Guidance for High School - Science Research Related

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, fellow CC-ers:</p>

<p>I'm a 15 year old sophomore at a public high school in the southeastern US. After talking to friends going through the college application process, I've started to question my own college goals and what to shoot for. I'd really appreciate your feedback on how I'm doing from a college-application viewpoint.</p>

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<p>Desired colleges: Any Ivy League or other top institution with a good Computer Science program (i.e. Princeton, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Carnegie-Mellon, Georgia Tech, etc). Recommendations for other places to apply?</p>

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<p>Background: Not a 1st-generation college attendee
Ethicity: Indian
Sex: Male
Income: Probably not financial-aid range</p>

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<p>Extra-curricular:</p>

<p>Varsity Swimming (9, 10, and will continue in 11 and 12)
Varsity Water Polo (9, 10, and will continue in 11 and 12)
Mu Alpha Theta (9, 10 - Vice President, 11 and 12 [probably President one of those years])
Science Research - since 6th grade, over 1500 research hours (I'll expand on this in a bit)
Play piano
Beta Club (9, 10, will continue in 11 and 12)
Eagle Scout and member of the Boy Scouts of America</p>

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<p>Service:</p>

<p>Mainly through Boy Scouts of America and being an Eagle Scout (associated project)
Organizing school supply drive for a developing country
Created trust fund to fund education in developing countries with my acedemic earnings</p>

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<p>Academics (pretty strong):</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1st out of 500 or so
GPA (unweighted): 4.0 on a 4.0 scale
GPA (weighted): 4.66 or so overall (4.0 for standard, 4.5 for honors, 5.0 for AP scale), and 4.8 or so for this year</p>

<p>Courses: All at gifted (honors) level if available</p>

<p>9th Grade: English 1 Hon, Alg 2 Hon, Debate 1, Bio Hon, AP Human Geography, Spanish 2</p>

<p>10th Grade: AP Environ Sci, AP Chemistry, AP World History, AP Computer Science, 3 Dual-Enrollment courses in computer science research, PreCalc Hon, English 2 Hon, Spanish 3 Hon
---- I have high A's in all of these classes</p>

<p>11th Grade (forecasted): 6 APs and 3 Dual-Enrollment courses (I'll list if needed)</p>

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<p>Test Scores:</p>

<p>SAT (haven't taken it since 7th Grade) - 2050 (will obviously take again, haha)
PSAT - 232
---- Both without studying, so potential for improvement
AP: 5 on Human Geo</p>

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<p>Science Research:</p>

<p>I've spent more than 550 hours this year on research in an emerging computer science related field, and have a research position at a nearby university.</p>

<p>I've won numerous top honors at the State level for Science Fair (3 1st places, 1 2nd), and a 4th Place National award, too.</p>

<p>The main thing is, though: I've been working closely with the head of my lab, and he's already given me great recs (he described me as one of, if not the, most mature and intelligent high school researcher he's worked with in 50 years, and he's an important name at the university).</p>

<p>This is still pending, but there's a 90% chance my paper will be published at the world's largest conference in my field.</p>

<p>So, the biggest things are <em>definitely</em> the professor rec and this publication (knock on wood). I plan to submit to another huge conference later this summer, as well as internships at some other domestic colleges in later summers.</p>

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<p>Summer Activities:</p>

<p>Worked full-time researching last summer</p>

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<p>So, I realize two things:</p>

<p>1) I still have more time to either screw up or improve, and I need more test scores as well
2) Sure, feedback would be nice, but I'm not fishing for a confidence boost from CC. As others have noted, it's equally as important to be secure, confident, and determined as it is to be qualified for college. I'll continue to follow my dreams regardless of responses from this thread, but guidance as to the manner in which to follow them would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Now that I'm done with all of that...</p>

<p>How am I doing? What do I need to beef up from an admissions perspective? What are my strengths and weaknesses, and how should I capitalize on them? A preliminary opinion on my match for my indicated desired institutions would be cool, too, but as I said earlier, I'm looking for overall feedback as well, and not only chances at this point.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot, and have a great day :D</p>

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<p>Hmmm… it seems like the science research would be a great hook, especially at the publishable levels. But how common would that be among those applying to top schools?</p>

<p>As for chances, ionno. Anyone else’s thoughts?</p>

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<p>I think that science-research is an AMAZING hook! I know people who have only done research for a summer or two with nothing major who have gotten into Ivies. You’re obviously really intelligent as well looking at your PSAT scores (and SAT scores which are only 20 pts lower than mine… in 7th grade).</p>

<p>Good luck with your research :slight_smile: (I do research too, although not as rigorously as you seem to). I bet you’ll do well at Intel in two years, considering you’ve been (almost) published which will make research an even greater hook.</p>

<p>I would just make sure you leave enough time for college essays between junior and senior year since those can be a deal-maker/breaker with adcoms (but this is a while off so don’t worry about it for now). You’re doing everything right though, so just relax about college for now!</p>

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<p>Um, if you keep it up, You might be my colleague at the same schools. What state do you complete this research in? I have found no opportunities for good Computer Science Research for me. Keep it up and you’ll be a mid-high reach or mid match for every school.</p>

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<p>Ah, thanks for the replies, guys! I’m pretty good at writing essays, but yeah, rainbowrose, I’ll keep the timeframe of essay writing in mind.</p>

