Much2learn:
“You will be able to do research directly with a professor in a professors lab, for instance, at Williams, but must wait until you are a graduate student to do that at Penn.”
That is not true either. D got a research assistantship with a professor at Penn as a freshman.
Indeed. In fact, undergraduate research with professors and in their labs is a major component of the Penn ethos, and is institutionalized and facilitated at Penn through the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF), and its undergraduate Research Directory and undergraduate research counseling services:
CURF maintains a Research Directory, a database of faculty offering opportunities for undergraduates to participate in their research projects. Since research projects are ongoing and dynamic, some opportunities listed may no longer be available. This directory should therefore serve as a guide and a first step toward undergraduate research opportunities, but by no means the only source of information and opportunities. If you do not find an opportunity that matches your interests on CURF’s Research Directory, do not despair. Check out our online suggestions for Finding a Faculty Mentor and Finding Other Faculty. And you can always make an appointment to strategize with CURF’s Associate Director for Undergraduate Research, Dr. Ann Vernon-Grey, by calling the CURF office at (215) 746-6488.
http://www.upenn.edu/curf/research/research-directory