Freshman Research Initiative

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

I applied to the FRI on the last day of the early cycle. How hard is it to make FRI as a CS major? I heard that there’s also streams; can someone explain how that works, and how hard is it to get into a stream of your choice?

Also, does the FRI have any benefits beyond freshman year? I heard that it is not easy to do research at UT if you’re not in the honors program, which I am not in.

Thanks!

2

I’m an incoming CS student as well, and I applied to FRI in Feb 2nd and got accepted March 21st.
I don’t know how easy or hard it is to get your FRI streams, but I know that last year there were 900 students in FRI and since FRI has streams in all fields of natural sciences and there are multiple streams for your major, then I would say you’re in a good stance to get your first or second priority stream.

FRI has benefits such as:

  • You get a UGS 303 credit (SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES) needed for graduation
  • You get credit for an introductory research class needed for graduation
  • You get credit for an advanced research class needed for graduation

FRI also allows you to make connections with fellow students, discuss solutions to problems with professors, receive recommendation letters from professors, and get better at writing a graduate-level research paper.