ADVISING

ADVISING. WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU.

The Office of Undergraduate Research offers advising to all undergraduates at Northwestern. No matter what school you are in, or your year: you can come talk to us at any time! We offer two types of advising:

General information about how undergraduate research works

The world of research is a unique part of your undergraduate experience, and differs greatly from the typical classroom model of learning. We want to teach you how to get started with the amazing opportunities that exist all over campus. You don’t need a specific plan or project; just fill out an Advising Request to start a conversation with one of our advisors. It is never too early to learn more!

Please note: If you are seeking advice on applications for other grant programs offered by Northwestern schools or departments, please contact the administrators of those programs directly.  This Office is unable to provide advising for applications to programs that we do not run. For help with applications for externally funded programs, please contact the Office of Fellowships.

Our advisors are available all year round, including in the summer. Note, however, that our busiest time of the year is the two or three week period before the Summer URG deadline. If you want to see an advisor around that time, reach out to schedule an appointment sooner rather than later.

In addition to advising, you can also come to one of our Information Sessions covering how to get started in research. In these workshops, we talk about different strategies to search for faculty and labs, find potential mentors, and communicate effectively with those you have identified. These occur on a weekly basis all quarter long!

Guidance and application assistance for students interested in OUR programs

If you want to learn more about our programs, use our Advising Request to set up a one-on-one meeting with one of our advisors. We can help explain what you need to do and help you with your application. We will teach you how to write a grant proposal and work through drafts with you. (No one expects you to know how to do this stuff already, so take advantage of this resource). Applicants who work with our advisors have a much higher success rate! Plus, we know what the grant review committees want to hear!