<p>I just got accepted to Vanderbilt and I am seriosly considering going there. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what opportunities undergraduate students (esp. underclassmen) have at Vandy. I am planning to major in physics (ikes. I know.) but looking through their website for hours, Vanderbilt does not seem to provide great opportunity for undergraduate natural science majors in terms of research opportunity as underclassmen.</p>
<p>Does anyone know who has a job in a lab as a freshman or a sophomore?
Can someone tell me about research at Vandy?</p>
<p>I'm not sure about Physics, but I do know quite a bit about the research opportunities for Biology, so I'll use that to demonstrate the wealth of opportunities.</p>
<p>My other friend approached a researcher in Neuroscience that she had read about and asked if she could do research for credit. She works with rats and primates on studies of the effects of stroke (she actually gets to kill, cut open, and slice the rat brains to put onto slides). She's a freshman.</p>
<p>I didn't have any prior research experience, so I applied to something called HHMI Community of Scholars, which is a 9 week long summer program here at Vanderbilt working with undergraduates, postdocs, and professors on learning how to work in the lab and then a "mini" research project of your own. I am happy to say that I was accepted and will be here doing research over the summer and, hopefully, I will be working on amyloid research for credit in Fall 06. I'm a freshman.</p>
<p>So, my point is that there are lots of opportunities. Many of them are not formalized, but all you have to do is go ask a professor and, usually, they are more than happy to welcome you into their lab.</p>