The relationship truly is symbiotic, and the opportunity to do research that results in publication ensures that the student stands out, whether beginning a job directly after a bachelor's degree or pursuing an advanced degree. This experience was entirely, and mutually, positive. It demands mental sophistication, manual dexterity and the ability to communicate. In short, it fosters the very skills that are actively sought by medical schools, graduate programs and employers, and it no accident that all the research undergraduates with whom I interacted, have enjoyed subsequent success in their chosen careers. This is an opinion with which I fully concur.
Undergraduate research makes for better students and for better teachers.
At LSU I gained a strong foundation for my advanced specialization. I was influenced by the dedication of my professors as well as the individual challenges and attention they offered. As an average sophomore interested in science, but lacking focus, I made the best career decision thus far. I pursued a student worker job for a prominent professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. This quickly led to undergraduate research which paid my living expenses for the next three years while I worked around my school schedule.