<p>I am looking for something to do over the summer, and I have two routes that I would like to go: 1) make some money through a job (not a cashier, but a good job/internship) or 2) find an admissions boosting extracurricular that I would enjoy doing and wouldn't want to kill myself doing. Now I have the option of getting an internship that is non-science related that I can probably make some decent money off of, or I could find a different admissions oriented activity. Now I hear a lot of people doing "research" now a days, from being a basic lab assistant/observer to creating one's own independent project under the wing of a postdoc or whomever. I think that I would be interested in pursuing some summer research, but only if it is something that is worthwhile. I need money, and the only way that I would do research is if it is something huge in the eyes of the adcoms. So what is the deal with research? Why are more people doing it now, and does this mean it is starting to become the next community service (where it is so commonplace that it really has no value in the admissions process)? No doubt, I think that I would enjoy doing summer research and maybe even doing a competition related to the research, but I need to weigh this with money. My money from days of programming games and selling it around town is starting to go low, and any of the money from that which I put into the bank is now in CDs that are not in my name. So what do you think?</p>
<p>Pursue what you like, not what you think admission officers want to see.
Believe me, many people do this to “cushion” their application.</p>
<p>Doing this will only make you look like a number among the mass of applicants.
Do something fun, something close to your heart and your voice and charcter will shine through.</p>
<p>Good luck~</p>
<p>Can you get a job programming games at a real computer game company?</p>
<p>Even if you can’t, programming your own games and selling them around town is really an unusual EC. It shows entrepeneurial spirit, too. You’re right, though. Research is becoming so commonplace that I wouldn’t advise it unless you were really interested in it.</p>
<p>I’ve never actually looked into that…nor have I really thought of that before. I’ve been programming as a hobby for a while, since 6th grade. I like it but haven’t had as much time to pursue it lately. Yeah, I’ve figured that research is becoming one of those activities that everyone is doing to “boost” chances of acceptance to top schools.</p>
<p>Research helps for the Ivies a lot.</p>
<p>MIT doesn’t seem to care though unless you submit published research to Siemens/ISEF.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. So do you think a summer high school internship at Microsoft (which involves programming, not getting coffee) would look better than research (at least research that is not award wining)?</p>