<p>I am in the biomedical sciences category, and I would love for a few things to be clarified regarding the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program:</p>
<p>1) I know that you can get 2-4 credits if you do UROP for academic credit or you can get 1 credit and $8.50 an hour as a work-study. But if we do UROP for work-study instead of academic credit, can we opt to not receive even the one credit, so that the end-grade won't affect our GPA's?</p>
<p>2) How strictly is our research evaluated at the end of the year? Is it difficult to get an A or 4.0? What is the average grade of past UROP students involved in biomedical research?</p>
<p>3) How is UROP time-management wise for someone who is taking four other classes (2 challenging, 2 not so much)? </p>
<p>Any general advice is also welcome.</p>
<p>Hey doctor1468! This is my first time using this site so hopefully this goes ok.</p>
<p>I was a part of UROP for the past two years. My first year I was in the UROP program and the next year I was in the UROP Research Scholars program so hopefully you can trust me.</p>
<p>1+2) I’m going to answer your first two questions in one. First off I do not believe that you can eliminate the one credit if you are work-study. That being said I am not entirely sure because I did credit both years. I don’t think that there is even a point to trying to not get a a credit along with the money that you’ll receive because in all honesty it is not hard to get an A. I received an A all 4 semesters I was a part of the program. </p>
<p>If you do the course for credit then most of your grade is determined by your research sponsor with the rest being determined by your peer adviser (a student facilitator who facilitates the bi-weekly classes you’ll have during the year). If you do the course for work-study it is vise verse with your peer-adviser giving you nearly your full grade. Either way it isn’t too hard to do well. </p>
<p>3) The time that you have to devote to research all depends on your research sponsor and the number of hours you plan to work (6, 9, 12). As the year progresses and you get to know your sponsor better you can build a work schedule that fits into your daily schedule better. That being said your research sponsor can definitely dictate how much you will enjoy UROP. I have heard some people have terrible experiences and others that have continued to work with their sponsors beyond UROP. </p>
<p>Hope this helped!</p>
<p>Thank you very much sander90! That truly helped a lot . . . very reassuring! I think I will continue with UROP now.</p>
<p>But just out of curiosity, what kind of research were you involved with? And do you have any tips or recommendations for me as I try to find a project?</p>
<p>^^Have you considered asking about UROP on the UM subforum?</p>
<p>I worked at the U of M Transplant Center assisting in research that worked in trying a better method of allocating organs in the United States. It was nice to walk through the hospital at times, but at other times it was kinda boring. Overall it was a great experience.</p>
<p>When searching for a project you have a project book and it is quite easy to narrow down your selection because the book is divided in humanities, engineering, and biomedical…there may be more. You can narrow down the selection pretty far into something that your interested. There is one factor that you cannot really predict from a book and that is the personality of your mentor and that is the main reason why people don’t like their project. You can try to do some research about your mentor but it’s really hard. Don’t get me wrong a majority of mentors are very nice and willing to help you and talk to you, but there are a few that just expect you to do their work. My advice to you is just to read each description thoroughly in the book and select projects your interested in. Chances are that you won’t get accepted to every one you apply for so your options are limited. Don’t worry too much about it. Just be sure that you can see yourself enjoying the project!</p>
<p>Hope this helped.</p>
<p>entomom-I’m afraid I didn’t realize that there was a UM subforum, because I too am not acquainted with the nuances of this website. Can you please direct me in the right direction so I may join in on the discussions of this forum?</p>
<p>sander90- That’s seems really cool!! Organ transplants has always intrigued me! And yes, everything you’ve said has helped a lot! Thank you very very much. I hope I will have as much of a pleasurable experience in UROP as you did. Thanks again sander90.</p>