<p>1) Can’t answer this one…sorry.
2) If your grades are good and you put some effort in, it is easy. Unpaid research is easy, paid research positions are harder to come by.
3) D probably spent about 10-15 hrs a week from 2nd semester Freshman year through Jr year. More during senior year. Everything she did on-campus was unpaid, but she became a TA working for the professor with whom she did research, which was a paid gig.
4) Freshmen can also participate. There is an office or dept on-campus with research opportunities. You may not be doing world-class research leading to publication your freshman year, but once you prove you are a good worker, and get to know the professors in your major from the very beginning, you’ll find doors opening for you. D1’s first research was 2nd semester freshman year, volunteering for a science prof outside her department and she reorganized a website based on research that the prof and his grad students had done. She showed she was a good worker, thorough, positive attitude, blah blah blah, and got excellent letters of recommendation from the professor. At the same time her freshman year she established good rapport with profs (and straight A’s) in her major. She was doing (paid) research at NASA (Goddard Space Flight Center) in Greenbelt the first semester her sophomore year through senior year, and did on-campus research in her major all during her junior and senior years. You have to seek out the opportunities, but they are definitely there.</p>