<p>Macalester has a great reputation. I know 3 students there who all love the college and have had great opportunities for paid research and internships. Many professors send their kids there. Great personalized education, no TA's, know professors by name. One of my best friends D's is going and she is upset her D did not choose an Ivy(she fell in love with Macalaster)</p>
<p>between Macalester and UIUC, which one is better?</p>
<p>If you want a lot of interaction and more research opportunities, I'd go with Mac. Just an opinion.</p>
<p>IB.</p>
<p>Anybody who follows the United Nations should know Macalester...I mean, the secretary general Kofi Annan is a Mac graduate!</p>
<p>
[quote]
research at UW, being so big and w/ grads, has to be near-impossible from what I understand.
[/quote]
Do you come to this conclusion by your own deduction or do you know it as a fact? I hope you will keep an open mind when you start college and learn to do your research before drawing your conclusion.</p>
<p>Almost every department in a research university offer independent studies (=research) for undergrads. Usually these courses are optional so it is up to the student to take the initiative to do research.</p>
<p>Let's see how 'near-impossible' it is to do research at UW. Following is excerpted from the website of the Chemistry Department (<a href="http://depts.washington.edu/chem/undergrad/ugresearch.html%5B/url%5D">http://depts.washington.edu/chem/undergrad/ugresearch.html</a>)</p>
<p>"Undergraduate Research Internships:
We strongly urge students to participate in undergraduate research during their studies at the University of Washington. Chemistry and biochemistry both publish yearly updates of available research projects. Many other departments also include undergraduates in their labs; students can contact departments directly for more information. Some examples of departments where our students have done research include: microbiology, psychology, immunology, zoology, pharmacology, neurology, genetics, and pathology.</p>
<p>Students in their freshmen and sophomore years who have an interest in undergraduate research are encouraged to participate in CHEM 199 or CHEM 299 research projects. Juniors and seniors are encouraged to participate in BIOC 499, CHEM 399 or CHEM 499 research."</p>
<p>Geez, it's not "near-impossible" as you said ... Looks like they are encouraging undergrad students to do research. You can even start as a freshman. All you have to do is sign up for it.</p>
<p>"The University of Washington is one of the top schools in the country receiving federal funds for research and therefore offers an opportunity that few other schools can match."</p>
<p>UW has bigger name professors and more cutting edge research projects. It has amazing resources and facilities that none of the LACs can hope to match.</p>
<p>p.s. And if you take the initiative to participate in undergrad research, you don't have to worry about getting recommendations from profs now, do you?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I live in Seattle and the students I know that are interested in the sciences and have parents who have done research on college have sent them to Carleton or Macalester, much more often than UW
[/quote]
That's interesting. Didn't you say you work as a college advisor in a community college? So most of your science students in your college opt for Carleton or Macalester instead of UW? And I thought most of the students from our community colleges prefer to transfer to UDup ... and that's why we have a capacity problem!</p>
<p>Getting the courses you want, as you mentioned, is definitely a problem. And it is a common problem facing state universities with budget cuts. The problem is mostly with freshman level courses, and you can work around it if you plan your schedules ahead of time. Fortunately the OP has sophomore standing which gives him some priority in registration.</p>
<p>Right now Washington is flush and gave UW a nice funding boost this year.
UW's reliance on Federal Funds for most research has them looking at a big loss in funding as this has been cut in the new budget. The local business paper mentioned something like an 11% cut in one major program.</p>
<p>Also there is more competition for research positions....you also compete with grad students for it. UW urges undergrads to do research...but does not say much about actual numbers versus those who applied. UW has great facilities for science, but that does not mean a first or second year student will get a research position.</p>
<p>IB.</p>
<p>Actual article I mentioned.</p>
<p>
[quote]
there is more competition for research positions....you also compete with grad students for it.
