<p>Well, someone over in the Chances subforum said I ought to look at doing some research.</p>
<p>How the heck do I go about getting experience in research? Am I supposed to just waltz up a professor at JMU/EMU and ask, "Oh, hey, I'm a high school student, can I do research here?" What does that even entail? Do I come up with a topic, or is it effectively an internship? Er...</p>
<p>prescited most people are not able to get research positions b/c it is extremelllly haarddd and competitive to get any O.o so yea...</p>
<p>You have to read much on your field. Spamming professors (and walking to open meetings as I did) is extremely helpful in terms of guiding; you'll have to do 99% of the job :)</p>
<p>You have several options: You could try to get into a research program like RSI (Extremely competitive though.. probably harder to get into then college actually).</p>
<p>Or, if you're interested in CS or Math, you can probably do the research on your own (If you're motivated enough). Most topics of CS and Math are easily researchable from your home computer, and all that remains to you is find something thats interesting and explore it. For example, you could find a certain computer algorithm that seems interesting (Like Particle Swarm Optimization, Neural Nets, etc) and try to improve it's performance. Or you could prove something in math. I'm not so good at math, but my friend tells me that he just "finds something fun" and solves it. You can find research papers via google scholar or asking your local library to borrow some research journals through interlibrary loan.</p>
<p>Or, the third option is to find a professor who is researching something you're interested in, do some background research, and ask him if you could help out. This is kinda hard to do though, like you said, and it usually involves "connections".</p>
<p>If you're looking for something to improve your chances, this is NOT it. A research project will involve a substantial amount of time and effort, and its only worth it if you really enjoy learning about the stuff.</p>
<p>there are various research internship programs in major cities and around major universities.
I don't think connections do that much. What you say in your initial contact makes all the difference. I would suggest making a resume and a powerful cover letter, then spamming professors/scientists in fields you like.</p>
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If you're looking for something to improve your chances, this is NOT it. A research project will involve a substantial amount of time and effort, and its only worth it if you really enjoy learning about the stuff.
[/quote]
<em>signs up under each word</em></p>
<p>Okay, then, this probably isn't it. I'm not particularly passionate about anything yet (reserving judgment until college because it'd be for the best, or so I continue to delude myself), and I'd like to have a life.</p>
<p>Wouldn't be fair to my lil' sis if I spent the summer alternatively researching, working, and volunteering.</p>
<p>
[quote]
How the heck do I go about getting experience in research? Am I supposed to just waltz up a professor at JMU/EMU and ask, "Oh, hey, I'm a high school student, can I do research here?" What does that even entail? Do I come up with a topic, or is it effectively an internship? Er...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, hey, it's free labor. Most grad students cost money -- professors might be more interested in you than you think.</p>
<p>Go ahead and email them (politely), ask if you can work with them in their lab.</p>