<p>And MIThopeful, I’m in Florida. The thing with high-level research is that once you have an interesting idea, there are a ton of people willing to help you further it. My advice (and the path I followed) is to spend a year or two finding an interesting topic, doing an extensive literature review, and conducting some interesting experiments to the point where you have new and innovative results, or at least a procedure for obtaining innovative results. Then, take the research that you’ve done so far to the head of a CS lab or department at the closest university, and ask if there’s anyone you can work with to further study your chosen topic. Chances are it’ll take a while before you find a willing mentor, but it’ll happen if you’re intelligent and dedicated.</p>

<p>Anyone else have thoughts on what I’m lacking in and what to do a bit more of in the next year and a half? Or anyone else (especially those already at a prestigious institution) want to offer an opinion?</p>

<p>Thanks a ton :D</p>

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<p>I hate when kids with amazing stats brag on CC, shut up, you KNOW you can get into any of those schools</p>

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<p>Dude, Carlozz, did you read my post? I’m not posting to brag <em>at all</em>. Just trying to get feedback. I, too, deplore people who just post to brag, or just ask for chances when they know they have a good shot. </p>

<p>But that’s not what I’m doing. I’m just asking for guidance, because it’s always possible to improve, and there’s always something to be gained from listening to others. Sorry if that offended you, though…</p>

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<p>Bump for more feedback? Strengths and weaknesses? Please give me food for thought on this dreary Sunday afternoon ;)</p>

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<p>I think maybe taking on leadership roles in some of those organizations may help? But the Eagle Scout rank alone may be enough to show leadership and dedication to colleges.</p>

<p>If you’re researching computer science, MIT seems like it would be a good fit. But would these traits be notable for someone applying to MIT? I dunno, seeing as I’m not an MIT alum, but they’d probably be able to help</p>

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<p>Yeah, I think the leadership aspect should (hopefully) be covered by the Eagle Scout rank, but I’m definitely going to take on leadership roles in MAO and maybe Beta Club, as well as continue my own non-school leadership/service projects.</p>

<p>Anyone else wanna offer a suggestion?</p>

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<p>Sorry for the continual bumps but… does anyone have any suggestions/feedback about what to do haha? I’d appreciate any type of guidance at all</p>

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<p>got2surf, I think you’ll get in anywhere you apply. You are clearly smart(as evidenced by your 2050 in 7th grade) and 232 on your PSAT. THis would seem to indicat that you’ll do extremely well on you SAT (2300+). So, with a 2300+ and a 4.0 in all honors (perfect course rigor), your stats are good. With your rec (a mature high schooler?), I think you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>My only advice would be to challenge yourself as much as possbile (AIME, Bio/Chem olympiad, Academic team?) maybe play a sport or instrument, maybe volunteer with the less fortunate.</p>

<p>Definetly take as many APs as you can. Getting a 4 or 5 on them will get you college credit (only a 5 at the ivies) and then you can get your gen ed requirements out of the way so you can focus on what you really want to do.</p>

<p>Don’t get in any trouble (drinking, driving, vandalism, drugs, sex) but make sure you stay balanced with friends in addition to your school work.</p>

<p>so MIT, Caltech, the ivies, maybe Johns Hopkins? Maybe Deep Springs (are you that type of person?)</p>

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<p>packer22, thanks for the advice! I’ll certainly try to challenge myself more with the exams that you mentioned. I’ve heard of the Olympiads before, and I’ve been meaning to look into them for a while. </p>

<p>I already have two sports (swimming and water polo) and music, so I’m hesitant to take on anything more in that area, though. Also, I agree that maintaining a balance between work and play is critical to any kind of success as well as well being.</p>

<p>MIT definitely fits well with my research interests, and several of the Ivies have good programs in my desired area, too. I’m also considering going into the medical research field and studying cognitive science/neuropsychology/brain-machine interfaces, and because of that a school with a great med program would be terrific.</p>

<p>As someone mentioned above, though, it all depends on how common research and getting a publication is among college attendees, I suppose.</p>

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<p>Don’t answer this if you aren’t comfortable answering the question, but could you elaborate on what your computer research field is, I am conducting a research project involved with the stock market over the summer, and was just wondering what others are up to, again, if it is secretive or something then that’s fine, I am just a little curious.</p>

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<p>The general field is cognitive science, and human-computer interfaces. Unfortunately, I can’t really release more information than that over the Internet :(</p>

<p>It’s not a hardcore programming project (though there are significant programming components) as it is a study into the fundamentals of cognition in human-computer interfaces.</p>

<p>I wonder how many others are involved in research, and how researching and/or getting a publication in an academic journal influences college admissions?</p>

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<p>Bump, anyone else wanna weigh in?</p>

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<p>Your research sounds very interesting - I myself am conducting research in the field of neuroscience, although it’s a biological project and does not contain any computational aspects as of yet - I would love to expand it if I have the time though.
Getting published as a high school sophomore is definitely rare - well, actually, getting published below grad school is rare. :slight_smile: Also, having a personal recommendation from the PI will be really great for your app as most interns work with grad students and many never even interact with the PI. </p>

<p>Generally research in high school is fairly common (mainly the washing glassware/observing type of internship) but from my experience self driven projects like yours are not too common. </p>

<p>BTW, if you’re interested in applying your programming skills to a bioinformatics type environment you might want to apply to a systems biology lab - it’s a relatively new field, but it would match your interests/skills as it’s very modeling and simulation oriented. Although I don’t quite remember exacty what your project is about and I’m too lazy to go back to check…:)</p>

<p>Also, you’re a sophomore now, but next year you should consider applying to RSI. You’ve probably heard of it. </p>

<p>P.S. I agree with the other person, you should take the AMC and the other olympiad tests.</p>