Why is undergraduate research so important?

aeromom
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:37:03 +0000

I’m asking this perfectly naively, with no agenda whatsoever other than my curiosity.

First, why is undergraduate research so important nowadays? Why do a ton of students want this during their undergraduate time and actually seek out schools which offer it (such as UA)? I want to know why so many students gravitate towards the CBH and Emerging Scholars programs at UA. What is it that appeals to these students? My own son has been involved in ug research for nearly 2 years now, but he didn’t ask for it - he was approached to do it, so I have no exposure to that type of kid who actively seeks out ug research ops.

Secondly, what are the benefits of doing these programs to an ug student beyond the obvious? I have no doubt that these programs boost a student’s resume in terms of the experience they have and it makes them more marketable…but do employers look for research experience from undergrads specifically, and do employers actually expect it? Which fields are the ones that employers expect students to have research experience? OR…is ug research solely being done in order to get a leg up on the next step in academia, such as grad school?

My questions are not only relevant to UA, but to the larger college scene, so apologies for posting here instead of somewhere else. I wanted to post here, because I am more comfortable with you kind and helpful UA readers than perhaps the larger forums where I don’t know specific people.

Thank you in advance for your views to these two questions.