I know that when I was trying to figure out what school I wanted to grace my presence with, research was a big deciding factor. I am a science major and as such I need to be able to get my hands dirty and dive into some research. I was originally worried about coming to Rutgers - I figured that since it was such a huge school, no one would want measly, zero experience me in their lab dropping beakers and having generally no idea what was going on. I had written research papers in the past but they were for my English classes - and they didn't have anything to do with someone getting their dissertation or financial funding. I figured at Rutgers, since research was so much more important, I was not going to be able to get involved.
I was wrong.
Research is a HUGE part of Rutgers. We are a research institution and as such any professor here has to research - research is not just for the sciences any more. I was shocked at how easy it was to get involved with research on campus. Apparently the people didn't mind me breaking stuff as long as I didn't completely mess up the experiment mostly because I was free labor. Funding is definitely scarce now a days but this is great for undergraduate students looking to get into a lab. Most professors need students to do the grunt work - but they don't have the money to pay actual degree baring scientists to do it. Grunt work can include things like counting paramecium and doing online research, which may not be that exciting but when they get you a few extra credits and a nice letter of recommendation they are definitely worth it.
Now the question is, how can YOU get yourself into a research lab? The answer is quite simple. Ask.
Last semester I sent out over 20 emails to different professors asking them to be apart of their lab. Unfortunately I was a little late in my asking and all of the labs were filled but unexpectedly a few of professors contacted me (yes, little ole me) to see if I was still interested this semester! I was. And so I got myself some research! I am switching what lab I want to be apart of for next fall but again all I had to do was ask. I simply made an appointment to talk about the research with Dr. Katz and then he gave me a special permission number, which guarantees me a few more credits and another letter of recommendation for next semester.
It really is not as scary as one may think. It’s darn easy to get research here but you have to be proactive about it. People are not going to beg you because there are tons of other students who will be proactive and get the spots.
In conclusion you can and will be able to research at Rutgers if you make it a priority to send emails and explain to different professors why you are the best person to make mistakes in their lab because most professors realize that student don't have research experience prior to college and they are expecting the mistakes.
Location: SinglePost