<p>Aren’t there university restrictions that prevent you from working before the age of 16?</p>
<p>I think it is comes across as bragging to say that I did cancer research, kidney research, and then pyschology research in high school without explaining job responsibilities, duties, and level of independent work. I think it is better to describe what the person did as part of the research.</p>
<p>For example, “I stained cultures of precancerous cells in rats in a laboratory over the summer” is something that would bode well for studying microbiology.</p>
<p>Saying “I edited informed consents provided to cancer patients interested in participating in clinical trials of cancer fighting drugs” may bode well for a person wanting to study english and language. </p>
<p>However, saying “I cleaned slides, microscopes, and other glassware used in a laboratory that researches cancer” is more apt to what a 9th grader would do. </p>
<p>All of the above are cancer research but very different aspects of cancer research.</p>
<p>^^There is.</p>
<p>Then how in the world could he have done legitimate research unless he was just doing menial tasks, and got in due to connections?</p>
<p>I’m guessing the above resume could show initiative, but not too much else.</p>
<p>I don’t think very many 9th - 12 graders are doing actual research. I think most are shadowing grad students in laboratory learning what they can and getting interested in the field. </p>
<p>I think menial tasks like running centrifuges, cleaning glassware, preparing slides are the typical tasks that a 9-12th grader might do in a job shadow opportunity. But operating centrifuges and cleaning glassware really isn’t research (a trained monkey can nearly do it), just working in a research setting.</p>
<p>And that is why a skilled admission committee will recognize that different students have different opportunities in life and look beyond the glamour. I think working at McDonalds for several summers in high school shows a lot of initative. It requires you to go do a job that you probably wouldn’t want to do and is not likely to be fun or entertaining. You have to be dedicated. You have a real risk of getting fired if you break rules or don’t show up to work. </p>
<p>However, accepting a job shadow position where high profile role models (PhDs and grad students) spend time with you showing you what they do and asking you to do simple tasks is much easier to get excited about and go into the laboratory. You probably won’t get fired (since it’s volunteer) if you come in late or take summer vacations. You probably don’t have to worry about breaking rules as long as you follow the basic ones. </p>
<p>I’m not knocking research - I’d encourage my kids to do it in a heartbeat. But I’m recognizing that ordinary summer jobs indicate skills and traits that are important as well.</p>
<p>Usually the LOR will state the contribution of the hs student to the lab.
The student has to resist overstating his role and contributions to the lab in his transcript. Adcoms can tell who is fibbing.</p>
<p>I believe you completely. With the right connections, a middle/high schooler can do many things that are unfathomable to the rest of us unconnected people. Nowadays, it’s all about connections.</p>
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<p>This seems most likely.</p>
<p>I had a similar situation where technically my job title was “Assistant Lab Technician” at our state’s leading Dermatopathology clinic, but most of the work that I was doing was simply filing and sorting samples. Not to say that the experience wasn’t one where I learned a lot, just like this kid probably did, but the level of research that one can do in 9th grade is rather limited (even with family connections).</p>
<p>In respect to the original question: No, I do not think that it looks disjointed. It looks like this kid took initiative/has connections/is really lucky. However, if he could get letters of recommendation from the Doctors that he worked with, that would be even more impressive than simply listing “cancer research” (And I imagine that a college would be more impressed as well).</p>