<p>Keep in mind that there are also lots of Undergrad research opportunities on campus, as well. D was an undergrad research assistant 2nd semester of her freshman year. (Her duties were re-designing a website for a professor in a science dept outside her own). There were lots of different things available, and if you begin work early with a professor that you really mesh well with, you still have the possibility of getting research published while you’re an undergrad. (which was one of the big reasons why I thought D should do Gemstone). She vetoed Gemstone and has never regretted it…it just wasn’t her “cup of tea”.</p>