<p>What are some colleges where research opportunities are readily available to undergrads, especially in physics and math. I've heard Princeton has a really good research program, and I've heard that research opportunities are much harder to come by at big state schools. Besides that, I really haven't heard much. I invite you to enlighten me....</p>
<p>Look at honors programs at more public schools. There are programs out there offered by schools that give students great opportunities at half the cost of some of the privates. The problem, however, is that said opportunities can be much more selective (ex 20-30 admits total). So my best recommendation is find out what you want to do with your life, but experiencing as much as you can in HS by not being to narrow. But it wont make/break you.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd comes to mind in terms of focus on undergraduates. The fact that they don't have graduate students is both a burden and a blessing when it comes to research, but if you're looking for easy involvement in physics and math, HMC should definitely be a consideration. </p>
<p>For other schools, I imagine that most of the top schools (that are strong in physics) provide at least some opportunity for research for people with initiative. </p>
<p>For example, at Caltech most of the research centers around programs during the summers. All students are highly encouraged to spend one more summers performing research either at Caltech or the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Consequently, it is possible and reasonable to begin research after freshman year, and of course, some bright individuals are able to convince professors to take them on earlier in the year. </p>
<p>That being said, for serious physics research, its more feasible to expect starting after the end of sophomore year, when students have a sufficient theoretical background to pursue serious projects.</p>
<p>Also, if the summer research is successful, many professors are happy to let the students continue research over the school year, either for work study or for credit.</p>
<p>Also, for physics majors (Im not sure about math), students are encouraged to pursue either a theoretical or experimental thesis in physics, which generally requires at least a year of continuous research on a project. </p>
<p>One great thing about researching at top universities as well is that the professors are always highly regarded in their field. This is advantageous for many reasons such as the ability to do really interesting research in great facilitates, the ease of publication, and the strength a letter of recommendation has to graduate schools. You can, of course, do wonderful research at state schools, but I generally think its more difficult.</p>
<p>80% of the kids at MIT participate in undergraduate research, and many (most?) begin in their freshman or sophomore year.</p>
<p>Not as selective, but Clark is known for a lot of undergraduate research. I remember hearing a question about math research at a talk there. This was in Newsweek:HOTTEST FOR STUDENT RESEARCH
Clark University, Worcester, Mass.
What impresses high-school guidance counselors and students most about Clark is how many of the 1,900 undergrads do original research. Students have done advanced research on stem cells in the new biosciences center, investigated depression in minority youth and visited Transylvania to trace the origins of the Pied Piper fairy tales. The Urban Development and Social Change concentration includes surveys of Worcester residents about quality of life. Undergraduate work is often published.
A link to their math page:<a href="http://www.clarku.edu/departments/mathcs/opportunities.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.clarku.edu/departments/mathcs/opportunities.cfm</a></p>
<p>wow thanks you guys. more suggestions are welcomed...</p>
<p>You've pretty much hit the big ones already: Princeton, MIT, Caltech, Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Michigan-Ann Arbor has excellent research opportunities. In fact, Michigan's UROP (undergraduate research opportunities) program is the largest of its kind in the US.</p>
<p>stanford is all about undergrad research as well</p>
<p>
Largest you mean by number of students right? I can't imagine it's the largest by percentage of students.</p>
<p>By largest, I mean that for those who are interested in research (roughly 25% of the students at Michigan), the research opportunities are beyond reckoning. When I last checked, there were over 1,000 research projects availlable to just Freshmen and Sophomores! Obviously, as a percentage of the total student population, Michigan will not come close to schools like MIT, CalTech and Harvey Mudd because most students at Michigan don't focus on research-oriented fields of study.</p>
<p>clark? dont even bother going to school. clark=u of north dakota..haha</p>
<p>Don't forget Johns Hopkins! 80(+)% of their students have done research before graduation, and they have a special research scholarship for incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>Duke is also very research-oriented. My roommate's a physics major, and he's lined up several research opportunities, including a paid internship over the summer.</p>
<p>Smith offers paid research assistantships, most in the sciences, for the first two years to approximately 10% of each entering class. They are a national center for genomics research, with a very high rate of undergraduate publications.</p>
<p>The highest rate of undergraduate biological research published in peer-reviewed journals, though, far higher than at any of the Ivies, Duke, Stanford, JHU, is Hope College. (higher rates of entering pre-meds going on to med school, too - little "weed out".)</p>
<p>Summer research at Mudd is pretty much open to all students. They pay you $4000 for 8 weeks or so...you do research with the faculty. If you don't wish to do that, you have scores (literally) of options as the school brings recrutors to the school nearly every day. The best part about that is you get to sit down with the people and talk/eat with them... not like the job fair chaos at larger schools.</p>
<p>In all, I've never heard a Mudd student not find research opportunities over the summer if he/she is interested and gets started looking in Feb/March. I've actually never seen anything quite like this.</p>
<p>My summer options (in order of preference) are:
Internship at Blue Origin in Seattle (aerospace)
RA/TA at a math/science summer camp at UCIrvine
Intern (again) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena
Summer reseaerch at Harvey Mudd College
Find a real job</p>
<p>My point in telling you this is that HMC opens up a lot of doors for employment and careers.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd and Williams. Well, many LACs allow students to use great equipments which are usually not allowed in other colleges.</p>
<p>The top four schools under the category "undergraduate research/creative projects" are Michigan, Stanford, MIT, Furman. Starting with Furman, the rest of the top 10 are small LACs of all selectivity levels.</p>
<p>I am not sure how much research experience a single student can get at other colleges but at Cornell:</p>
<p>lab assistant (work study), computer instrumentation lab, four years freshman through senior, Applied and Engineering Physics Dept</p>
<p>research assistant (work study), Lab for Plasma Studies, three years, sophomore through senior, Applied and Engineering Physics Dept</p>
<p>internship, satellite communications and power systems, NASA, junior</p>
<p>internship, Cornell's Arecibo Radio Observatory, senior</p>
<p>reed college doesn't have grad students but does have a nuclear reactor which is primarily staffed by undergrads.
100% of students are required to write a year long thesis to graduate & undergo orals by a board of profs they have chosen
<a href="http://reactor.reed.edu/rrf_info.php%5B/url%5D">http://reactor.reed.edu/rrf_info.php</a></p>
<p>My older daughter attends Florida State and is participating in undergraduate research. She found the opportunities oustanding and as a result selected FSU over other fine schools, both public and private.</p>
<p>See: <a href="http://www.research.fsu.edu/facultystaff/students.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.research.fsu.edu/facultystaff/students.html</a></p>
<p>She's already gained access to parts of the NHMFL for her current work. State school, but hard to beat.</p>