Getting into Research

Before I get into the research that I’ll be doing this summer, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a little bit of information about myself and how I got into research. I started doing research at the beginning of my sophomore year. I knew that I had to start doing research because it is a major component of a med school or grad school application. Since most PIs (principal investigators) don’t advertise research positions, especially to undergrads, most people directly email many PIs and professors in order to find a position. This is what I did; I emailed two professors at college of medicine. I was specifically interested in doing cancer research which is why I choose to find research at the college of medicine. Most PIs will list what kind of research they’re doing on their website so you can kind of go through and pick projects that are most interesting to you. After I identified projects that I was interested in, I emailed the PI to ask if they had any openings in their lab. One of the PIs never responded to my request but I was lucky enough for the other one to have a spot open in his lab so I started working there and I’ve worked there for about a year now. I was lucky in that it only took me two emails to find a position. I know several people who had to wait a long time in order to find a research position. But Ohio State is a very good school to participate in research at because there are lots of different research opportunities in many different areas of research. I’ve never heard of anyone here not being able to find research. It just might take some time to find the right research position for you.