Best Time To Get Research Experience?

[pretzels]

Hi! I'm going into second year, and I already have a few extra-curriculars lined up and a part time job on campus, and together, these activities might already take up about 15 hours per week. Would it be a bad idea to also volunteer in a lab? It's something I haven't done before, so I'm just not exactly sure what kind of weekly time commitment that requires. I'm asking because one of the professors I emailed, simply mentioned that a lot of second year students end up abandoning lab work by the middle of the semester since workload gets heavier. The dilemma is, I'd really like to apply for NSERC or work in a lab or participate in a hospital research program in the summer after second year, but in order to get accepted, should I start volunteering during the school year to gain experience beforehand? I suppose I'm also asking, if it's likely for students without prior research experience to get accepted into those programs? Thanks!

[ExercMed]

The time commitment depends on the lab and what kind of research they are doing.

I would heavily recommend getting prior research experience for applying to an NSERC position. It helps if you are applying for a project within the same lab you are currently volunteering in. This demonstrates to the reviewers that you already know how the lab functions and are familiar with the techniques you will use in your project (i.e. you will be more productive than someone who has to learn everything from scratch). 

It is not unheard of to get accepted into a summer research program without prior research experience but in my experience, it helps to have it. A lot of the application depends on how well you sell yourself (research abilities, interprofessional skills) and your research (interesting/novel proposal). Both of these benefit from having a research background. 

[ThatMedGyal]

You don't need experience to apply for NSERC. The undergraduate NSERC bursary is given purely based on GPA. I got it with 0 lab experience in cancer research in a hospital.

Basically, I suggest you don't add volunteering if you can't handle it with your course workload. Remember that GPA is king.

I suggest you do NSERC in the summer but you might have to send a couple emails and have a nice cover letter/transcript that will convince the profs to take you in, despite having no lab experience.