Research internship

Internships often bring to mind TV and movie characters who fetch coffee and make copies. But internships are not about being the office errand runner. Internships offer unique exposure and insight into the industry and work environment, give you a hands-on experience in your field of study. It gives you the opportunity to gain practical skills, strengthen your CV, and make you more employable. 

Who is it for? 

Interns are usually college or graduate students. While interns are usually older students, like juniors or seniors, freshman and sophomores can seek out internships as well. Having several internships while in college can be very impressive to potential employers.

What Do You Do?

The daily tasks of an intern can vary widely, even within the same industry. It is largely dependent on your professors /mentors and the labs you get an opportunity to work in. In some internships, you may do mainly mechanical work, run errands or do repetitive experiments. But in others, you will be an important part of team, making substantial contributions learn crucial lab techniques useful in research as well as industry which help in your personal and professional growth.

What’s in it for you?

 Internships offer students a hands-on opportunity to work in their desired field. They learn how their course of study applies to the real world and build valuable experience that makes them stronger candidates for jobs after graduation. Internships can change your career trajectory. An internship can be an excellent way to "try out" a certain career. For instance, you may think you want a fast-paced job in advertising after college, but after an internship, you may find that it's not for you; that's valuable insight that will help you choose your career path. You learn the art of building relationships which is one of the most important soft skills and will be extremely useful while leading a group or even being part of the team. Self-designing an internship can give you the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills, experience and tools that you require in your work. In some colleges, internships also count towards course credit. This is dependent on your individual school's requirements, but usually a three-month long internship counts as a full course credit. And now that you know so many exist, the sky is the limit. Embrace the word “internship” each time you hear it—and you will hear it a lot. As you’ve seen in the examples above, it’s often the bridge to a bright future.

Apart from the conventional informal way of contacting researchers and obtaining research internships directly, here is a list of research fellowships that you could apply for - most of which are fully funded.

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How do I discover the Profs working in my field of Interest?

• Go through the official websites of all the institutes and find the Mail-Ids of profs working in the field of your interest.
• Google their names and go to their profiles in LinkedIn, Research gate and Google scholar to find their frequent collaborators and network of ppl working in their field.
• Find the co-authors of their papers who are working in the same field
• Look for any conferences happened earlier on the topic of interest in any institute and see the presenters and attendees list.
• If you have any friends or acquaintance working in that field, ask them about some student-friendly profs to apply to.
• Do check in institutes even if they appear irrelevant to your field also.
• Do apply to low-level underfunded institutes as well-where your chances of acceptance will be higher- just to ensure you'll at least get one acceptance.
• And don't shy away from applying to the profs of the top institutes, you never know who might accept you. There have been cases where some students were accepted by profs from really good institutes and rejected by some ordinary institutes.
• If the institution is close by your place, then try to meet profs personally at any cost. Mail them asking about their free time and have a meeting with them. A meeting in person will have much more impact than asking for an internship through mail. Also attended conferences or seminars if they happen in nearby places. You'll get to meet some students and profs there.

What to write?

• Write about why you're aspiring to do an internship in that specific field, and what is it that attracts you towards it.
• If you have more than one field of interest do prepare one letter for each.
• Try to avoid a generic description of a broad field, Be as specific as possible about your field of interest
• Also, read about current research the prof is doing and papers published by them, mention about them if you find anything interesting.
• Mention if you've read any book or done any online course related.
• I believe doing the above will increase your chances by a great degree, so do read any standard textbook or do some online course to show them the genuineness of your interest in the field.
• Do clearly mention in the subject of the mail if you're okay with an unpaid internship or if you can arrange accommodation for yourself. This might earn you some extra points. Write something like "Application for a summer internship (Paid/Unpaid)”
• Also, ask them if they recommend any specific books or material to refer before reaching there which would help you in the project it'd let them know your eagerness to work.
• Mention about good things (if you have any) in your academic career so far
• Most importantly don't fake or lie about anything
• Apply as early as possible, you can even start applying as early as October for a summer project. You'll have an advantage as most profs works on a first come first serve basis.

Tips to score some extra brownies...

• Prepare a generic mail for each field and customize it for each prof individually. 
• It's better to mention the name of the prof and the institute somewhere in the early paragraphs so that the profs will not think that you have copy pasted the same thing and may have possibly sent it to many others and so accepting your application would be a waste of their time.
• Double check the names of the prof and the institute before mailing to save yourself from embarrassment later 
• If the prof doesn't reply after two-three days send them a gentle reminder about it. One better send it during a weekend when they might have free time to reply. 
• Even after a rejection also you can thank them for their taking time to reply and alongside you can ask them to consider you for any future openings or any short term project if possible.