<p>Is it hard to get into a research internship here?</p>
<p>It is not easy in the sense that no one will hand you one. You need the grades and guts to earn one.</p>
<p>I'm not quite sure about the availability (i.e. how many students actually obtain positions as opposed to how many apply for them), but there are quite a bit of opportunity via [url=<a href="http://research.berkeley.edu/urap/%5DURAP%5B/url">http://research.berkeley.edu/urap/]URAP[/url</a>], or Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program. There are probably some around the Bay as well, if I'm not mistaken.</p>
<p>You can also just find a professor who specializes in the field you're interested in, ask if there are any research opportunities. you don't have to go through URAP (although of course that's an option). One of my friends (freshman) is a psych major, and he got involved in a 7 year long research study just by emailing someone in the psych dept</p>
<p>Well... experiences may vary, I'm sure. But here's mine. I was a Molecular & Cell Bio major and started looking for a lab to work in at the end of sophomore year. I was extremely passionate about research but didn't have the greatest grades-read: mostly B's in my lower division science classes. I chose to bypass the research programs route and started emailing professors whose research I was interested in. The first never responded, and when I dropped by the lab later I was told she didn't take undergraduates. The second professor- who I had never had as a teacher or anything- responded immediately. I met with him, and then a graduate student in the lab who he passed my information on to. I ended up staying in the lab for the next two years, being an author on a paper, and getting into grad school. Er, end of story. =). Feel free to PM me if you are specifically interested in Bio research and have further questions.</p>