Does publishing OR performing research in highschool have any impact on College Admissions, especially in a test-optional environment?
It might, but I think it will highly depend on the quality of the research. My opinion is that there is zero point putting a lot of effort into trying to make it happen. There are many other ways students can have impactful applications.
This is relevant to your question.
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Sure, if it is related to your intended area of study, but it is not a guarantee of an offer of admission.
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I was planning to do research on Chaos Theory and its applications with a friend and publish it to the NHSJS.
That sounds great, and if you are interested in spending time learning/researching Chaos Theory you should do so. Don’t do it because you think it might help in college admissions, rather pursue activities that you enjoy.
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Having published research absolutely helps with admissions to some of the more rejective schools. However, that is generally only the case when students work with a professor and publish in a recognized and well regarded journal (one with a high impact factor). If you don’t have the opportunity to do that. Then doing it for your own enjoyment is best.
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THIS. Do it for your own enjoyment, not because you want to impress some adcoms someplace.
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Oh ok, but do I need to get it published for it to be impressive?
See the posts above. Yes, getting it published would be a plus. And being listed as a first researcher would be even better.
is it ok to publish it in the NHSJS (The National High School Journal of Science)?
I’m not an expert on publications for high school students. Scroll up and see who responded about publishing.
I’m very unclear about why you feel research is something you must do. It sounds like you are looking for a way to impress the adcoms. Really, high school research isn’t a necessary component of a college application in my opinion.
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I think it is OK to publish in that journal. It may give you some useful experience for the future. However, I have never heard of NHSJS. I couldn’t even find a ranking for it. So, it will likely have little impact on admissions.
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National Highschool Journal of Science
Why do you want to do research?
I agree it will have little impact on admissions. It takes 2-3 months after submission to be published. Will you even be published in time before college applications are due? They do have a pretty high acceptance rate for articles, which means it isn’t really that prestigious a publication. And you also have to pay a fee($250) for publication. You time would be better spent working on your college essays (and taking that Spanish class everyone urged you to on your other thread).
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