<p>it’s not that hard to get research, just start emailing professors, and email a lot of them.</p>
<p>you probably want to go for a biology lab as they have no shortage of menial tasks. counting flies, running gels - all are things a high schooler can do.</p>
<p>helps if you live nearby a major university because they have research that doesn’t suck. if you don’t you may be able to fly to one and camp out there for the summer (i recommend flying to caltech). i got a full scholarship to caltech by doing this and actually getting published. they do not offer full scholarships anymore but they still like people who’ve published. too bad they do not like me.</p>
<p>That seems like good advice. I wish I lived by a university, but the only nearby college is my local Maui Community College. I checked their website but it doesn’t seem like they have any research facilities at all. They don’t even have any math or science courses at that college! Sending emails to professors elsewhere seems like a good place to start, although I’m limited to in-state travel.</p>
<p>Read and more importantly understand “The Feynman Lectures on Physics” also do as much olympiad stuff as you can. AP Calc BC is cookbook math and it next to useless at preparing students for higher mathematics, olympiad questions on the other hand are very good at developing a “mathematical mind” as supposed to the plug-n-chug of anything taken in high school/community college.</p>
<p>[The</a> IMO Compendium: A Collection of Problems Suggested for The International Mathematical Olympiads: 19592004: Djukic - AbeBooks - 9781441920270: 123 Books](<a href=“Item no longer available”>Item no longer available)</p>
<p>I’ll have to let you know how my college applications go, I’m applying this fall/winter. Sounds like you’re in the exact same position as I am, but I live in rural Virginia.</p>
<p>That just goes to show that you probably want to take the AMC in your life time… If you want to show Caltech that you have what it takes to be a techer.</p>
<p>Thanx. I emailed my regional director for location and dates. Also, I realized my school has a Mathletes team. Is Mathletes similar to AMC and does it help with college admissions?</p>
<p>Haha actually you’re thinking of mathcounts. Mathletes is this math high school club we have. Although I think we only do regional competitions. :p</p>
<p>How about applying to the stanford epgy or the duke tip program? Aren’t there any universities in hawaii where you can take up a research project? This will really boost your chances.</p>
<p>I really don’t know of any research opportunities on my island. I don’t live on Oahu which is the most urban of all the islands. My local community college has no lab or anything like that. They don’t even offer advanced science or math courses. Btw, the email for my regional AMC director doesn’t work. What should I do now?</p>
<p>I am in a similar boat as asianese. I desperately want to go to one of those kinds of colleges, but nothing really sets me apart in terms of my ECs - I’m not excellent at anything, really. I just get good grades and do well on tests.</p>
<p>Download Apostol Calculus off BitTorrent, go over the courses at [Courses[/url</a>]. A lot of the other textbooks are available off BitTorrent. Self-study them and when it comes time to apply, mention on your app that you’ve went through those books on your own. It will help <em>amazingly</em>. </p>
<p>As long as you can get through core, you can probably survive caltech. And if you can do a good number of the problem sets by yourself, it’s a pretty good sign that you can survive there. They want people who can survive and excel there. Doing research + studying their courses is pretty good proof on its own - you can get a math professor to certify your knowledge of the math courses there if you can do it. Get familiar with the profs at the local state university or whatever - don’t be shy and approach many of them, since chances are that a small fraction might be really enthusiastic about you and write you a good rec.</p>
<p>Hell, with extensive self-study, maybe you could take the exam they give to transfer students and do pretty well on it. That would be EXCELLENT proof of your abilities.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p>Also, ditch all the stupid high school extracurriculars since caltech doesn’t give a crap about them. do what you want to do and ask a prof at the local university to do research with. Astronomy and Earth Science profs are actually really approachable comparable to the other types. Theoretical biology/neuroscience would also look awesome. Math research is harder to do (few undergrads even manage to get published). Caltech tends to be more theoretical than other institutions (except in astronomy) so theoretical research would be highly regarded.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p>Hell, if it’s a possibility, drop out of high school and homeschool yourself and spend your day doing research, self-study <em>relevant</em> to Tech, and whatever else you want to do (you have all the time in the world to do things that matter to them). But make sure that you look scientifically well-rounded and not just into pure math. Also a possibility - if you can briefly live in LA, maybe email a caltech prof and ask about doing research with one. Seriously, that would be <em>totally</em> golden.</p>