Success in graduate courses and research leading to a Ph.D. requires that you are ready for independent study.
One of the surprising and delightful parts of graduate work is that it is largely dependent on your motivation
to work hard, your ability to communicate productively with others in a team, your resourcefulness in finding ways
to solve problems, and your ability to persevere. Graduate research is not working as a technician, but
acquiring skills to ask and answer your own scientific questions. These skills probably were not developed
in your basic biology courses!
Research experience is an important pre-requisite for graduate study. You need to be confident that you
enjoy the lab environment, that you work well independently, and that you have some technical agility.
You might gain research experience in summer internships, an honors thesis project, or by working after
college as a research technician.
Most major research institutions sponsor summer undergraduate research programs. Case has a number of these programs, and you can learn more about them
on the website of the Office of Graduate Education.
Research technician positions are usually posted on University Human Resources pages, like these positions at
Case.
Some students desire more research experience or coursework to be fully prepared for graduate school, and postbaccalaureate programs like the
Case PREP are designed to aid them in achieving their goals.
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