My son received a notice today that he was accepted into the Binghamton Honors Program/First-Year Research Immersion Program, something he hadn’t even looked at. It looks like a great opportunity, but sounds like it is just for people in hard science, which he is likely not. He is interested in Geography/Urban Planning and foreign languages.
Are any of you/your kids in this program who is not gung-ho hard science? Did you enter the program and have it change your mind/open it to new possibilities? The idea of doing research is great, but I don’t know that he is yet focused enough to be even able to pick the very specific research streams they have listed in the letter.
When they talked about it on the college tour they said it was helpful to get future research positions and that you’ll get to know professors better
I got the same letter and an email to complete my FRI application but I couldnt believe it since my stats were kinda average (1340 SAT, 95.4 GPA).
My daughter is a sophomore neuroscience major who was in FRI. She was in the neuroscience stream and had an amazing experience. She is now a TA for the class doing independent research with her professor. It has definitely been a very inspiring program for her.
DD also got in and is going for ME, so the topics in the RFI aren’t quite in her interest area. I hate to look a “gift horse in the mouth”, but she’s undecided she will accept the RFI invitation. She was hoping to get an Honors invite :neutral:
@mellypop230 D didn’t do any research in HS. Her SAT was 1560 (800 math), 4.0 GPA and less than stellar ECs. The usual APs, so I’m not totally sure why she got the invite. She is more into ME & Robotics.
My husband does economic research as his full time job - something son definitely doesn’t want to do! The strands seem very hard science vs. social science focused, which is why I was wondering about the experiences of students who may not be inclined in that direction.