<p>The reason it was not Intel caliber is 1) i did it junior year and not senior year, and secondly, the data points that i generated were not enough to verify for caliber of Intel (think verifying hundreds of times), I did only 25 points, bc at the time it was only for a regional competition and I was working alone and so did not know the extensiveness of verification neccessary. Also bc I used photons, the project was much simplier than if I had used electrons, bc photons are massesless there requires no normalization for wavefunction, no normalization means no integration, and therefore simplier math. Therefore not Intel caliber.</p>
<p>Actually the girl who won when i was in eigth grade studied nuetrions, it is not quarks but close.</p>
<p>OK! BTW You mean ‘neutrinos’ don’t you?</p>
<p>Or neutrons ;)</p>
<p>A sip of the Elixir of Life to this wonderful thread!</p>
<p>For the past summer, I had wanted to some research or work in a research lab involving the auditory system, hearing, or deafness, because I am deaf and wear cochlear implants. I could do those in either Boston or Philadelphia, but I chose Boston to work in. So, I looked around the internet, and it seems like those fields are heavily concentrated at Harvard and MIT. I had contacted/emailed those professors from MIT and Harvard Medical School mostly. and within the day I sent out the emails, I got a promising response back from a MIT professor, who said he wants to know how much I am willing to work and contribute to his project. After a week or so he come back from his vacation, I went up to Boston for an interview and tour of the lab (which was at a Harvard Medical School hospital). We had a tour, lunch, and had talked for hours. He had asked me various questions that seem to test how much I know. I guess I you can say I passed.
This MIT professor is part of the EEEC department faculty at MIT, but he stopped teaching 10 years ago (he has taught MIT for many years). He is working on the auditory systems of the an animal family, and had asked me to work on and calculating the data to be used in a computer and then, into a chart so we can analyze them and draw conclusions and so on. After 2 months there, he had put my name on the poster he was planning to use to present at a scientific conference for a week. And he will write me a letter of recommendation for colleges this fall.</p>
<p>So, guys, I’m just working under the MIT professor to contribute to his project (he’s been working on this project for about 18 years) and do adcoms like this research project to be on a ONE PAGE POSTER that details all the research stuff on it, not an abstract or long research paper?</p>
<p>I don’t know if it was published or not yet, but it was definitely presented at a scientific conference and included in that big book of all the researchers’ abstracts at the conference.</p>
<p>And I just wonder, will this MIT professor’s letter of rec help me to get into MIT and Harvard? I have no academic awards and I want to adcoms to know that I did actually help to contribute to the project. Essay anyone?</p>
<p>wildchartermage: sure, having a rec from an MIT ex-professor might help you get in. The actual work you did, however, was just menial computer tasks (from what I understand). I would be really surprised if your name appeared in any paper. At most, you were probably acknowledged in the poster, which is nice.</p>
<p>As someone who has spent considerable time doing research, I’m a little dismayed that you used your disability to feign interest in a topic when all you really wanted was accolades–having your name on stuff and getting into Harvard/MIT.</p>
<p>If all you did was data calculations for 2 months, I’d say that you were pretty fortunate to get a poster and a rec out of it. To be honest, this doesn’t seem like a significant research experience so while any positive rec would help, I wouldn’t bank on this rec having much effect.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear enough or there were misunderstandings. I didn’t do just data calculations for two months, and the data was never given to me to feed into the computer. I had to go out and find them, and do those stuff on my own, with periodically talking to the professor about the things I did. It was like working on a little part of the on-going project. Also, I did field work outside of the lab. Even I’m back at school and can’t go work in Boston anymore, I’m thinking about continuing working on another aspect of this project outside of the lab, with professor’s permission, of course. Really, I did find this project interesting and is considering doing research as one of my career options.</p>
<p>rhyn0: My disability had led me to this project, or otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything else to research in. Like I said, I wanted to work in Boston and do a research related to the auditory system/deafness (which I know pretty well), and it just happens to be afflicted with Harvard and MIT, and I ended up with this professor at the end.
In fact, I never ever expected to get my name on the poster (next to the professor’s name) and I was VERY surprised when they told me they want put my name on the paper. I really want to go to Harvard or MIT because I had spent so much time over there and I like the feel and culture of the campus (MIT mostly). </p>
<p>I was just wondering how far a recommendation from a MIT professor could help you. After all, I don’t have any noteworthy EC or academic awards as everybody else on CC does, because where I live doesn’t have any math/science EC or much to do. I was thinking that you have to win some awards or something like that in order to compete against other competitive applicants.</p>