Can someone please tell me how to get a research internship?

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Hi everyone,

I'm a college student at a good school in NYC, and I am trying my hardest to get a internship in a research position with my Astrophysics professors for the summer. I have been trying like mad since January - on campus internship, out of campus internship - and i am not able to get anything. I went to 8 different professors and none of them could take me on.

I have to add that I am a freshman and have had no experience in a lab before.

I was wondering if anyone could give me advise. What am I doing wrong ? Seriously, I want to be an astrophysicist, and I know I need relevant internships/work experience for grad schools, but I really don't know how to go about getting an internship with the Profs. Can someone help ???

you might need to wait till you are a junior or senior. Also, do not expect a paid position under any circumstances. Have a good GPA.

First of all, don't worry if you cannot get an internship - you are still a freshman, and you have plenty of time to build up your resume.

Instead of asking for an internship, I would ask about volunteer opportunities instead. An intern, even unpaid, requires a larger time investment on the part of the professor because in an internship you are usually getting more advanced training. If you don't have any experience, even if they can take an intern, they'll question whether it is worth their time to give you that training because without experience they can't tell how committed you are or if you will do a good job.

On the other hand, a volunteer is a minimal investment - they can give you the most basic tasks without feeling commited to giving you advanced training. A volunteer position is better for you as well, because it is a more flexible time commitment, so you can back out if you find you don't like what you are doing, and also have time to have a paying job as well over the summer. On the other hand, if you really like what you are doing during the volunteer hours and you are doing the work well, your supervisor will see that and maybe give you more difficult tasks to do. Eventually, if you do a good job and show yourself to be a commited volunteer, then you will have a foot in the door for a paid position down the road.

When I was in undergrad, I volunteered for 1.5 school years at the lab where I wanted to work. The summer after my second year I was hired on full time and continued on as a paid student worker for the rest of my undergrad career.