Cold-emailing for research

[Mithcah]

Hi everyone, I'm a medical student who's been trying to look for summer research, and so far I've had no luck. I was thinking about cold-emailing profs and offering to work without pay, but I just wanted to ask, do you guys think it's a good idea to include in my initial email that I would be willing to work for free? Or should I just continue emailing asking for positions without specifying paid or unpaid? I'm mostly interested in doing some sort of research this summer, not really in the $, but I'm wondering if there's some disadvantage to unpaid research e.g. doesn't look as good on CaRMS, relegated to menial work, no chance of pubs, etc.?

 

If there are any ways to get into research this late other than through the school programs and through cold-emailing, I'd appreciate your help on that as well. Thanks for your advice!

[sdj78we9jtf2o3mgfvj298j]

It's definitely too late to apply for some of the more well known programs (St. Michael's, Sick Kids, etc). Your best chance right now is to send emails to professors (preferably at your university) but don't hold your breath since a lot of them might be full at this point.

 

I personally wouldn't specify paid or unpaid. You might find someone who is kind enough to give you money.

 

I don't know too much about CaRMS but generally if you get paid then you're expected to do more serious work (which would lead to publications, poster presentations, etc) while if you're volunteering you're probably going to do grunt work (staining/preparing buffers/protein expression if wet-lab, data input if clinical). This would depend on the professor though.

[hamham]

It's definitely too late to apply for some of the more well known programs (St. Michael's, Sick Kids, etc). Your best chance right now is to send emails to professors (preferably at your university) but don't hold your breath since a lot of them might be full at this point.

 

Agreed. It's too late to apply for research awards/studentships at the point in time. I would email clinicians at your desired workplace and hope for the best.

 

 

I don't know too much about CaRMS but generally if you get paid then you're expected to do more serious work (which would lead to publications, poster presentations, etc) while if you're volunteering you're probably going to do grunt work (staining/preparing buffers/protein expression if wet-lab, data input if clinical). This would depend on the professor though.

 

Not true. Lots of med students ended up with pubs even though they were not paid. If you are a med student, I will recommend that you do only serious work. No point volunteering to wash test tubes and prepare media for others in the lab.

[stack444]

do you think its easier to find a research position as a medical student, than it is for a 2nd/3rd year undergrad science major?

[hamham]

do you think its easier to find a research position as a medical student, than it is for a 2nd/3rd year undergrad science major?

 

Dep on the type of research and the skills/experience one has, but if you want an absolute answer, I say "yes" for the following reasons:

 

1) 2nd/3rd yr undergrads have only 2-3 yrs of university/college, and henceforth probably not more than a couple of years of research experience. Most med students have at least one degree (if not more), and are more likely to have more research experience.

 

2) In med school, we are trained to think and solve problems like clinicians. We learnt to interview patients, do physical exams, and have more opportunities shadow doctors in their clinical setting. So if we are talking about clinical research, we definitely have the edge over typical undergrad, since we have more clinical training. We are better able to formulate clinical research questions and come up with the relevant solutions.

 

3) Majority of us have proven ourselves in terms of academics, and personal qualities like diligence and perseverance. Given this traits, we are more likely to be able to come up with new viable solutions and to not quit when the going gets tough. I'm not saying that 2nd/3rd yr undergrads are quitters. All I'm implying is that we have proven ourselves, in one manner or another, to get to where we are today.

 

In short, if I was a clinician, I would be more inclined to hire a med student simply b/c I believe we have a better understanding when it comes to solving clinical problems and work ethics.

 

As an aside, I had difficulty finding PIs for research positions when I was in undergrad. Now that I'm in med school, I receive many positive replies after emailing out my cv. It's essentially the same cv. The only diff is that it now reads that I'm an MD candidate.