My HS junior does not have any research experience. She got into two summer research programs for this upcoming summer and cannot choose which one to attend. She is a typical high stats kid with average EC so this research experience might be something that not only be an eye opening experience for her as a future STEM major, but also something that might enrich her application in the eyes of admission officers. Here is the dilemma: one research program is a full time , well known, highly selective 2 months program on the opposite coast. Another program is one month part time grads students run program at the local university. If she attends first program, she probably can enter her project into competition. I do not think the quality of the research of the local program will allow her to do so.
She never been away from home for two months and this is a big deciding factor. Also with this two month program she will not have time for anything else, like getting her driver license, volunteering, working on essay, etc. One of the questions she has is what would be the weight of any of these summer programs on the admission decision with all other factors be the same.?
@JustOneDad not exactly. If the program charges about 3k for over 4 weeks of research this is just room and board fees. The expensive programs run in 7-9k. Those programs has no value on admission and basically are “pay to play” programs.
All those programs offer need based scholarships. You don’t have to convince me. I am in that lovely middle class category and have to pay for my child.
Both would be stellar experiences, can’t go wrong here.
The 2 month far away program should have housing, be clearly recognized as a competitive program (RSI, etc.) and may not actually lend itself to competitions, depending on how much of a little fish in a big pond kiddo is, what lab she is assigned to, how many other students are there).
The local program allows more control, post-docs are fine to work with, and she should walk in with the competition requirements for Siemens and Intel in her hands (they are very specific, IRB approval, no living critters, etc). They will likely be thrilled to have her help, and she may be able to continue/extend the experience.
So weigh the plusses and minuses of each, and congratulations and enjoy.
We just learned that the free program actually going to pay $300 stipend. So here are the options:
Well known research program, 8 weeks, $3,500 to pay plus travel expense, possibility to enter project into competition
Local university ranked in the top 25, 5 weeks, $300 stipend, possibility to continue to work on this project during senior year.
My DS was accepted in a competitive and recognized program called HSHSP, It was a really good experience, the program assigned a mentor (PHD) and did intensive research for 8 weeks, after that he wrote a paper and made a final presentation. The advantage that I see in this program is that they got amazing guides (mentor and program coordinators), had to show results in a specific period of time and being away from home prepared him much better for the college experience. Also he got an wonderful group of friends (all on the STEM arena) and they coninue in touch after they got in their respective colleges. This program didn’t guide him to participate in Siemens and Intel but since he wrote a research paper, his tutor signed the requested form and he submitted it to the Siemens competition. It didn’t won anything at Siemens but the whole experience contributed a lot in his resume, essays and interviews for college. We think that this program gave him a boost to be selected in top universities as Caltech and Stanford. I guess that a Local university program must be an excellent experience too, but I have not references about it.