<p>Does anyone know how competitive it is to get a position in URAP, especially the medical related ones? What is the acceptance (?) rate and what is a good (huh?) gpa for it? And how many units do you get if you're accepted?</p>
<p>The person that I spoke to said that something like 1/3 get accepted, it's quite competitive for biology type programs, the other ones are comparatively easy to get into if you show a genuine interest.</p>
<p>You get credits based on how many hours you are doing the research. I think its 1 credit/3 hours per week.</p>
<p>When you say "medical," what do you mean? Do you mean Public Health, MCB, Social Welfare, Clinical Psychology?</p>
<p>
[quote]
it's quite competitive for biology type programs, the other ones are comparatively easy to get into if you show a genuine interest.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What 'other ones' do you mean? The URAP competitiveness depends on the number of students applying and the professor. Some professors are more difficult to get a position because of their research project, their stature, and the number of students applying. For example, I was rejected from one of the URAP programs I applied to because Prof. O'Connell is a faculty member at Boalt and her project related to federal appointees. The one I was accepted to (which was my first choice) turned away some students as well because of the qualifications. </p>
<p>To broadly write off other URAP projects as 'easy to get in to' as long as you demonstrate genuine interest is misleading.</p>
<p>Maybe I worded that wrong, it does depend :)</p>
<p>what are the criteria?</p>
<p>essays, short answers, CV, interview, past experience w/ the prof in class? is there an app online? are the mentors all professors?</p>
<p>What's the ratio of sophomore:junior:seniors who get accepted? I'm assuming incoming freshmen don't get accepted unless they have something that really stands out.</p>
<p>There is one personal statement that should be tailored specifically to the research project. And who gets interviewed depends on the professor--some professors interview all the candidates (if they have a small pool, for example) and some professors will select a few candidates to be interviewed. </p>
<p>The application is online: <a href="http://research.berkeley.edu/urap%5B/url%5D">http://research.berkeley.edu/urap</a></p>
<p>No official statistics of sophomore, junior, senior. However, I joined my URAP project as a sophomore.</p>
<p>And yes, the professors are all mentors. CV upon request of the professor (not all require it). There is a list of classes you do provide on the application that may be relevant to your research project/interest. And yes, knowing your professor (e.g. being in the class, actively participating, etc.) can be a benefit if you're interested.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And yes, the professors are all mentors.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Uh, no. There are plenty of professors on the Fall 2007 URAP catalog who wouldn't think twice about sticking you with a grad student.</p>
<p>Well, theoretically, professors who participate in URAP have a desire to be a mentor. While I cannot speak for all professors and their apprentices, I know from my experience (and some other fellow URAP-ers) that our professors have been absolutely engaged with the research and have acted as mentors. </p>
<p>The framework of URAP is to have professors as mentors; URAP students fill out an evaluation and comment whether this mentorship aspect was fulfilled. Again, I can't speak for all experiences, but I can attest that my own experience, past and current, thrives on mentorship as the core of URAP.</p>
<p>I have another question, are URAP credits given in letter grade or P/NP basis?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have another question, are URAP credits given in letter grade or P/NP basis?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sadly, yes.</p>
<p>Yes? Letter grade? Then, relatively how hard is it to get an A?</p>
<p>
[quote]
The framework of URAP is to have professors as mentors; URAP students fill out an evaluation and comment whether this mentorship aspect was fulfilled. Again, I can't speak for all experiences, but I can attest that my own experience, past and current, thrives on mentorship as the core of URAP.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, the program has lofty goals, but as far as I can tell it doesn't really have any way of holding professors/mentors accountable. Say you give your mentor a negative evaluation; who's going to care? That professor probably ALREADY gets negative evaluations from the classes she teaches. Yet does she face any negative career-related consequences? Probably not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have another question, are URAP credits given in letter grade or P/NP basis?
[/quote]
[quote]
Sadly, yes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Wrong, the class is given on P/NP basis. (UGIS 192) If it were letter graded obviously most everybody would get A's.</p>
<p>Also,
[quote]
...as far as I can tell it doesn't really have any way of holding professors/mentors accountable.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>At the end of the semester you must fill out evaluation and summarize what you have completed and what you learned through the research. If you have positive or negative things to say, this is where it goes...</p>
<p>Have you even been involved in URAP dobby?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Wrong, the class is given on P/NP basis. (UGIS 192)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, that's what I meant.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Have you even been involved in URAP dobby?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have another question, are URAP credits given in letter grade or P/NP basis?
[/quote]
[quote]
Sadly, yes
[/quote]
Why you think that the research program credits should be letter graded? I got that impression from your earlier post.</p>
<p>Yeah, research units should be available for letter grades. </p>
<p>Why not?</p>
<p>UCLA has such options for its undergrads.</p>
<p>Some (if not all) Berkeley grads have the option.</p>
<p>Working under the assumption that research units are "easy" and that higher GPA = happier students, why doesn't Berkeley provide its undergrads with letter grades for research units? My conclusion is that Berkeley simply doesn't want to make its undergrads the happiest it can make them, at least through URAP.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If it were letter graded obviously most everybody would get A's.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Supposing that's the case and we don't want it to be the case, why not make the research experience tougher (and better)? </p>
<p>Many of the URAP positions are nothing more than monkey work. A final paper isn't even required! Why not require such papers? Why not make it a requirement that students not only do the faculty member's research but identify potential new research questions arising from the faculty member's data? Instead of bribing the faculty member into doing URAP, why not give it to the student so that he may carry out his own ivestigation? Maybe URAP could even create a Berkeley Undergraduate Research Conference? Stanford, UCLA, and many other highly-regarded schools have such Conferences. Why can't Berkeley have one?</p>
<p>I agree maybe that more should be required of the students, ie a final paper and perhaps describing possible directions for further research. But I still don't see how letter grading the URAP program class will make the program "better", it is not the universities job to hand out easy grades for the students. I believe, Research is research, it is not a class. Also, how would you distinguish between who gets an A/B/C. Could you distinguish according to the quality of research (keeping in mind, that this is many student's first foray into research)?</p>
<p>Oh yeah,
Looking at your first link:
<a href="http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/facultystaff/reservednumberguide.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/facultystaff/reservednumberguide.pdf</a></p>
<p>Student Research Program.<a href="1-2%20variable%20units">/b</a>
**Grading: P/NP. Format: Tutorial (supervised research or other scholarly
work), three hours per week per unit. Entry-level research for lower-
division students under guidance of a faculty mentor. Enrollment by
contract. Students must be in good academic standing and enrolled in a
minimum of 12 units (excluding this course). May be repeated; consult
the Undergraduate Research Center. Contract required. </p>
<p>Looking at your second link:
Just an opinion, you can't really compare berkeley grad students to berkeley undergrad students, graduate work is generally much more research intensive. Thus it would make sense to letter grade.</p>
<p>Don't mean to knock you, just want to understand where you are coming from.</p>