Research After Undergrad Graduation?

[mhockey14221]

Hey all,

I applied to Med School last summer, and I thought I was a much stronger candidate than I really was. Long story short, it appears I may not attend med school and instead have considered applying to a physics grad program, as my grades (and interest) in physics are stronger than my pre-med courses.

The problem is, I have had one half-assed research stint that didn't really go anywhere and I'm leaving college in 2 months. I learned Fortran and some numerical methods, but I'd like something much more substantiative for applying to a grad school in 2010.

Where's a good place to look for post-undergrad research work? My college is a smaller school with no graduate level physics department, so I'd presume I'd have to look outside my school for work?

 

[confinement]

Applying to grad school is mostly based on grades, recommendations, and GRE scores. Research experience and outside skills like programming are a nice bonus, although for an experimentalist I guess these things matter more. If you are into theory then I suggest asking a professor to give you a mathematical research problem for you to work on.

 

[Choppy]

You might want to try schools that you are interested in pursuing graduate studies with. Contact the physics departments and ask if they have any research assistant positions available. Sometimes, you can even sneak in a grad application past the deadline depending on the school and the student. I wouldn't count on this though.