<p>Hi! I’m a senior here concentrating in Molecular and Cellular Biology. </p>
<p>It’s pretty easy to get a meaningful research position, though it might be somewhat harder as a freshman. (But I’m not sure this is a bad thing; do freshmen really know enough to do meaningful research? I certainly wasn’t well-equipped enough in terms of basic biology knowledge to be doing the work that I’m doing now.) This is mostly because PIs want to have some reassurance that you’re fluent in basic biological principles, which I think is reasonable - but if you have a particularly strong high school biology background, you might be able to leverage that.</p>
<p>I got into my current lab as a first semester sophomore; it’s a genetics lab, and I got the position largely because I’d taken two genetics courses, one introductory and one upper-level that was very related to the work that I wanted to do. I largely work independently; I’m under the supervision of a postdoc, but I have a good amount of freedom to run whatever kinds of analyses that I want, order the reagents I need, etc. Part of this is because some of my work is computational - it’s way easier for labs to give you freedom when all you need is a computer, and they don’t have to worry about you wasting tons of money - but within reason I have a good amount of experimental freedom. It’s been a very satisfying experience. All I did to find a lab was email a couple professors with my CV and relevant coursework; they both replied and invited me to come look around the lab, and so I was able to see the work they were doing, how I would fit into the lab atmosphere, and talk to them about what I would be doing. It’s really important, if you don’t want to wind up cleaning beakers, to ask what projects you’d be doing before you commit to a lab! </p>
<p>I don’t have concrete statistics, but anecdotally, every single friend of mine who has wanted to get involved in research has done so and is happy with the meaningfulness of their work. Harvard is an exceptionally easy place to get wonderful research opportunities as an undergrad, largely because undergrads have access not only to the Harvard biology professors, but to Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s, Dana Farber, Mass General, and all of the other gazillion medically-oriented labs in the area. The existence of so many Harvard-affiliated researchers means that there are, actually, way more researchers than undergrads, and so there’s pretty much no competition for space in many labs. While not all of these PIs will be willing to let undergrads do high-impact work, the sheer number of available labs means that you can pretty easily find a PI who will. </p>
<p>There is also a pretty good advising staff that can help get you into research if you have trouble or want advice about which labs will let you work more independently than others. There’s a person at Harvard whose job is to help undergrads find research opportunities ([Life</a> Sciences](<a href=“Undergraduate Science Education at Harvard”>Undergraduate Science Education at Harvard)), as well as the advisors within the life sciences concentrations. </p>
<p>I have a lot of qualms about my Harvard experience, but I can honestly say that my research experience is not one of them. It’s been one of the best parts of my time here. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. I could even try to point you in the direction of particular professors, if I know enough about the field you’re interested in. (And congrats on your acceptance!)</p>