What are some good undergrad research colleges?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>i want to know some good colleges that i could get into as a neuroscience major that are pretty well known for high quality research.
here are my stats:</p>

<p>HS graduation year: 2011
UW GPA: 3.5
Weighted: 3.8
SAT Composite: 1940
(haven't taken sat subject tests yet)
Took 3 AP classes-- AP Biology, AP English, AP Calculus (i'll take these during my senior year, since my school didn't offer any before then) </p>

<p>EC's/awards:
Played JV tennis for 2 years, varsity tennis my senior year
Academic Spell Bowl team -- state finalists all 4 years, regional champions 3 years
Math team
National Finalist for 2 years in a row in a neuroscience competition
National Finalist for 2 years in a row in a public speaking competition
National Finalist for 2 years in a row in a essay writing competition
Marching Band State Runner up -- freshman year
Speech team for 2 years
National Society of High School Scholars
National Honors Society
Robotics team for 3 years -- won a regional championship in 2009 (had leadership position)
Another Robotics team for 2 years -- won a regional championship in 2009
Rocket Club
Vice President of Chess Club
Played violin for 6 years, performed at various concerts</p>

<p>Volunteer Activities: (total = slightly over 100 hrs)
Assisted my tennis coach in coaching small children
Assisted my tennis coach in his adult tennis classes
Volunteered at a local hospital
Assisted the Salvation Army</p>

2

<p>Your best bet is your public state university for undergrad. You didn’t mention what state you live in, but most states have a pretty strong research infrastructure. What you need to be careful about is that in some universities, the culture toward hiring undergrads for lab jobs is less accepting and in those cases, you might be limited to only labs that don’t require work study hours. Also, some universities are clear about the nature of undergrad research assistants being there for training and not primarily to make buffers, wash dishes and so on. Factors that might be important to you are number of faculty in the neuroscience field, specific neuroscience courses (what good does it do you if there are 75 faculty but you only interact with the one you work for), association with a medical school (exposure to neurology, grand rounds), any undergrad programs that facilitate finding a lab. One last suggestion, I didn’t know about this when I was a college student but in lieu of working at your lab during the summer, there are tons of summer undergrad research programs around the country where you take some workshoppy classes, interact with new faculty, learn new lab techniques and get a decent stipend and a room out of it.</p>