That’s a good point. I guess I didn’t want to be preumptious that these kinds of tips would work in applying for any position, be it in a lab or not. What I can say with certainty is that these tips have been successful in getting undergraduate research positions, and I assume that there could be other minor things that could be done when applying for other positions in science, such as a postdoc, asisstant professor, etc. And I have no experience applying for those types of positions, so it would be presumptious of me to offer advice for those situations when I have never done them myself.

It’s a great point that you made about an undergrad starting as an expense. This is something substantial for students to keep in mind, because I have seen postdocs in several different labs get so frustrated with an undergrad that they either a) throw them to the curb or b) stick them solely on washing dishes and other tasks that they would have a hard time screwing up. The latter option, in my opinion, is just a way of not having to face the hard task of telling a student that they’re not cut out for the lab and should be on their way. Or they’re simply not giving them any room to learn and make mistakes. Either way, if a student gets in the position of never being allowed to do anything beyond dishes and stock solutions (even after 3-4 months of getting up to speed), I would jump ship and hope to make a better impression in another lab.

From that starting position, some of our undergrads were happy to stick with the paying job stuff, but many transitioned into fairly substantial research projects, working with one or more of the grad students.

It’s important to remember that to a lab manager, grad student or postdoc, an undergrad starts out as an expense — we have to at least get them up to speed on the lab and the local science, and possibly on lab research in general, depending on their level of experience. That’s a pain, so it’s good if you’re willing to do things that other people in the lab feel are needed.

(My first undegrad lab work involved doing restriction digests, and [literally] picking the wings off of flies.)

For point 3, this may be my personal preference, but don’t go overboard with discussing things you did in high school. Focus on solid technical skills (e.g. “skilled with Filemaker”) and mention some relevant coursework. I spent a fair amount of time wondering why it mattered that a job applicant was in one or another high school club.

Point 5 would certainly have stood out to me as not a single undergrad ever did this.

Good post.