<p>Why is it that people with accents are never taken seriously--&^%?!!?!?</p>
<p>y do ppl say that urop is a waste of time?</p>
<p>umm, you go to these bs weekly seminars and you do stupid stuff like make collages. I guess if you've never done research, it might be helpful. Furthermore, most UROP jobs are dishwashing, data entry, and basic lab prep. Most people won't get a legitamite job. Otherwise, if you want to get involved, just go to the department's website, look at the research they profs are involved in, and emila the profs. You can still get credit. I did this my second semester, landed a good job, and got two credits through MCDB 300.</p>
<p>Any know the fate of students that have late(we're talking August) orientation dates? =(</p>
<p>maguo, u got paid for ur research and got credit for it as well? thats really cool, but as a person with no research experience, would a professor really do the same thing for me? if i just email one of them, with no credentials, could i actually land in the same spot as u?</p>
<p>I had very few credentials when I applied to take MCDB 300 outside of a 2 week research camp in 10th grade and Orgo 1. I think you misunderstood me though. I received credit in the winter semester, and I am getting paid in the spring and summer semester. It is highly highly unlikely unless you are work study to get paid with no credentials your first semester. Also, please note, in order to take MCDB 300, you need 8 credits of biology (I got an override on this one).</p>
<p>I would highly reccomend UROP as your door into research. I got started through UROP and didn't do much in the beginning besides enter/ collect data and read, BUT after this grunt work, I was able to gain a LOT of autonomy and design my own project in the lab. UROP will get your foot in the door and is a good way to gain the respect and trust of faculty, so that they will be more willing to give you greater responsibility down the road. Since you are going to be a freshman, you really should be in no rush to cure cancer, so to speak. Everyone has to start somewhere.</p>
<p>People have gripes about it because of the biweekly 1-2 hour seminars, but they are not a big deal at all. If you are doing it for work study, you can put the hours down on your time sheet and in effect you are being paid to sit in a seminar.</p>
<p>PS, UROP is also a good because you can find a project that requires a lot of your time (15-20 hours a week) or a little (5-10). This helps when you have a ton of other stuff going on</p>
<p>I think for highly competitive areas like medicine/biology/etc, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do UROP to get foot in the door, get connections, etc. In less competitive fields, you might be able to get opportunities in the spring/summer term after your first year, as long as you take classes in that area, show interest, contact professors, etc. For some fields (like math or physics), most likely you won't know enough after your first year or two to start working on any kind of worthwhile research.</p>