Undergraduate research positions vary widely in their admissions processes, work styles, and availabilities, even within a single department, and there are no clear routes as to how to best obtain such positions. These positions are largely filled via informal networking, frequently a result of a graduate student meeting an interested undergraduate in a course they're teaching. These factors place transfer students interested in performing undergraduate research at a significant disadvantage when applying to such positions. For a transfer student intending to apply for graduate programs during their senior year, even an ideal situation such as that outlined in Figure would leave them with only one semester and one summer in a research lab before the graduate school application cycle opens.