How to Get Unpaid Lab/Research Experience
This is a big question with a ton of options! No matter what fields you’re interested in, your college resume can benefit from research with a college professor. This research can be done in the fall, spring, or summer semesters, depending on the professors you contact. It might be in person or remote.
But…cold emailing people is stressful. So, here are some guidelines to help you. I’ve pulled some guidance from this page from Stanford’s Office of Science Outreach. You can look through that Stanford-specific guide. I’ve also reproduced most of it below and added my own recommendations.
Rule: The student should make these arrangements, not the parent.
This has always been my opinion, but it’s important to see this reflected in Stanford’s own rhetoric. Professors don’t want to hear from parents that their kid is just SO great and talented and smart and worthy of a lab position. Of course you are! But, they want to hear it directly from you. If professors are going to put in the effort to work with a high school student, that student had better have the guts and gumption to reach out personally.
Step 1: Look for Professors
For every college, start by going to a college’s website and finding what professors in your field are researching.
There are two key ways to do this. You can search “College Name Major faculty”. Obviously you’ll fill in the college name and your intended major. This will bring up a page with faculty in your area of interest. Then you can click on each faculty member and you should see any labs or research centers they run, their recent publications, their books. Not every professor will have all of those. If someone has nothing on their page, go find someone else.
The second path is to search “College Name Major recent research”. Again, fill in the college name and major. This time you’re looking for news. It might be news from the college itself or just from news organizations. News is made to be more digestible, so it’s a great way to find out what colleges are discovering.
Try other search terms. Always include the college name and your major, and then try just searching for “news” or “discoveries” or “labs”. You can also change up your major. If you’re interested in engineering, you can try searching for a specific subfield of engineering, robotics, technology more generally, etc. If you’re interested in researching history, you can pick specific places or regions or specific time periods; you can add in extra terms like culture or music or religion; you can search adjacent fields like anthropology, archaeology, psychology, etc.
Keep playing with search terms until you find good research in the news or on the college’s website (you can also check the college’s own news page). Remember, professors want guts and gumption! So, dig in here. Keep going until you find 10 professors in one college. Write down their name, email, a link to their research, and a brief description. Trust me; you’ll want that description later. Then you can find more in another college.
If you want to work in person, search local. If you’re okay working remotely, search everywhere. We’ll clarify this to the professors in the email.
Step 2: Write the emails
In this email, it’s very, VERY important that you keep things short and sweet. Here’s a rough draft that you can fill in, but feel free to write your own version (remember, guts and gumption!). There are also notes below on what else to add in depending on what you’re looking for.
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Dear Professor _________, (If the person holds a PhD, you can start with: Dear Dr. ________,)
My name is _______, and I am interested in ________ (major / field of study). I’ve been exploring _____________ (one or two research questions).
I came across your study on _________, and I’m writing to ask if you are currently accepting interns. I loved ___________ (something that really drew you to their research or excited you).
I have completed _____________ (CV attached). (Include relevant coursework from school or outside of school. Be sure to make your course rigor clear. They want to know that you can handle the intensity of real work!). I am now looking to undertake serious research and explore topics closer to my passions. (This is a generic idea for this sentence. Tell the professor what you want to get out of researching with him/her. The more specific, the better!)
I am available __________ (Are you available for a full semester? The whole summer? Only part of the summer? Only weekends? How many hours per week?)
Thank you for your time. Please let me know if you have any openings.
Best,
Name
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A Few Notes
Most wet labs can’t accept students under the age of 16. If you’re under 16, you can apply to wet labs, but expect a much higher rate of rejection. Definitely include your age in your email! You don’t want to waste time getting a “yes” only to find out that they have to say “no” because of your age. However, if a professor is interested in working with you, but you’re 15, then you should ask if you can do any non-lab research or support until you turn 16. Develop and nurture that relationship!
If you want to do actual lab research, you’ll have to be in person. If you’re willing to live somewhere else for the entire summer, make that clear in your email. Otherwise, look for local opportunities.
If you just want to do research, but it doesn’t have to be in person, then you can expand your search a lot. There’s a lot that can be done remotely in any field. I would look into remote opportunities and adjust your expectations and intentions accordingly. Research looks good on a resume whether it’s remote or in person, and in person spots can be harder to get.
Stanford’s document notes that their labs will usually not consider an intern for fewer than 6 hours per week. So, when listing your availability, clearly state how many hours per week you can do (and make it 6 or more!).
You should attach your CV with contact information, courses completed with letter grades, overall GPA, the name of your high school, any other internships, work experience, or research experiences you’ve had, summer programs you’ve done, and a bit about your hobbies and other skills. This MUST not be longer than a single page under any circumstances, and it needs to be in a readable font size (minimum 11, Times New Roman). You want your resume/CV to be friendly, approachable, readable. You do not want to make the person reading it suffer. Small, crowded text is a recipe for disaster. Just cut things out. I always recommend having a website that clearly documents your work on personal projects, club projects, community service efforts, etc. Include that website in your CV.
Responses
Most professors just won’t respond at all. Some will respond and say “no”. A few might respond and say “yes”. Make sure you’re prepared for so many ghosts and a handful of NOs. This is the toughest part, and the most discouraging. But, you have guts and gumption! Don’t get discouraged. This is normal; it has nothing to do with you as a person.
If you don’t get a response in 2 weeks, you can send a single follow up email. After that, let it be.
Stanford strongly recommends against calling any professor or department, stating that it is likely to be ignored. This is reflected in pretty much every college advice column you’ll come across. Don’t call.
If you get no responses at all, then you go back to Step 1. Pick different colleges, different search terms, look overseas, etc. Guts and gumption! You got this. If you’ve emailed 100 professors and still have no responses, then we need to reevaluate.
Help
If you need help, come see me! I do this all the time. Everything is a la carte; you don’t have to sign on for a bigger program. I can help you get started with the research, write the emails, respond to emails, and decide which opportunities are more or less worth it. I can also help you come up with your research questions of interest, create and perfect your website, and even start to do preliminary research to help you write more impressive emails!