How do undergraduate research opportunities compare at USC and the University of Washington?

The main tradeoff is scale versus ease of access: the University of Washington offers a larger biomedical research ecosystem, while USC’s smaller private-university environment can make faculty contact and early mentorship feel more manageable. At UW, biology students can pursue work across the Department of Biology, UW Medicine, Genome Sciences, the Institute for Protein Design, and affiliated Seattle research organizations. USC provides substantial opportunities through Dornsife, the Keck School of Medicine, the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and institutes such as the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability.

UW’s Undergraduate Research Program is a clear entry point for finding labs, research events, and funding opportunities, and the Mary Gates Research Scholarship can support students conducting independent projects. The breadth is a real advantage for students interested in areas such as neuroscience, genetics, immunology, global health, ecology, or computational biology. However, UW is a large public university, so students often need to be proactive, contact multiple labs, and build relationships through courses before landing a position.

At USC, research is also not automatic, but smaller classes and a lower student-to-faculty ratio can make it easier to get known by professors, especially after the first year. USC biology students can combine lab work with clinical and translational research through nearby medical-school and hospital settings. Its Los Angeles location also creates access to research-connected internships, although transportation and scheduling can matter.

For a student who wants the broadest possible set of biology and health-science labs and is comfortable taking initiative, UW has the deeper research network. For someone who values closer day-to-day faculty access and a more intimate undergraduate setting, USC is likely the more supportive place to begin research early.