Hi everyone,
I’ve been working at a lab at my local university for a little while. The technician is retiring, so I’m basically taking over her work unpaid until there’s a replacement (I’m officially an intern). This includes things like monitoring, feeding, and cleaning mice colonies, sorting and preparing samples, PCR, agarose gels, extracting DNA, following lots of protocols, and doing inventory. It’s a ton of fun because the projects are fascinating and really fit my skill sets (organization and being obsessively careful!). Additionally, the lab is understaffed and, due to the nature of the work (deals with blood and having to identify dead mice and things like that), it doesn’t attract a lot of undergraduates, so taking me on as an assistant is helpful for them. I wasn’t planning to put it on my college applications because I’m just working on grants written by professors, not anything to enter in competitions (it doesn’t seem as impressive on paper), as they have enough work to do without supervising a high schooler’s project! However, I’ve read about a few people who have included activities like this. If anyone could help me decide, that would be great!
Thank you!
Assuming you plan to major in science, you should absolutely mention this experience on your applications! How many high school students get to work in a university lab and develop all of the skills and knowledge you described? Not many. This sets you apart. While other people are watching Netflix or surfing the internet, you are busy working for free in a university lab learning about research protocols and techniques. Fascinating! This belongs in your application.
My daughter worked a summer at a government research lab in high school. Even though she was doing low level work helping on existing research projects, and not doing her own research project, the experience was a key part of her college applications, and she was accepted at an Ivy and offered full ride and full tuition scholarships elsewhere. She wound up accepting a scholarship package at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Thank you @mommyrocks! How should I write about it - as an internship, volunteer research assistant, or something else?
Since you said you are “officially an intern,” you could describe it as a Research Internship. You don’t even have to mention that it is unpaid or voluntary, but you can if you want to, especially if you happen to list it as a Volunteer Activity. If it is going under Extracurricular Activities or Work Experience or something similar, then I would just call it a Research Internship and say you were a Research Intern and include the name of the lab and university, along with describing what you have done there. If you have space, describe the types of research projects that your work has supported, at least briefly. If you wind up mentioning the internship in a longer essay for a particular college application, you can say how the experience relates to your planned major and career, and has reinforced your desire to pursue scientific research.