Hi, I am getting guidance from a professor who I will be in touch with over phone, video chat, and email. The professor will be monitoring my work and checking my progress very often. But, all the work I will do will be mine. I will not have the professor write any of the paper for me.
Is there any way I can make this research presentable and authentic to colleges? I want to show it really was me who worked on it. I will get a LOR from my professor.
I will be looking at colleges like UCB, UCLA, Umich, CMU, Gatech etc, should I actually send a copy of my research or should I just send an abstract? I know that sending in the research can have a negative effect if it is not up to par.
You should follow the instructions for the college in question with regards to supplementary materials. If they ask for only an abstract, just send the abstract. If they subsequently want to see the whole thing, they will ask.
There’s really no way to “authenticate.” The LOR from the professor who is supervising your research is really all you need; they’ll attest to how much of the work you did on your own.
Other than that, exactly what skieurope said. Frankly, the admissions office likely will not have enough time to read the entire paper, so just the abstract will be enough.
My D was able to design and do an independent study research project in HS with a college professor mentor. Her HS has a set procedure for this and she was able to credit for it - on her HS transcript - because the mentor checked in periodically and she did a presentation to a HS group - GC and principal and others - at the end.
OP, you didn’t say what year you are in HS. If you are a rising junior, you have time to submit your research for science competitions. (If you are a rising senior, you may still have options but the timing is tighter.) If you do well at the science competitions that would likely impress CMU. UCB, UCLA, and GaTech are large state schools that rely primarily on test scores, gpa, class rank, academic rigor, etc. during the admission process; your research is unlikely to matter much to them.
Also, research that hasn’t been peer reviewed and subsequently published doesn’t carry much weight; AOs almost certainly won’t be able to judge its worth. Submission, review, and acceptance of research to journals often takes a year or more. A tough thing to accomplish before college applications are due, unless you are a rising junior.
Finally, look around for conferences that you could attend, with your mentor’s approval. Conferences have a quicker approval process than do scholarly journals. Presentation of research at conferences is less valued than formal publication, but is still a feather in your cap.
If you want your research to have the highest impact in the admissions process, you should consider applying to private universities like MIT, Caltech, HMC, etc. as well as CMU.
Google those competitions and find out about the dates. Consider also the JSHS competition. My son did that one too.
I recommend that you talk long and hard with your mentor. It sounds like your instinct is to go it alone, because you think it “authenticates” your research more. No one expects that! It’s only expected that you contribute significantly to the research effort. No one expects a HS kid to know how to conduct research alone, write a technical paper alone, or to navigate the process for publication alone. A paper with a HS kid as the sole author won’t get published anyway, because it doesn’t have the imprimatur of a mentor at a university or research institution.
Your professor probably can come up with good ideas for conferences or symposia at which you could present your work. If you do attend and present your research, you can put that in your college application. Your professor will be more receptive to helping you, if he/she is the first author. You should let him/her be the first author. If you are the second author, you still get major cred.
Again, all of this really matters only for applications to private universities.
Also, be forewarned: application to the College of Engineering at UCB is wickedly difficult, if you are an in-state applicant. It’s all about tuition! IS kids pay less, so acceptance to the coveted COE slots favors OOS and international applicants. It’s a huge controversy in California; there are CC threads on this. Look it up. My son, a CA resident, was admitted to MIT and Caltech, but was waitlisted at UCB COE. He’s at MIT now.
ok I am OOS and will likely pay full if admitted (upper class and parents are willing to pay). Again UCB is a reach for me so I am not expecting to get in. I am really pinning my hopes of Gtech. @whatisyourquest