How to approach prof. for research opportunities?

[winston.l]

Hi all,

I think this question was asked many times, but I would like to ask it again to see if anyone has experiences to share. To approach a professor for RA, which one of these ideas sounds feasible (or are there even better ideas)

1. take his/her class, get a good mark and ask him/her in the end of the year
2. read his/her papers, and find some questions and go to his/her office hous to ask
3. email him/her and say something like I really want to become an RA, do you need an ugrad to assist you with thy current project.

what do u guys think?

[anonymous123]

This varies between schools and professors, but I would make these general remarks.

1) Empirical researchers tend to need RA labor - so if you are looking for an RA position you should keep this in mind. A theorist may not have any work that an RA could do.

2) If you are asking an RA opportunity, I think you should present the case as follows: Hi Professor, I know you are doing X and I can do Y, which would help X. Specifically, Y usually means programming and data manipulation for empirical research.

I do not think you necessarily need to take a course with someone before you RA. Certainly, it would help, but if you have useful skills (i.e. programming in MatLab or STATA) then you can be useful. You need to make it clear to the Professor what skills you have and how that fits in with their projects.

[Raiv11]

I always asked the advisors in my department or the undergrad director (who I had good relationships with) for advice on who to approach for research opportunities. If you're unsure of who to approach in your department, you could try something like that. Sometimes that can help your case, because you might able to say, "Professor ___ suggested I speak to you about ____".

[thewhiterabbit]

I did 1) with a well-known prof at my school after I made an A+ in her class, and it worked. I've been working on and off with the same group of profs since then (almost 4 years now..)

It's probably the easiest way to prove your worth, especially if the class has some Stata programming included.

Just a data point....

[wind up bird]

Originally Posted by Raiv11

I always asked the advisors in my department or the undergrad director (who I had good relationships with) for advice on who to approach for research opportunities. If you're unsure of who to approach in your department, you could try something like that. Sometimes that can help your case, because you might able to say, "Professor ___ suggested I speak to you about ____".

This is what I did. There was one professor in particular who liked working with undergrads so I sent him an e-mail and was hired after a five minute talk.

[Gecko]

I like to talk to the profs who taught me

[moneyandcredit]

At my school, you can get a job through the department grading papers. Most of the RAs do that first. Only students in the MA program can get that job, so I don't know how it would work for undergrads wishing to go straight to a PhD program.

[winston.l]

thank you all for thy repsonses.

Two more things,

1. Would it be better to come up with some sort of a research proposal first and bring it to professors to see if they are willing to supervise (or would it be better to ask for what they have)?

2. When (as in what year) would be a good time to begin approaching profs? I know that profs tend to like higher year students, but it would be kinda late to begin thinking about it at then. Would the beginning of 2nd year be a good time to start?

[chimerical]

I got an RA position as a freshman. It doesn't hurt to ask, no matter which year you are.

If you have a research proposal you can mention it but generally profs are looking to hire RAs for their current projects.

[EconOso]

Originally Posted by wind up bird

This is what I did. There was one professor in particular who liked working with undergrads so I sent him an e-mail and was hired after a five minute talk.

I concur. I believe this is the easiest way to approach a professor. Also, I think it helps to make sure you have questions ready and are able to hold a conversation that is engaging to the professor, most likely about things he/she is interested in.