Cal Undergraduate Tour

How to get involved in research as an undergraduate

If you are thinking about going to graduate school or other professional school, acquiring research skills as an undergraduate will make you a much more competitive and desirable applicant than other students who have no research experience. In addition, getting involved in research will expose you to what it's like to be a graduate student, researcher, and/or professor and will help you decide if you enjoy designing studies, collecting and analyzing data, etc.

But how do you get research experience as an undergraduate? Think back to the classes you have taken. Do you have any professors whose course you really enjoyed? Did they talk about the research they conduct in their own laboratory? Or perhaps you read an interesting article from a professor at your university. (It is not necessary to have taken one of his/her classes.) While it is not essential that you work for someone whose research area you think you would like to do your own projects in as a graduate student, it does help. For example, an Engineering student may want to work in a Biology biomechanics lab.

First of all, read a couple articles written by the professors you might like to work for. Doing background reading will impress them and show that you are seriously interested in joining their research lab. Secondly, send the professors a resume and cover letter. In your letter, mention the articles you have read and what it is about their work that interests you. Include information such as your GPA and the courses you have taken. Let them know that you will be contacting them in the near future to find out if they are in need of a research assistant, either as a volunteer or as a paid assistant. If they do not need a undergraduate researcher at this time, ask them if they could refer you to someone else. Call them a few days after they will have received your letter.

Be aware that often undergraduate research assistants do a lot of tedious grunt work. You will not be conducting your very own project. Keep in mind that learning research skills is what is most important. Some of the tasks may be boring (e.g., number crunching), but they are necessary to run a research program. However, the longer you work in a lab and acquire skills and prove to the more experienced researchers that you are a reliable and committed assistant, the more challenging assignments they will give you.

An added advantage of working in a research lab is that the professor(s) you work with will be better able to write you a letter of recommendation that describes your potential for succeeding in graduate school. S/he will be much more familiar with you as a person, and with your research skills and capabilities, than if you had just received an "A" in their class.