Questions about research and 5th year.

[killahkam]

I have a few questions guys.

 

I was reading the rejected list and many people have NSERC research experience. I was also reading about doing a 5th year and have a few questions on both.

 

First, how good/bad is it to do a fifth year? Does it really help, or would someone be better off starting a Masters program?

 

Second, how do you gain access to research positions? Do you just contact professors? Do you contact or apply to NSERC? What other ways are there to gain research experience?

 

Any help would be great!

[NewfieMike]

NSERC awards are 4 months long and yes you apply, sometime around January. Depending on the university they may be pretty competitive to get. I go to the largest university in Atlantic Canada and we were only planning on getting 26 across like 6-7 departments.

 

You could also ask a supervisor to hire you as a lab tech -> typically though its easier to get one of those with an M.Sc.

[killahkam]

Do you apply to them in Jan from their website or through your school?

 

How else as an undergrad could one obtain research experience then?

[sparkles3288]

I believe the NSERC deadline is usually around Feb 1st (ish) and you usually apply to your university's internal deadline (around a week earlier usually in which they usually decide which applications to send off, or allocte out the awards).

 

You find potential supervisors by just emailing professors whose research you find interesting. Some will reject you, some you will reject and then there's a few that are a good match.

 

How else to get research expierience as an undergrad? Lots of ways. You can apply for awards other than NSERC depending on your research (they have GI specific awards, CF specific, etc). You can do a research course in which doing lab research counts as credit. You can even volunteer in a lab if worse comes to worse (it's the expierience that counts and no one ever gets rich in summer research).

 

Just be proactive about it and it'll work out =)

[killahkam]

anyone on the fifth year?

[NewfieMike]

Getting other sources of funding I find will only really help you if you already have your foot in the door. Last year I had no research experience, won an NSERC, and got a supervisor doing stroke research.

 

Now this year I'm moving up and applying for funding directly through the Canadian Stroke Network. The thing about these awards is that you can't nominate yourself, but a supervisor in the field has to nominate you from his/her lab. Thus, it's kind of hard to get something like that without experience