<p>Upenn..FSU is mediocre</p>
<p>Guess that's why the National High Magnetic Field Lab is at FSU, then - cheaper rent?</p>
<p>See: <a href="http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/about/tallahassee.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/about/tallahassee.html</a></p>
<p>Obviously cheaper than at U Wisconsin-Madison:</p>
<p>The University of Nebraska - Lincoln has it's UCARE (Undergraduate Creative Activities & Research Experiences) program. It's a guaranteed two year program, that anyone with 30 semester hours (basically all sophomores) can apply for.</p>
<p>The first year you work with your faculty mentor on their research, a sort of "learning by doing" in which you pick up the skills necessary to do your own research the following year(ie Literature reviews, specific lab techniques, coding procedures, etc). You can earn up to $2000 for the first year.</p>
<p>The second year you work on your own project of your own design, with assistance from your faculty sponsor. Can basically be an extension of the sponsor's research or something completely new. Can earn up to $2400 for the second year.</p>
<p>It's a great program that I had many friends participate in. I've never heard of anyone ever getting denied their application to participate, and people have done all sorts of different projects through the program. I had one friend who put together a series of educational tapes on acting for elementary school children, and another (who happens to be in med school now) who did psychology research on how diet affects mood. A third friend did some really high end physical chemistry research that used some very expensive "toys" that his sponsor had. It's a good program for everyone b/c it doesn't necessarily have to be standard scientific method research (which isn't necessarily possible if say your major was...broadcasting). </p>
<p>Here's a list of all the projects funded for 2005 through 2007:
<a href="http://www.unl.edu/ucare/ucareprojects.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.unl.edu/ucare/ucareprojects.shtml</a></p>
<p>Tufts...especially for International Studies undergraduate research.</p>
<p>I would definitely say Rice.....it has an emphasis on undergrad education and a lot of my friends simply walked up to a professor and asked if they need help in the lab and got positions.</p>
<p>I actually spent a good time researching this and (not including LACs) I have to say that definitely MIT Stanford are IMHO the best in undergraduate. They're undergraduate programs are top notch especially for physics. MIT even has a nuclear power plant and Stanford has a linear accelerator! Also I have heard great things about CalTech's undergraduate too.</p>
<p>As long as we're talking physics, Case Western Reserve University's physics program is considered to have the best lab experience for undergraduates in the country (per the comments of its last accredidation). This refers a lot to lab classes, of course, but pretty much everybody works in some lab or another... case in point, I spend my days with cosmic ray data and I'm a rising junior. It's fun. :)</p>