<p>Hi, I'm a high school senior, and at the moment I'm most interested in computer science research, perhaps in grad school (though that's pretty far into the future of course). I've been able to get paid positions at local universities, and I'd definitely be interested in continuing into undergraduate studies as much as possible for experience. So, what kind of things should I look for when choosing colleges? I know larger universities should have more research going on, but then there's the lower student-to-faculty ratio that can make positions competitive for undergrads as well. Many of my prospective colleges (JHU, CMU, U Rochester, MIT, for example) have claimed to have a lot of research opportunities, but what would I do to distinguish between how much they all really do offer?</p>
<p>bump 10char</p>
<p>Go to the homepages of the departments you would be working with and see what they have listed. If they do have a lot of opportunities, they should have information about them. You could also send an e-mail to the department chair person and ask what kinds of specific opportunities they offer if you can’t find anything on their website. Ask how many students take part in them, what their outcomes are (do they keep in contact and expand their network and references, do the experiences lead to other ones beyond what the college directly offers, etc.). More is not always better, either. You have to consider whether the opportunities will get you where you want to go, how happy students are with them, etc. Contacting current students, if you can, is always good too, as any faculty of the college will tell you that they have wonderful opportunities even though students may think otherwise.</p>
<p>Many departments have Undergraduate Program Directors that could answer questions about research opportunities, and could put you in touch with current students who participate.</p>
<p>Take a look at the faculty and staff directories for the CS departments that interest you and see if there is a listing for such a person. Sometimes it is a regular faculty member, sometimes an adjunct faculty member (who has more time to devote to the task), and sometimes a full-time staffer dedicated to keeping track of the undergraduates. When my son was considering colleges, he made appointments to meet with these folks when he visited campus and asked them what kind of research opportunities existed. You could send some (very polite) e-mails, also.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son’s undergraduate research experiences (in CS) were extremely valuable. Indescribably so, in fact. If you want to get into research early, make this a focus of your questions when you are checking out schools.</p>
<p>MIT is one of the earliest Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), which encourages you to do research as a freshman:
[MIT</a> UROP: Basic Information - What is UROP?](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/urop/basicinfo/index.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/urop/basicinfo/index.html)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, from what I’ve seen, undergraduate research is very important for research later on, which is why it’s a focus for me. I’ve known about the MIT UROP program, and it does seem like an excellent program for research and I’ll keep that in mind, but MIT is a reach for me so I’m focusing on slightly less selective colleges.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that places not known for CS research, but that do conduct much research otherwise (e.g. Johns Hopkins with 90 CS undergrads) would be better because of more personalized attention for undergrads. Is this true?</p>