How to apply for a research position!

[Hobaboba]

Hi friends,

I want to apply for a research position to have some experience before admission and have few questions:

1. How to select the professor to contact: sometimes the department has 50 prof. It is painskating to search all their research to choose. Any ideas?

2. Shall I send my CV with the research volunteer email or not

3. Any suggesstion of what professors would like to hear to accept a student for volunteer research position

4. Is it a bad idea to contact more than one professor inside the department? Does it mean that I am not interested in certain program!

Thanx

Edited June 14, 2013 by Hobaboba

[zapster]

1. I'm afraid you have to put in the hours on this one. It's not as hard as it looks though, it is pretty easy to eliminate a large number of profs. if you know what you are looking for. Plus going through all their research is often very enlightening. Sometimes the stated research interests do not give a complete or accurate picture or may not have been updated in a while. I found reading the abstracts of the latest few publications of potential POIs to be the most rewarding process for identifying profs. I would like to work with.

 

2. Yes do send your CV, but also send a much shorter summary of your key positives in the body of the mail - sometimes they might just be too busy to open attachments!

 

3. What field are you looking at ?

 

4. Contacting say around 2-4 profs. working in the same broad related area within a department may in fact be a good idea. If they have some overlap of interests it might actually increase your chances.

[Hobaboba]

Thanx a lot. My field either public health or pathology

[oopalfrootz]

1. There are no shortcuts. No one's going to jump out and tell you which profs to apply to. Search through every last one, eliminate the ones that don't suit you quickly, then have a more detailed look through the rest. Get it down to 3 or 4, and have an idea in your head of which you would prefer. But make sure that idea is flexible for when you get new information! 

 

2. Yes, send your CV - why not? Also as zapster said, include a tailored cover letter - tailored to each prof, not just the department as a whole. 

 

That's the best advice I can give... up to you whether you take it or not. 

[Hobaboba]

Thanx a lot