Research
Research
Research is motivated by a question that prompts further exploration, sometimes by faculty members and sometimes by students. At Harvard, undergraduates are guided by a mentor during their summer research experience and depending on the scale of the project, you might be working alone or with a team. You can conduct research in any field and within any concentration.
Depending on where you are in your research career, you can find yourself benefiting differently from the experience. For some, especially first-years and sophomores, summer research can be a great opportunity to discover a new research field, broaden your interests, or help determine whether you enjoy research in the first place. For juniors, it is more common that summer research is more directly related to your coursework, a senior thesis project, or post-graduate plans—although this is not always the case.
If you choose to pursue the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF) Harvard Summer Undergraduate Research Village (HSURV) Programs, remember that the programs are limited in capacity. Seeking independent research opportunities is also very common and encouraged. Between all the graduate schools and the College, there are more undergraduate research opportunities available than there are students to fill them. If you choose to contact a professor or group (Harvard-affiliated or not) and end up conducting research with them independently, you can apply for research funding to cover costs for the summer. Though funding is available for non-Harvard-affiliated research opportunities, it is very limited.
Simply put: there are some topics that are best explored outside the confines of the classroom, and research can be the way to do that! If you think you would enjoy developing a close working relationship with a faculty member, delving into a question you are passionate about, or spending time in a laboratory, library, archive, or fieldwork setting, summer research might be a good fit. Through a summer research opportunity, you will explore and expand your understanding of various topics, while developing skills, learning techniques, and understanding methodologies.