RTRMom2

1) I know the kids meet for 1 hour per week in the fall...is there additional work that needs to be done outside of class? Would it be better to choose to start the spring semester if the fall semester load is already pretty heavy?

2) My son has not yet identified what kind of research he would like to do. The field he is studying (CS) is fairly new to him. Can he apply for ES if he hasn't reached the point of understanding what area of CS interests him the most? (He has stated he hoped he could figure that out in his first year at UA...but I fear if he doesn't start research now, he will have a difficult time getting a summer internship. This is not a kid who has been programming since middle school.)

He has always gotten along well with teachers and would enjoy working on a project with one of them, I'm sure. This seems like a great way to get involved.

juniebug

I don't think there was any additional work besides attending the weekly meetings last fall. At many of the meetings, presentations of research currently being done are given, so the students get an idea of what might interest them. I don't know specifically about CS, but my D said they run the gamut of disciplines. At the end of the semester, the students are asked to list their preferences, then they are matched with the professor doing the research.

The second semester is when there will be more of a time commitment. Depending on what they're doing it could be several hours per week. Plus, there is a project to be presented at the end.