<p>Two colleges that I'm currently considering, both state research universities, offer undergraduate research opportunities. How exactly would one go about determining the best of the two in terms of research? Is there a specific list, that considers relevant factors for undergrads, ranking universities? (I know there are many, but a lot of these lists aren't really that reliable. I know NSF has a list, which is probably decent.) Should I simply look at the websites and compare the types of research they do (compared with what I'm interested in)? I'm really unsure right now...</p>
<p>Contact the person or office in charge of the undergraduate research experience and request a copy of the abstracts of researches that undergraduates have participated in. Often the faculty participate yearly and agree to take in students. If the university doesn’t have a formal program to place students for research experience then that is a concern. I don’t think it is really that useful to look at NSF-granted researches to judge them in terms of undergraduate research opportunities since some labs will only take in graduate students. </p>
<p>and if they don’t have an office of u/g research, then you’ll know something, too.</p>
<p>Which state universities?</p>
<p>North Dakota State and Univ. of North Dakota</p>
<p>I’m just trying to figure out my safety right now…</p>
<p>Note: Biochem major (well, at UND it’ll be a chem major with an emphasis in Biochem…)</p>
<p>From what I can tell from the two school’s respective websites, it looks like North Dakota State offers far more undergraduate research opportunities than UND which only offers a limited number of biological science research positions. However, the websites of the schools might be inaccurate and/or incomplete. </p>
<p>North Dakota State is a RU/VH (research university - very high) institution while the University of North Dakota is an RU/H institution. So technically, NDSU produces more research. That doesn’t necessarily translate to more undergraduate research opportunities, though, because many spaces will be taken by postdocs and graduate students while UND may have fewer of those.</p>
<p>Looking at the departments can be a first step, but often the websites don’t reflect current opportunities. Professors are bad at updating them and some positions are taken on either more informally or the research program is handled at the individual lab level, not the departmental level. If you looked at my LAC’s department website you would never know that students did any kind of RA work.</p>
<p>I honestly think the best way to do this is to contact the department(s) in which you may be interested in doing research. Each department has a departmental secretary who would be very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff. You can ask her how many undergraduates do research and what kinds of activities they do in labs. Comparing the types of research the professors do and seeing what you’re interested in could be a step, but recognize that many of those labs either don’t take very many undergraduates OR they may decide to only take junior and senior undergraduates, especially in STEM fields.</p>
<p>Also, subject isn’t necessarily the best comparison method for undergrads; sometimes, the lab is more important. Professor X may have all of his undergraduates cleaning cages and pipettes while Professor Y may train actually undergrads in literature reviews or running basic experiments. Professor A maybe offloads all of the undergrad mentoring work onto his overworked graduate students (who may be happy to mentor you, but aren’t as experienced as Prof A) while Professor B maybe shares the load with his grad students and actually sees you every once in a while.</p>
<p>That kind of stuff is a little impossible to know ahead of time, though. It’s not something I would worry about too much, though, as both universities have undergrad RA opportunities and you’re likely to be able to get a position at either, although likely it will be unpaid.</p>