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Research exp


f_coyote

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Possibly a stupid question.

 

I've been out of school for a year; applied to Dent and got waitlisted. However, after spending some time shadowing my dentist, I'm not sure it's what I want to do anyway.

 

I'm still very much interested in working in the health professional field in some capacity. Not sure if Med school would be the best fit (or realistic) but it's an option. Anywho... hopefully someone can help me out.

 

As I mentioned, I've spent the last year out of school working as a porter in the hospital. Very tedious. I was hoping someone could shed some light on how I might be able to get involved more with research within the hospital. I don't really know where to begin.

 

If it matters at all, my grades are good. Bio major.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

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1.) find a researcher in the hospital you are interested in helping

2.) read their publications and have an idea what they do before doing to talk to them so you don't sound like an idiot.

3.) offer to volunteer -> most people will take volunteers to do ***** work.

4.) do ***** work

5.) learn as much as you can and offer to help. eventually you will learn all the techniques/etc. that the lab uses, and will become a valuable resource

6.) bring up getting paid.

 

If you have a degree, you can always apply to be a tech. However, a lot of tech positions require at least a masters. Something to look in to

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I think those are good suggestions, since you are already looped into the hospital and dental office somewhat, why not take that connection further. It's a great opportunity.

 

Otherwise, you can approach research from the standpoint of getting a research related job (which will be harder to do in this economy) or find a way to intern with someone in academic, maybe a local university. Either way, you'll have to be proactive to get something to work for you, a skill which will serve any career in research well.

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If you want a real masters/phd research experience then visit the CIHR, NSERC and OGS website and see if you qualify for any scholarships. NSERC is failry hard, OGS is easier, and then there are field specific scholarships that you can look into. If you grades are good you should/might be able to get one of them and then practically any supervisor will take you cuz they wont be paying for you (not a lot anyways).

 

If you want some research experience without the grad school then you would need to either find a lab to volunteer in, or try to get hired as a tech (although mind you techs usually do not get their name on papers, and usually techs have some sort of prior lab experience). Also a lot of research hospitals have summer programs for students, where you do research over the summer and get paid, but that would depend on the hospital.

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