[/quote]
Huh? What competition? They are not in the same category. It's not like you are competing for the same research assistantship! Undergrads get paid in course credits, not in $ (exception may be in the summer or thru work study).</p>
<p>
[quote]
UW has great facilities for science, but that does not mean a first or second year student will get a research position
[/quote]
Did you do your research? Do you know that UW has an office for Undergraduate Research Program? (<a href="http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/about/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/about/index.html</a>)</p>
<p>Take a look at the undergrad research opportunities posted (note: these projects are for undergrads, not for grads):
<a href="http://webapps.ued.washington.edu/opportunities/Opportunities.aspx%5B/url%5D">http://webapps.ued.washington.edu/opportunities/Opportunities.aspx</a></p>
<p>And research opportunities are not limited to science, engineering or medical fields. You will find projects across the spectrum ... from anthopology to fishery to psychology to women studies, etc.</p>
<p>Undergraduate research opportunity programs (UROP or URP for UW) are rather common in large research universities with emphasis on encouraging freshman and sophomore to participate in research. You can get more info from the UROP websites at MIT or Michigan, for example.</p>
<p>p.s. Barron, thanks for the reference.</p>
<p>GoBlue:</p>
<p>I did do my research. I got into UW as a Chemistry/Biology double major.</p>
<p>For most university research and internships, it's open to undergrads and grd school kids. You could arrange an intership for credit, but most of the time you use your own connections and then petition for credit. BTW, the link you poseded is only about half science. A quarter of them have requirements that most frist-years and second-years do not have. And some state that you have to be a junior or senior. 30 opportunities across disciplines for how many undergrads???? Thousands upon thousands??? Right, they are easy to get....about as easy as getting into the Ivies...make that less likely. Is it really accessible? Just because it is possible does not make it statistically likely.</p>
<p>I'd say that the chances would be somewhat slim. But that is just my opinion.</p>
<p>So, yeah...I believe I did do my research.</p>
<p>IB.</p>
<p>
[quote]
30 opportunities across disciplines for how many undergrads
[/quote]
How did you get only 30 opportunities? Do you know how to do a search? The instruction is quite clear "Select a research area from the drop downlist below to see the current opportunities in that area."</p>
<p>If you do a search on "biology" related research, it lists 46 project opportunities. There are 23 projects in chemistry; 6 in anthropology; 40 in psychology...</p>
<p>
[quote]
For most university research and internships, it's open to undergrads and grd school kids.
[/quote]
How do you know? So far you've shown that you can't do simple research ... if you really have researched this topic. Yet you are making generalizations that you can't back up with facts.</p>
<p>These project opportunities are posted on the Undergraduate Research Program board sporsored by the URP, so they are definitely open to undergrads ... and I can say that based on my experience that undergrads are preferred. Of course there will be more projects for juniors and seniors. However, you will find some projects open to freshmen and sophomores ... that's one of the main objectives of the URP (read their mission statement and FAQs).</p>
<p>Actually, I used the link you provided.</p>
<p>I also looked at menu drop downs for a couple of areas including Aeronautics, Art, American ethnic studies, anthropology, etc...</p>
<p>didn't get to biology, since...if UW had so many...then they'd have research opps even in those areas.</p>
<p>BTW...the 30 I got from your link....perhaps you should take the time to use a link that did not have speciffic opps already, like a jump-off page. Should have linked to:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/%5B/url%5D">http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/</a></p>
<p>Lead with a strength. That would have been better. But if you have to resort to name calling, I'm not surprised that you posted the former link versus the latter one.</p>
<p>Oh wait...UW gives you that link that you posted...that was not very smart or very user friendly....Wow.</p>
<p>And, I guess requirements like one year of research experience or junior and senior standing are easy to attain for a first year??? Wow, take my chances at a LAC for first and second-year opportunities.</p>
<p>IB</p>
<p>BTW....I already have research experience, and also college experience, both at UNC-Chapel Hill, and community college classes via Running Start. </p>
<p>And, the reason most community college transfers go to UW (or WSU, WWU, etc....) is bacuase the university is required by law to hold a certain number of places for in-state transfers. Most community college kids are also price sensitive, so is it really a surprise that they go to UW...or use the WICHE program to go to other public colleges?</p>
<p>As for LACs, first-years can do research which is why I prefer them to UW. I'm not say UW is bad for certain kinds of kids, or I would not have applied. It's just not the close-knit, cooperative, small class size type place. It doesn't have the level of interaction that I prefer or the research opportunities that first and second-years have at LACs. Just an opinion of mine. I thought CC was a forum?!</p>
<p>IB</p>
<p>PS--Also about so many wanting to go to UW...or other in-state schools, Running Start credits make it MORE difficult to go out-of-state to private colleges or universities, and some public colleges. You lose a chunk of credits. Also, some out-of-state public and private schools have trouble classifying RS students...some say transfer, some say first-year. Easier to go to a WA public college, because they take almost all of the credits.</p>
