<p>momhippo,
Many undergrads do research along side the grad students. My son and all of his present and past roommates (and most of his friends as well) are doing undergrad research (MechE, CivE, Biochem, and Neuroscience) and planning on grad or med school. Pitt Engineering gave the best tour of any of the schools we visited, and the facilities seemed to be clean, up to date (as far as I know) and bustling with activity. I think that Pitt has a very good retention rate and I do think that they really care about the success of their engineering students.</p>