Scared to Get Involved in Undergrad Research... Help!

[JohnnyDigital]

Hey! New member here, and I need some advice and/or encouragement. I've had a passion for a certain branch of science since I was three and half or so, and I've always wanted to pursue it as a career. In some ways, things have worked out well. I became an expert (not a real expert, but you get my meaning) in the field at a young age. By the time I was thirteen I was enjoying the primary literature and trying to write a book.

 

However, school has not been my strong point for a couple of reasons. For one, I found it intolerably boring and irrelevent to my specific interests. Another thing, I suffered from adult-onset ADD (or I guess they call ADD ADHD-PI now) untreated until recently. Most significantly though, I suffered from major depression without treatment from age thirteen to twenty.

 

The depression can primarily be attributed to heavy bullying, psychological abuse from my parents, parasitic dysfunctional relationships with "friends," and a genetic predisposition. I doubt your interested in a sob story, but the bottom line is that it got to the point where I could not function.

 

I thought continuously of suicide. I could not drive due to anxiety, I could not hold a job, going out into public was nearly impossible, I was almost completely isolated from family and friends. I slit my wrist and cut up my back. I was so screwed up that I couldn't bring myself to ask for help, and sometimes so screwed up that I didn't realize that I was quite literally going out of my mind.

 

I finally, did get help though, and I'm pretty much healthy again. But during the intervening years, my High School GPA was botched, and my college career is spiralling downward out of control. Before I "came down" with the depression and ADD I was a nearly 4.0 student.

 

Now I'm starting my fourth year of my Bachelor's program severely behind in my credits and with a pretty dismal 2.3 GPA. Yeah, not really looking like a grad school magnet, am I? I don't really know what to do.

 

I'm trying to boost my grades and get my life back on track. I'd love to get involved with some profs' research who are doing what I've always dreamed of, but I've been terrified to contact them until recently due to my social phobias.

 

Now I'm terrified to get in contact with them due to my poor academic record and my lack of involvement in research so far. What can I do to save my chances of living out my dream?

[Paralith]

Hello Johnny. I'm sorry to hear you've had so much difficulty in your past, but I'm also glad to hear that you have gotten the help that you need to focus on your passion again.

 

The first time I got involved in research at my undergraduate college, I was terrified too. I knew I needed and wanted the experience. Fortunately for me, my school held a little meeting where all the professors in my field seeking undergraduate research assistants met with interested students and passed out fliers about their research. You should check and see if your school does anything of that nature, in particular the department you are interested in. Through this I arranged to start working with one of those professors.

 

When the day came to start my training, however, I simply did not want to go. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do the work, that I wouldn't like it, that I wouldn't like the people there, that I would be uncomfortable, that I would mess things up, etc etc. My boyfriend nearly had to shove me out the door.

 

And I am immensely glad that he did. Once I got there, I loved it. My experiences there were key in my later getting a job in a similar field, and both those experiences together were key in my acceptance to grad school, which I just started two weeks ago.

 

In my opinion, there is no better qualification than actual research experience (as well as there being no better way to be SURE this is what you want to do for the rest of your life). If you enjoy what you do and put in the effort, the professor you are working with will know and appreciate it, especially if you are freely volunteering your time. She or he will then be happy to help you get another position, or write a letter of recommendation for a job or a graduate school application. My advice to you is to volunteer and/or intern wherever you can (with the one caveat that you avoid professors who just want free labor to, for example, wash their glassware). Academics are undoubtedly helpful, but the trials and tribulations of actual lab experience will prepare you for the realities of your field far better.

 

Plus, when applying to graduate schools, you will have plenty of opportunity in your statement of purpose to explain your poor GPA by describing your past, and how you overcame it. Perseverance in the face of such difficulties will count in your favor.

[insane_alien]

My advice is pretty much the same.

 

1/ Don't let a rejection get you down. (i've had more rejections than you can shake a stick at for an even greater number of reasons yet have still got a research place.)

 

2/ Be persistent. the more you try the more likely it will be

 

You'll usually get an interview of some kind which is where you have a chance to sell yourself develop an ego several times larger than your head for this one. sell yourself, make out even small achievements to be massive triumphs. (as you've been fighting your way back to the top this will be seen as a VERY good thing. it shows that you aren't just going to give up when things get a little difficult) don't be afraid to pop in a few small white lies to strengthen your position, just don't make them outrageous(like you single handedly discovered a cure for cancer in your kitchen when you overcooked your pot noodle ).

 

Also, in my case we had to get a letter from one of our lecturers saying that we were actually capable of doing the work. this is likely to count more than a grade point average.

 

basically, just go for it. be ecstatic if you get a place, don't get to bothered if you don't, research places are limited, get in early for next time.