University of Virginia

Undergraduate Research Assistant

July 2020 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I liked the work of designing a new processor. I also liked that the work may one day be useful to cutting-edge research on AI.

What I wish was different

I wish it had started earlier; we did not get a whole lot done before the end of the summer.

Advice

You can do as much or as little as you want to.

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Student lead of Virginia CubeSat Constellation

May - August 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Apply to the Research opportunities offered by the Mechanical and Aerospace engineering department for the summer. It's a great opportunity to have.

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Research Intern

May - August 2019 • Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ

What I liked

Remote, flexible

What I wish was different

Wish I had received more work to do.

Advice

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SLI

June - July 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

The class was a harmonious group of fellow students and graduates. We held lots of interesting activities and learned about cultures together.

What I wish was different

I wished we could have longer time staying together, learn from each other more and be able to experience a variety of festivals related to Chinese culture.

Advice

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

July 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I really enjoyed that I was given the opportunity to make significant material contributions and to understand the nature of my work, rather than being subjected to endless days of darkness and sample polishing. I have instead been given ample opportunities to learn about the reasons for and uses of our research and to make my own measurable contribution.

What I wish was different

This is very much a research position - all the best and worst parts of research are there - you'll get opportunities to work on the cutting edge of research, but at the same time you have to be able to stay on that edge of research - there is a lot of information, nearly overwhelming sometimes. Sadly department policy puts a bit of a stranglehold on pay - it is not terrible, and as a matter of fact quite near REU levels, but there are significantly higher paying jobs.

Advice

Don't walk in trying to find yourself a glowing resume entry or being the ultimate researcher - walk in ready and willing to learn, and the results will become self-evident.

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Patient Care Technician

May 2017 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

Units can be flexible with your summer and /or academic year schedule.

What I wish was different

Nothing

Advice

There are so many opportunities at the hospital. If possible join the float pool so you can see more of the hospital.

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Biochemistry Research Intern

May - August 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Network as much as you can

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Research Technician

June - August 2019 • Cape Charles, VA

What I liked

I enjoyed the work environment, pay, and work

What I wish was different

More work, more hours

Advice

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Biology Laboratory Assistant

October 2018 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I like investigating questions through trial and error and learning new techniques.

What I wish was different

I wish I had done this for longer in the summer.

Advice

Always ask questions!

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Camp Counselor

June - July 2018 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I loved working with high schoolers and getting to be in Charlottesville for the summer!

What I wish was different

Advice

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Research Intern

June - July 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I loved the work I was doing as it was an entertaining one

What I wish was different

Honestly, wish more people had applied

Advice

Have fun and be open minded about research

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Marketing Assistant

July 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

The team is wonderful. The location is super convenient.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Conference Assistant

May - August 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

The whole team was great to work with and made the summer fun!

What I wish was different

I wish our schedules had been released sooner than they typically were

Advice

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

February 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

It was really good experience for my career path

What I wish was different

The pay was just a courtesy, not in alignment with the amount or level of work that I did

Advice

Talk to as many other people as you can!

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

May 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

I loved the amount of knowledge I acquired because of the trust instilled in me to execute the procedures and gather information about the genetic pathways in Xenopus tropicalis that help us understand human ocular pathways and potential treatments to several ocular diseases.

What I wish was different

Eight hours alone in a lab a day for 10 weeks was a little lonely, and I wish there were more opportunities to spend time with people.

Advice

It is very very hard at first because there are so many procedures and details to learn, but once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature.

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engineering research intern

June - August 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

The autonomy that I had in my projects.

What I wish was different

The working environment wasn’t the best. It didn’t seem like my coworkers were excited about their research, and that made the lab a little tiring sometimes.

Advice

Preview the working environment and job description thoroughly before accepting a position.

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Undergraduate Researcher

May - August 2019 • Charlottesville, VA

What I liked

Getting to work in a lab over the summer and experiencing things that I never would in a classroom setting. For example, I learned how to use ANSYS which is valuable for companies but not taught regularly in Mechanical Engineering classes.

What I wish was different

Taking fluid mechanics first as all my research related to it when I hadn’t taken it yet.

Advice

Getting to do research at school over the summer can expose you to skills that you would never gain in a regular internship at a company, making it sometimes even more valuable than a regular internship.

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Hannah Graham Memorial Scholar

June - August 2019 • Kigali, Kigali

What I liked

It was an academically stimulating and incredible adventure to navigate the beautiful country of Rwanda and look at charts first hand. These brought so much of what I learn in my Public Health and other classes to the forefront and was quite the application of the skills I've been studying for so long.