<p>I have no problem with your last two posts as you were expressing your own preferences. However, I do take exception with unfounded statements like:</p>
<p>"research at UW, being so big and w/grads, has to be near-impossible";
"you also compete with grad students for it"; and
"For most university research and internships, it's open to undergrads and grd school kids ... but most of the time you use your own connections
"</p>
<p>Why ... because they are simply not true! Of the 68+ research projects posted on the URP website (some with multiple positions), only 6 are marked specifically for juniors/seniors, and another 11 for sophomores and above. For most of the other projects, there are no advanced coursework requirements; some may specify background knowledge or basic courses in physical sciences or laboratory experience; some specify experience in computer programming. Btw, there is no project that requires one year of research experience as you stated. Even if there were, it would be just a small % of the total projects available.</p>
<p>There is no reason why a highly motivated freshman/sophomore science student interested in research cant compete for one of these projects especially since many students today already come in with college credits through AP or programs like Running Start. Some like the OP have enough credits for sophomore standing.</p>
<p>The mission of the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) is to promote and facilitate research experiences for undergraduates with UW faculty members across the disciplines. The faculty members posting their projects here do want undergraduate in their labs. This is best summarized by Prof Mandoli, All of the undergraduates from my lab have their own research project(s) and virtually all publish their work in peer reviewed journals.</p>
<p>You may find that many of these research projects are associated with medical research. With a 7th ranked medical school with one of the largest NIH funding, UW has a clear advantage in this area that no LAC can hope to match. Its especially beneficial for science students interested in pre-med.</p>
<p>Go:</p>
<p>1+ years of experience with Unix environment, specifically using the command line to run programs and text based file editors (i.e. vi or pico).</p>
<p>We are seeking an undergraduate or non-thesis graduate student to join our research team. The successful applicant will develop skills in one or more of these areas: microbial culturing (aerobic or anaerobic, transfer of slow-growers, and defined solid and liquid media preparation), molecular ecology (DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis), analytical chemistry (solid-phase extraction, HPLC and/or GC), and kinetics modeling (experimental design, data collection, and empirical model fitting). It is not required that students have experience with these protocols prior to employment; on-the-job training will be provided.</p>
<p>We are currently accepting undergraduate applicants in their junior and senior year who are interested in doing an internship for credit.</p>
<p>Student participation of 10-15 hr/week (with some flexibility from week to week) is required, and some familiarity with small animal surgical techniques is preferred but not required.</p>
<p>ALL the above were in one subarea for research. Each was from a DIFFERENT research project...And I only went through 7 so the raito of 4/7 is no inisignificant as you assert.</p>
<p>MY problem is with people who do not recognize that UW is a large, research oriented school, that is LIKE most large universities that have undergrads and grads competing for research work, more so than at private LACs like Macalester.</p>
<p>UW is great for certain kinds of people, just like UNC-Chapel Hill is. The latter tries to fucus on the undergraduate but does the same thing. It ecourages students to do research or internships but provides most of the opportunities to juniors or seniors, or those that have a year or more of experience with particular classwork or other qualifications.</p>
<p>What a policy HOPES to achieve is DIFFERENT than what it achieves. As for medical school rank, that is great...because it is usually how the school gets its reputation...by the GRAD school programs. It's the Halo Effect. Does that mean undergraduates at schools where there are large research budgets and many students have it better than an undergraduate institution that focuses on the individual?! Probably not.</p>
<p>And, I am a Running Start student that will come in as a junior if I chose to atttend UDub. But, that's the catch. I'd be a junior with more than a year of research experience at UHawaii and UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm a science major as well.</p>
<p>As for the quote from the prof: </p>
<p>All of the undergraduates from my lab have their own research project(s) and virtually all publish their work in peer reviewed journals.</p>
<p>I would hope, that at a research university with many grad students that a school that ranks '7th' in research ('1st' for primary care) by USNews would have their research published. That does not mean that there is a lot of contact between professors and students in the general population or that any student who wants to do research can find a position or internship.</p>
<p>Again, just an opinion. UW is a great large research oriented school, but it does not, give undergrads losts of attention or statistically a lot of research opportunities without qualifications. So if you do get upset by my post, then you should recognize that there is a qualitative and quantitative difference between the experience of a person at UW and some other LAC like Macalester.</p>
<p>IB</p>