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It only took me one email to one professor, but I had worked in the field (also computational biology) before so this is an extreme. I have friends who experienced the other extreme, emailing professor after professor for weeks, maybe even months, with no positive result.</p>
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It depends on the lab, your skills set, and what that lab is looking for. Your specific experience will depend very much on your specific situation.</p>
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If you’re hoping for a biology UROP, the PI might like you to have taken 7.02, the wet lab class. Otherwise, some professors might like you to have programming experience, maybe in a specific language.</p>
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If you got this from a grad school application, it was probably just the grad school application. You’re not in grad school, so it doesn’t apply to you. In particular I’ve never heard of a UROP requiring references. At most you’ll need to submit a CV/resume.</p>
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Probably not. My interview seemed to be largely to determine my level of interest and to get to know me.</p>
<p>It might be useful for you to check out [MIT</a> UROP: Current Research - Project Openings](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/urop/research/openings.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/urop/research/openings.html) to get an idea of what’s expected from a UROP student. Note that your project does not have to come from this list–my UROP was not posted here. Good luck!</p>