This past summer, I interned in the chemical engineering department at a local university (ranked top 5 nationally in ChemE). I’m currently trying to decide whether I should use the research I completed to enter into the regional science fair or work on a completely independent science fair project. Assuming that the quality of both projects are equal, would there be any benefit for college admissions in using summer research as a science fair project?
I’ve heard that colleges want to see something gained from the internship and that a science fair project is a good way to display that. Will a research internship still be significant without a project? (I can likely get a recommendation from the prof I worked with so that might be a way to show what I’ve learned).