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It wasn't that hard for me to be a co-author on a scientific paper in high school. I just walked into some research hospitals, asked if anyone there wanted some

by shard 7y ago

It wasn't that hard for me to be a co-author on a scientific paper in high school. I just walked into some research hospitals, asked if anyone there wanted some help, and worked with some researchers after school a few times a week. I did the lab work, the charts and graphs, and the first rough draft of the paper. The researchers provided the analysis and conclusions and finalized the paper. And voila! A few months later a paper appeared in a journal with my name on it.

koolba 7y ago
That’s sounds like it’d be an exceptional selection criteria. It shows hard work, dedication, follow through, and especially gumption. How many weeks total were you there?
- pen2l 7y ago
  It also sounds pretty unbelievable. You can't really just walk into some research hospitals and somehow find yourself talking to the right person who will get you in as a research intern. In my experiences, sadly, virtually all research interns are basically just the PI/member-of-lab's daughter/son or a collaborator's children/relatives. One reason I can think of as to why this is is that you do really need a filter, because not having a filter will cost you immense time. It just turns out that references -- which are bound to be from your close friends and relatives -- are a signal one tends to trust.
  - icelancer 7y ago
    It's happened at my research institution. Then again, I run a pretty unconventional one. I took a high school student in who just had the initiative to email us and make an unscheduled visit. Science should be for us all. Not the crony system we have right now.
  - shard 7y ago
    I didn't just walk into some random lab and find someone, I went to several places and spoke with some administrators who asked around for me before I found one which wanted an assistant. It wasn't any cutting edge or sexy research, maybe that was why they don't have enough interns. I don't remember it being particularly difficult to find, though. @koolba, I don't recall how many months I worked there, somewhere around 3~4 months, maybe? It was Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in the 90s, maybe things are different now.

by shard 7y ago

koolba 7y ago

That’s sounds like it’d be an exceptional selection criteria. It shows hard work, dedication, follow through, and especially gumption. How many weeks total were you there?

pen2l 7y ago
It also sounds pretty unbelievable. You can't really just walk into some research hospitals and somehow find yourself talking to the right person who will get you in as a research intern. In my experiences, sadly, virtually all research interns are basically just the PI/member-of-lab's daughter/son or a collaborator's children/relatives. One reason I can think of as to why this is is that you do really need a filter, because not having a filter will cost you immense time. It just turns out that references -- which are bound to be from your close friends and relatives -- are a signal one tends to trust.
- icelancer 7y ago
  It's happened at my research institution. Then again, I run a pretty unconventional one. I took a high school student in who just had the initiative to email us and make an unscheduled visit. Science should be for us all. Not the crony system we have right now.
- shard 7y ago
  I didn't just walk into some random lab and find someone, I went to several places and spoke with some administrators who asked around for me before I found one which wanted an assistant. It wasn't any cutting edge or sexy research, maybe that was why they don't have enough interns. I don't remember it being particularly difficult to find, though. @koolba, I don't recall how many months I worked there, somewhere around 3~4 months, maybe? It was Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in the 90s, maybe things are different now.