Which offers stronger undergraduate research opportunities, USC or Penn?

Penn offers the stronger overall undergraduate research environment, particularly for students seeking early faculty mentorship across disciplines. Penn also has a notably centralized infrastructure through the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF), which supports research advising, funding, fellowships, and presentation opportunities.

Penn students can pursue research for credit, seek summer funding, apply for fellowships, and use programs such as the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program to connect with faculty-led work. Penn’s close integration among its arts and sciences, engineering, Wharton, nursing, and medical communities also creates unusually strong options for interdisciplinary research, especially in health, neuroscience, data science, public policy, and business.

USC still provides substantial opportunities and can be particularly compelling in fields tied to Los Angeles, including cinema and media, aerospace, entrepreneurship, public health, and certain engineering areas. Viterbi, Dornsife, and USC’s research institutes offer undergraduate lab positions, research courses, and summer programs.

At either school, early involvement will depend heavily on contacting faculty whose work genuinely matches your interests and being willing to begin with basic research support tasks.