<p>First, I know that everyone is going to say that a freshman in high school does not have a chance at research, but I believe that there's no harm in trying. Anyway, I am looking around the Chicagoland area for a possible internship this summer. I've been emailing professors at Northwestern University, and haven't gotten a reply yet. Obviously, I do not want to actually research, but I just want to learn how to do research and have the professor be a kind of mentor. My first question is:</p>
<p>Has anyone here researched at a place like Norhtwestern or University of Chicago or Rush Medical School or Rosalind Franklin University or University of Illinois at Chicago? And if you have, how did you receive that position?</p>
<p>My second question is kind of random, but I've encountered a program at Loyola University in Chicago called REAP. This is a research internship program for high schooolers. Has anyone heard of it, and what do you know about it?</p>
<p>THANK YOU ALL CCCers!!!</p>
<p>I’ve had high schoolers work in my lab, but it’s generally either through a program or just them getting lucky with the professor feeling generous the particular day the call/e-mail comes in. You need to remember that, in general, HS students are a net drain on a lab and require more work than they’ll put out. That’s not necessarily saying the HS students don’t work hard, just that it can take a lot of coaching for even the most ambitious students, and there isn’t always a ROI.</p>
<p>Another issue you can run into is liability if you’re not over 18. I know I had issues like that trying to intern at local engineering companies while I was in HS.</p>
<p>I’ve worked at uchicago! It is an amazing place!</p>
<p>Ok, thanks RacinReaver. What would make you either turn down or accept an intern? What caught your ear/eye when you were listening/ reading to a high school student’s proposal to work in your lab? Also, what exactly would the high school intern do at your lab?</p>
<p>Kennedyiceit, were you part of the RIBS program at uchicago or did you just email professors? Can you please tell me about how you got the position and what you did? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot----For once, very optimistic replies.</p>
<p>I’m still only a lowly grad student, so I don’t do the interviewing or see the applications. I just get told I have to babysit X many students for the summer. ;)</p>
<p>Interns will usually have two paths that can happen at the beginning of the summer. Either they’ll shadow a grad student and work side by side on the project, or they’ll be given fairly basic tasks to see if they can do them reliably. For the first few weeks it’s hard to trust the work of a summer student since they often don’t like to ask a lot of questions and aren’t willing to speak up when they make a mistake. It’s a reason why a lot of times we have to wind up redoing or double/triple checking the work summer students have done. Best thing a student can do is be enthusiastic, ask lots of questions, and fess up when you think you did something wrong (because even if you didn’t, it shows you’re always looking for sources of possible error!).</p>
<p>no, i was not part of the ribs program, i independently contacted a professor and started to research with his group</p>