<p>Hi. I’m going to be a junior in college. I would like to attend graduate school and study (most likely) east Asian history/studies. Problem is I don’t know what the appropriate ECs and things I should be doing right now. </p>
<p>All my friends are doing “research” but they are all science majors, where you can actually do research in a lab and stuff. What about someone who is a humanities/social science person like me? I am transferring to a bigger school in the fall specifically BECAUSE I wanted to be able to have more flexibility and access to learning about China, India, Central Asia, etc. I don’t want to waste the opportunity. At my old school, I played varsity football and tutored other undergraduates for the English department’s writing programs. I’m going to be starting complete fresh in the fall (although I’ll still be trying out for the fb team)</p>
<p>Should I just ask my new professors if I can do research for them? And what exactly does “research” consist of? Am I supposed to be doing something right now? Currently I work as a counselor and RA for this summer foreign exchange program for a bunch of high school students from China and Europe (and it’s the greatest job in the world) and during the winter I do interior designing and renovations for a construction company (I love doing it, and it’s fun). But this is probably not what grad schools are looking for.</p>
<p>I know chem/orgo/phys majors do “research”, but what do people who go to grad school for social science/humanities do while they are undergrads?</p>
<p>If these sound like completely ignorant questions, I’m sorry. Thanks.</p>