<p>…First quarter, as soon as you get there? Third quarter of your freshman year? </p>
<p>Also, can students/do students usually do research at the hospital?</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard from students and my visit to the school, you can start undergraduate research whenever you want to, as in first quarter as soon as you get there. Granted, at that point, I don’t think you get to conduct your own research, but rather help a professor with his/her research.</p>
<p>I’m interested to hear about hospital research as well, though.</p>
<p>From my limited understanding, undergraduates who do research start by working in the lab under a professor. Once they’ve worked there for a while and are sufficiently familiar with the study, they can propose a new part of the study, and they work with the professor and other people in the lab to make their research happen. I don’t know how common it is to get a lab position during your first quarter of your first year, but you should be able to get one before your first year is over.</p>
<p>I started research at the hospital first quarter first year. Most people who actively look for jobs are able to find them. Most people wait at least until second quarter, though, so they have more time to adjust and socialize first quarter.</p>
<p>What kind of research do you do at the hospital? Are you paid for it? Or are paid research positions hard to come by?</p>
<p>insomniac, I’d like to maintain anonymity so I’ll pm you.</p>
<p>You can begin doing research anytime you want. I began doing research in my first week here.</p>
<p>My D interviewed labs during O week. She had offers for 6 labs, 5 of them paid. </p>
<p>The college even has a website of opportunities: <a href=“https://frogs.uchicago.edu/researchopportunities/search_results.cfm[/url]”>https://frogs.uchicago.edu/researchopportunities/search_results.cfm</a></p>
<p>But don’t stop there. Your biggest challenges will be deciding what you want to do and selling yourself to a lab.</p>
<p>@newmassdad When should we contact the people listed on the website you provided? You say your daughter interviewed during oweek. Does that mean she applied before-hand?</p>
<p>^ Yes. She emailed folks before she arrived for O week. </p>
<p>When she met with people, she brought with her a binder of work she did during two previous summers, when she had the chance to do work in a university lab. You may not have had such an opportunity, but you could still have a sheet that outlines what you have done, even if your skills are limited. Showing some prep work never hurts.</p>
<p>Another tip is to have done some reading about the research being done in a lab. Every lab has a web site, and many of these web sites list key papers. Never hurts to read one or two. If it does not make sense, that would be a good thing to bring up in a meeting - honesty is important. And never BS your way. These profs are waaay to smart for that.</p>
<p>Same applies for non-research jobs. There are postings on the Chicago website; S applied to two, got a call from one shortly before O-Week, and had a campus job the day before he moved in.</p>
<p>DH and S drove out to Chicago together; I flew in the day before O-Week (long story). I called S to tell him I had landed and was on the 55 bus, only to be told he was in an interview for said job. By the time I got to campus, he was employed.</p>