High School Research Opportunities

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Ok so I go to a relatively small school that isn’t focused on STEM whatsoever, and a lot of people on CC mention doing research while in high school. I know some colleges have intensive research programs, but all of them I’ve seen take up like the whole summer, cost 5000+, or are very selective. I just want to know if there are other opportunities besides these time-consuming monsters and what to expect if I want to apply to one. BTW I’m a sophomore and I’m not interested for this summer because it’s most likely too late.

And also cause I’m kinda curious- how do the competitors even begin to do their own research for big science competitions like Intel???Like do they conduct their own experiments in high tech labs and work with professors!?! Haha sorry if this seems kinda stupid, but I just was never exposed to this kind of stuff before CC

2

I wanna know too

3

Generally, when people submit research to competitions done with professors, they’ve either:

   -Participated in a research summer program; or
   -Asked a professor if they could work in their lab for the summer.

And yes, research programs may take up the entire summer, because research is intensive. If you look further into some of them, though, you don’t necessarily have to go to the campus every day; you choose days when you’re going to come in with your professor. A few people do research at their home, but not many. Some people also have connections through parents/other summer programs that they use to get assignments in labs.

The reality of it is that research programs do cost a lot of money, take up a lot of time, and are very selective. You have to deal with it.

4

Ah thanks @topaz1116! Haha I think I can wait until college to do research!!!

5

If you live close to a college or university, sometimes it is a matter of seeking out a researcher in a field that you are interested in and asking about the possibility of doing some type of volunteer internship. Also, if your high school has some type of career practicum opportunities, you might even be able to do this type of activity for high school credit. As far as some of the bigger science competitions, explore whether or not your school has information about the different programs. We learned late in my daughter’s junior year that her school had a JSHS sponsor, and she started a project in the fall of her senior year, and did well in the competition. If she had learned about it earlier in high school she would have been able to do a more in depth project. There are ways to do these types of things, but sometimes you have to be creative, and it is time consuming.

6

At the hs I am hoping to attend, you can spend the final trimester of your senior year doing research at our local university, you have to complete a blog and do a presentation, but then you graduate with honors.

7

You need to look into what’s offered at the colleges that are local to you. Universities often have high school research programs and they can either be during the year or over the summer.

8

From Quora:

The Question: “Is it true that most high school students who win Siemens/Intel only win due to connections that their parents have?”

Answer:
"‘Connections’ do matter, but probably not in the way the OP imagines.

There’s a reason that so many of the finalists at these competitions all come from the same schools – and it’s only partly because schools like Stuyvessant, etc attract really bright kids. The other reason is that these schools have programs to enter students in these competitions. The schools have connections with labs and scientists nearby, and send students to these labs, year after year. Students can sign up, and the school will place them in a lab with a mentor. They have faculty advisors that tell them how the process works - when they need to start working in a lab, what kind of project they need to do, how to write a paper, etc. Programs like RSI (which anon mentions in his/her answer) also do this and are a great example of the power of these connections – yes you have to apply to get in to RSI, and you have to be smart to get in, but then they really set you up, place you in a lab, help you get a project, help you write a paper, etc…

Most schools don’t do this – so those students have to muddle through this on their own, and it usually requires a real go-getter to find themselves a position in a lab on their own.

This doesn’t detract from the accomplishments of students at the schools that do have those programs, of course – but like anything else in life, it’s true that many times when people are successful they’ve had lots of help along the way, sometimes by virtue of circumstance.

The judging itself seemed incredibly impartial – having a great paper only gets you to the final round (of 40 in the cast of the Intel STS). The judges don’t care who your parents are, and in most cases I don’t see how they’d even know. Once you’re in the final round, you have to present your research, and survive interrogation by the judges, so if you got a little too much help previously and don’t understand your research inside and out, it will show.

They also tend to ask a lot of random thought exercise questions - I remember being asked to estimate the likelihood that humanity would become extinct in the next 100K years, for example.

So, connections don’t help in the judging, but a comfort with public speaking and ability to think on your feet go a long way.

(Disclaimer - I can only speak from the perspective of the Intel Science Talent Search, which was called Westinghouse Science Talent Search when I participated (the siemens competition didn’t exist back then)). " - Parker Conrad.

http://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-most-high-school-students-who-win-Siemens-Intel-only-win-due-to-connections-that-their-parents-have

9

There are other research opportunities that don’t require high-tech equipment. Many high school students without access to labs often do analyses of existing data, looking for patterns and investigating the causes of such patterns and correlations. There are public catalogs of data, especially in the physical sciences (i.e., star catalogs for astronomy). If psychology is your interest, you can complete surveys in your school or community that provide insightful and new data, as long as you do the research to learn the background, i.e. through google scholar if your school doesn’t have courses (for any research you do, tbh).

If you have a university near your home, there’s no harm in asking a professor if you can assist with research in their lab with an informal internship, if you have taken classes in your preferred field. These can be great opportunities (in my internship, I was the only high school student in the lab and got to learn how to code for data analysis of an experiment. Now I’m being published in the paper and possibly presenting my work at a conference).

If you have a good enough background in your field and have a great research proposal, you can also email professors from local universities for use of their lab space.

Don’t be limited by your school or the tuitions of these science programs. If you want to pursue science, there are ways to do so :slight_smile: