working with high school students, and shooting your shot in that way. Of course, it will still depend on who your science teacher knows, so it can still be a hit or miss, but it feels less like a shot in the dark.
This method is similar to cold-emailing in the sense that you’re still “shooting your shot”, but in a way you are less likely to get ignored because (1) you know that professor has a opening in your lab through talking to your peers or, (2) someone is helping you make a direct introduction so that professor is expecting your email.
Formal Summer Programs
If you are a high schooler, I think formal research programs are your best shot. A lot of these programs are specifically for high schoolers to dip their feet into doing research, and they usually take place during the summer. These research programs exist for undergrads as well, and many of them pay a stipend for living expenses.
Examples of these programs are the NIH Summer Internship program, or the NSF REU. The benefits to these programs is that usually they are funded, so you get a stipend for doing research, and many of these programs are structured, and very prestigious (it looks amazing on your CV/resume!). The downside is of course, the fact that they are incredibly competitive, and there could be thousands of applicants for only a handful of spots.
What about summer programs that you have to pay for? While “pay to play” summer programs exist (ranging anywhere from charging 3,000 for a summer to upwards of 10,000), I highly recommend against participating in those programs. Those programs cannot guarantee output (and I would be wary of any research programs that can guarantee a publication or conference presentation), and oftentimes they have their bottoms lines in mind instead of the actual quality of the research or providing a good educational experience for their students.
Summary
In summary, the three basic ways to get research experience is (1) cold emailing, (2) through networking, and (3) through applying to a formal program. I do think a combination of cold emailing and networking works really well for most students, and that’s personally what I have done in the past to get involved with research.
Best of luck! let me know what other thoughts you have in the comments section.
