[andrewlgood]

UROP can be an amazing opportunity. Professors are looking for freshman (and older) to participate in real research opportunities. For many graduating MIT, they describe it as the most impactful aspect of their time at MIT.

[Throwawayaerlei]

While I'd already done real research in high school in a NSF Summer Science Training Program, the UROP work I did was as you describe. We didn't actually solve the problem, it was hard enough it took academia and industry another half a decade, but the process under the direct face to face supervision and participation of a professor was fantastic. The background to the specific problems I learned in both research experiences help me to this day.