My son applied for the Freshman Research Initiative (early application). Anyone know how competitive to get accepted? I read about 800 CNS students get accepted.
A number of the slots are filled automatically for the kids in the CNS honors programs. If your son has applied by the deadline then he is likely to have a spot. From what my freshman son is aware of this year, a lot of kids just don’t apply by the deadline or don’t really know that much about the program until they start their first semester.
@British TX Parent, my high school son says everyone he asked who will be in CNS in the fall didn’t apply. He is the only one and applied by the early app deadline. So hopefully he gets in.
From my understanding of FRI, students get 9 credit hours over 3 semesters. 3 hours for the research methods course and then 3 hours for lab work in the 2nd and 3rd semester. Its a great deal to get research exposure and earn credits at the same time.
Later in the first semester they will go to different presentations of FRI streams and if I remember correctly they have to choose 3 in order of preference. You are right, the research exposure is great as is the lab work and credit. Have your son really look at the streams and talk to current students taking them. My son ended up with his first choice, Bioactive Molecules (BAM), which will also fulfill his organic chemistry lab credit. Although BAM is supposed to be one of the tougher FRI streams he was told that it is easier than taking the separate o chem lab later down the line (and this is a valuable thing if you’re on a pre-med track).