Undergraduate Research

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior in high school, well into my college search. I'm getting annoyed that every college claims to have great opportunities for undergrads to do research. A few schools give themselves away by saying something like "Some students even co-author papers with their professors as early as their junior year!"</p>

<p>Basically, I want to know which colleges actually make it possible/not difficult for students to collaborate with professors beginning freshman year. I also want the opportunity to do independent research.</p>

<p>To give you an idea of the colleges I'm looking at, here is my current list (I really like LACs): Brown U
Carleton C
Grinnell C
Oberlin C
Pomona C
Reed C
Swarthmore C (this is the only school I've visited so far, and it seemed awesome)
U Chicago
Whitman C
Williams C
Yale U</p>

<p>Thank you in advance for your help!</p>

2

<p>I highly recommend that you consider Rice. It has extensive research opportunities for undergraduates, including freshmen.</p>

<p><a href=“Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry | Rice University”>Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry | Rice University;
<a href=“http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~centscho/[/url]”>http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~centscho/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>I suspect, but certainly don’t know, that it would depend not just upon the school, but also upon the department. FWIW (since they are not on your list), my daughter started research in physics as a freshman at Harvard and has really enjoyed it. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the info about Rice! I was actually looking at it a while ago, but my dad was adamant about not considering Rice because it’s in Texas. That was the only school he objected to, so I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal to take it off my list. But maybe this will change his mind!</p>

<p>cltdad, I should have mentioned that I am most likely going to study physics. Thanks for the anecdote. :)</p>

5

<p>sunshower – don’t let any perceived notions of Texas dissuade you from considering Rice. It’s a terrific school and Houston is a very progressive, multi-cultural, tolerant city that recently elected it first female openly gay mayor (who happens to be a Rice alum). Take a look at this thread to learn a little more about Rice: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/1035920-sell-me-rice-why-rice-better-than-other-competitive-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/1035920-sell-me-rice-why-rice-better-than-other-competitive-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>I concur that it will depend upon the particular major and school, and individual faculty members, not only (or necessarily) the university. It is on a one-on-one level you can work with faculty and as you might imagine, faculty are not robots singing uniformly at any school and at every school you will find faculty willing to work with undergraduates and ones who are not. </p>

<p>I know for a fact that even at large state schools, an undergraduate can easily get involved in early research if they simply bother to take initiative and stand out in class. Most do not. My gosh, even my own kids have found amazing research positions as highschoolers in our local giant public university (their parents are professors, but they did not do it through connections but simply that their parents TOLD them to seek it out- they did and they got involved). Simple as that. </p>

<p>Someone interested and good at research will be someone who will do their homework, actively seek out faculty, and get involved. They will not be waiting around for some program to assist them. </p>

<p>And ignore the marketing BS.</p>

7

<p>CalTech. Roughly half of CalTech students partake in undergraduate research through the university’s SURF program alone.</p>

<p>If you’re looking at Pomona, also make sure to look into Harvey Mudd, Caltech’s cross town rival. This school is also a trove of undergraduate research opportunities. </p>

<p>Caltech and Harvey Mudd are the real deal. </p>

<p>(Reed is also very good, though. :D)</p>

8

<p>At Grinnell, take a look at the info on Mentored Advanced Research (MAP) and directed research (a less formal way to undertake research as a student).</p>

9

<p>I would think if you wanted to do research, you would be looking at major research universities (<a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/research2009.pdf[/url]”>http://mup.asu.edu/research2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

<p>Now, I don’t know you’re area of interest, and there are certainly opportunities at liberal arts colleges to participate in research.</p>

<p>But, from my personal experience at a top research university, in which it certainly seemed as though many of my peers were involved in research fairly early on (myself included- I started as a freshmen, and had two publications by the end of my sophomore year), the expectation that students would do research was a driving force; the university understood that it was a high demand of students, and worked hard to provide programs in which they could participate.</p>

<p>So, my advice: look at major research schools. Yes, they’re big, but they won’t bite, I promise :)</p>

10

<p>Yale.</p>

<p>There’s a public list of 100+ professors looking for undergrad research, some from Yale College, but most from Yale Med School (even better?!). Starting research is as easy as e-mailing them expressing interest, really. I e-mailed 5 earlier this semester and received positive responses from all 5 within a week. Since I had so many positive responses, I had the opportunity to make a choice; I ended up choosing a very personable med school professor in genetics who is allowing me to be very creative and independent with my research instead of just doing his “dirty work.”</p>

<p>If you are not looking for science research, I have less experience with that, but I’m sure there are abundant opportunities there as well, like with everything at Yale :)</p>

11

<p>YeloPen, Yale just keeps sounding more and more awesome!</p>

<p>vc08, I’m not really interested in most research U’s. I really like the whole “quirky intellectualism” aspect of many LACs.</p>

<p>sentimentGX4, I don’t want to go to a school like Caltech because I don’t want to only be around people interested in STEM fields. I’ll definitely visit Harvey Mudd when I go to see Pomona, but I’m worried about the same issue. I’d like to hear opinions on whether the consortium compensates for the fact that everyone at Mudd is in STEM. I still want the opportunity to take interesting humanities or social science courses. I know that Mudd requires students to take (I think) 1/3 of their courses outside of math/science. It still might be weird living in a dorm full of scientists, but, then again, it might be really cool.</p>

12

<p>Brown’s a great place to do undergrad research - you often hear about professors who are looking for students and I have quite a few friends who are involved with research already (first year).</p>

13

<p>With less than 300 graduate students, Wesleyan has the highest rate of faculty research grants among 20 peer institutions and is the only LAC to merit inclusion in an NIH Research Training Program:

<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Wesleyan undergraduates are in constant demand for faculty research projects. Even frosh.</p>

14

<p>Undergraduate research is rather common, both at research universities and LAC’s.</p>

<p>Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program has more than 1000 research projects specifically for freshman and sophomore students. You can do research as a first semester freshman. It’s first-come-first-served. All you have to do is sign up.
[Undergraduate</a> Research Opportunity Program | The University of Michigan](<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/urop/about/us]Undergraduate”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/urop/about/us)</p>

<p>At the University of Washington,

  • Every year, >4500 undergraduates participate in research
  • 100% of Materials Science & Engineering majors are involved in undergraduate research
  • More than 160 undergraduates currently participate in research with the Department of Physics
    [UW</a> By The Numbers — University of Washington](<a href=“http://admit.washington.edu/Numbers]UW”>http://admit.washington.edu/Numbers)</p>

<p>At UC-Berkeley, a 2008 student survey found that 52% of Berkeley seniors have assisted faculty with research or creative projects.
[Facts</a> at a glance - UC Berkeley](<a href=“By the numbers - University of California, Berkeley”>By the numbers - University of California, Berkeley)</p>

15

<p>

You mean this:
[University</a> of Michigan News Service](<a href=“http://ns.umich.edu/index.html?Releases/2005/Apr05/r041205a]University”>http://ns.umich.edu/index.html?Releases/2005/Apr05/r041205a)</p>

<p>and this?
“2010 Posters on the Hill<br>
The Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) honored the research achievements of 75 undergraduate students from more than 50 colleges and universities nationwide at its annual Posters on the Hill reception on Capitol Hill in the Rayburn House Office Building. Each student presented his or her research, displayed on posters, to the members of Congress, congressional staff members, federal government officials and others in attendance.”</p>

<p>2010 Poster on the Hill participant list:
[Posters</a> on the Hill](<a href=“http://www.cur.org/poh/2010/poh2010.html]Posters”>http://www.cur.org/poh/2010/poh2010.html)</p>