<p>Well if that's the case, then the focus should be on finding the schools that do have research opportunities. We shouldn't be worrying about whether a school is the top in bio or business or anything else: LAC or Research I.</p>
<p>The fact is that there ARE Research I universities in which undergrads have the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to research. I know that the University of Nebraska has such a program in its Undergraduate Creative Activities & Research Experiences <a href="UCARE">url=http://www.unl.edu/ucare/index.shtml</a>. I'm fairly certain that other large Universities (Kansas and maybe Oklahoma) are also creating such programs if they haven't been done already.</p>
<p>And just as surely as there are Research I universities that do allow meaningful research by students, there are LAC's that don't. </p>
<p>So the lesson for the original poster is: If you want to move on to a PhD go where you can do reasearch.</p>