Hi everyone, I’d really like some advice on which program to proceed with for my summer 2019. I’m a junior in high school right now and recently got accepted into both the NASA SEES program and COSMOS.
The NASA SEES (http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/sees-internship/) program is hosted for two weeks at UT-Austin and is cost-free. It is run like an internship where you have a mentor and research project. Should I choose to attend, I’ll be researching ‘Flood Response’ using both Python scripting and map analysis.
COSMOS (https://cosmos.ucsc.edu/clusters/c9.html) is for four weeks at UCSC and costs upwards of $3,200. It’s run more like an undergrad/grad course rather than a research experience and I was accepted into the machine learning and natural language processing class. That said, there is a research project at the end where you work in groups on a topic of your choice.
I’m very interested in computer science and can see benefits in both programs. For example, the COSMOS program would allow me to grow closer with the research professors (potential letter of rec writers) and the other students (future friends!) due to the longer period of study. I’d also be learning on a topic I haven’t done much with yet. But the NASA SEES program is a bit more prestigious and… well… it’s effing NASA (!!!). Also, the NASA project I was chosen for works really well for me because I’m very interested in the environment and Earth.
Unfortunately, I’m a bit conflicted on which to choose to go to as the dates for both overlap. For more context, I’m a potential CS major who wants to apply to Stanford, Princeton, and the like.
Any advice would be extremely helpful.