Does anyone know how to go about finding research opportunities as a pre-med student and med student?
Clinical or bench…Thanks in avance.
Google it, there are literally hundreds of research opportunities. Try summer undergraduate research fellowship.
Talk to your professors, or just start talking to professors that are doing research that interests you. Also if your school has a site that lists all of the on campus jobs some opportunities may be listed there. That’s where I found mine. NIH’s website lists tons of summer opportunties as well.
Start not with fellowships but what you are interested in. What do you want to study? What moves you, excites you, compels you, makes you more curious? Then start looking at what interesting work is being done in that field. Then start looking at who’s doing it. Then go talk to the ones near you. Then find money to work for the ones you like.
Good luck!
joe
I will add some pragmatic advice here. It is all well and good to follow your heart and find the next panacea, but it is very difficult to know what kind of research you want to do until you have done some research (one of those Catch 22 scenarios). Further, if you actually find something you really, really, really, want to do, oftentimes it is tough to get in on the project because you are a pre-med or med student with minimal skills. As an undergrad, I would try to find something that is easiest to fit into your schedule and location, that will give you experience and exposure to research without killing you. That way you can make a good impression, get some basic skills and start to find what you like or don’t like. It’s kind of like 3rd year of med school. You find out you DON’T want to do OB, by doing OB. So, if you are taking Biology classes right now, investigate in your Biology department (or Chem … etc) to find out if there are any receptive, supportive, faculty researchers. Also, downplay the pre-med angle. Don’t lie, but many academics have a bias against pre-meds for numerous warranted and unwarranted reasons. To start out, you will only be cleaning glassware and doing brainless aliquotting anyway. That will give you exposure and demonstrate dependability. The biggest personal asset you can bring to a potential research advisor is previous experience and hopefully a recommendation. So, get your feet wet in a low stress, low expectation environment, working towards the goal of finding something you really like, gaining experience and skills along the way.
One of my worst research experiences taught me a lot about what I wanted and didn’t want to do. In the process I gained a lot of experience and skills.
Hope this helps.