Research Opportunities for High Schoolers

Hello! I am currently in my junior year in high school, and reading a lot about student stories, I’ve found that many successful applications to top schools have done some sort of research project during their time in high school. I’m just curious as to what kinds of research opportunities are available to high schoolers.

Is it a good idea to simply email professors of nearby colleges in fields of interest? Does independent research online (i.e. investigating data online and in publications and writing a paper) count as well? Should it be related to my field of interest to have any value in terms of admissions? I would appreciate any suggestions…

Thanks!

I would definitely email nearby professors in fields of interest. Independent research is also great if you can get it published in a journal. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to your field of interest to add value to your applications, but I would definitely try to research something that you are interested in which usually tends to something you want to major in.

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Yes, email local professors to see if there is any type of research you can help with, you may have to send many emails to get one response.

Do your homework before contacting them (reading what their lab is working on, the prof’s bio, etc.), so that you can tailor each email appropriately. Many of research opportunities will not be paid.

Lastly, it is uncommon that the timing works out for HSers to be published…because the time spend actually doing the research, the lead writing it up, and submitting for publication typically takes years.

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hey! just for reference, it took me 10 months after starting my research to submit my paper. 12 months until it was accepted. I presented at a conference and it actually got published 1.5 years after I had started at the lab. I was also lucky to not have gotten my paper rejected 1-2x as most do.

Look into the International Precollege Association for Research in STEM (IPARS) if you want to do a STEM research project.

It probably helps a lot if you’re taking classes at a local research university and meet a professor that way. My wife is a professor and just emailing her isn’t going to get her attention unless someone already has started a research project. She has PhD students to work with.

OP- and it’s perfectly fine if you decide to take the time and effort involved in emailing a bunch of random professors and channel that into other kinds of activities. Plenty of kids get to college without having participated in “research”. Many labs are not set up for HS students, not every kid lives near good public transportation or has a parent (or a car) to drive back and forth, with Covid many colleges have clamped down on the number of “outsiders” allowed access to buildings and facilities.

CC is not the real world. The likelihood that a HS kid is going to contribute meaningfully to a real live project is very slim. And you can spend the time doing other things that are a lot more worthwhile.

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Don’t underestimate the number of HSers doing research. We live near a t20 research university and there are likely several hundred HS students doing research at the various labs on campus.

I’m not sure what ‘meaningful’ means, but these experiences are often more than washing beakers, but less than potentially having one’s name on a research paper.

My D19 worked in a lab on campus for more than a year during HS, closely involved in the research which included harvesting baby chick parts. She also participated in staff meetings. There were 4 HS students working in said lab, just one of hundreds of labs on campus.

A favorite CC poster, hkimpossible, also worked with a prof doing research during HS at this university.

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How did these high schoolers get this experience? Part of a set program or they all contacted professors to ask how they can help? Parents are employed at the university or know people there?

D20 met professors by starting with stem experiences/summer programs offered by her top schools. She was eventually accepted into a summer research program specifically for incoming freshmen. She had similar offers at other universities as well. They required acceptance into the honors programs and a pretty indepth application process, but it may be worth it to research established structured opportunities at your schools of interest. Due to covid, her research was completed at home, but they shipped her all materials and worked via zoom. It’s worth a shot.

MWFan- great you live near a major research U. But for the kids whose local college is a non-flagship branch of their state U where there are few opportunities even for undergrads (the research spots go to grad students), or a small college with strong departments in K-12 Ed and Accounting but not much depth elsewhere- CC gives that kid the impression that all HS kids need “research” experience.

My MIT kid did not have research experience- and most of his friends didn’t either, since they were too busy working at paying jobs (delivering pizza, fast food, the typical HS stuff) or working in a small family business, and the other “typical” HS EC’s.

I’d hate to think of the wasted hours randomly contacting faculty-- if the colleges nearby don’t have established protocols for employing HS students-- vs. doing something valuable with that time. Even our local teaching hospital (usually a fantastic source of all kinds of volunteer opportunities) has eliminated any position for HS students that require access to a clinic, lab, or patient-care facility. They don’t want the liability and they have enough on their hands monitoring and testing their own, fulltime staff without having to monitor and test HS kids.

Let’s get real.

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I agree with @blossom that the importance of HS research to college admission is overblown. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to attend RSI or SSP, then go for it by all means. For most students, their time is better spent on more meaningful activities, as most, if not all, HS-level researches are, regrettably, superficial.

Research is definitely not a requirement for college admission, but it is ‘real’ for thousands of HS kids each year. Some companies also offer research opportunities, not even limited to STEM for HSers.

Spending a few hours sending emails could result in an opportunity, or not. There is value in simply doing the research that gets one to the point of being able to write an email that is knowledgeable wrt to the lab/research.

Many hospitals and other healthcare settings have unfortunately eliminated opportunities for under 18s, primarily due to HIPAA. In some states, HSers can become assistant CNAs and junior EMTs, certainly not jobs for everyone, but ideal for others to start gaining patient facing experience.

MW- not just HIPAA- a hospital that has to test and monitor thousands of employees for COVID cannot spare the resources to test a monitor a bunch of well-meaning HS students who want to see what a “real” lab looks like. I don’t know what state you live in- but my state is functioning near capacity at most of its hospitals-- and the idea of a HS kid working on or near the premises right now is a very grim notion.

There are so many ways for a young person to “give back”- why must it be doing something with a fancy title? Providing a grocery order/delivery service to seniors in the neighborhood who don’t know how to use an online grocery service? Doing a contact-less “sports afternoon” for young adults with disabilities whose day programs have all been cancelled? Running a holiday decoration event in someone’s driveway to entertain children who are now doing remote school and are craving the presence of an actual face and voice?

Of course things are different in healthcare settings during the pandemic, I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.

Your ideas for HS activities are all great as well…it’s not an either or situation, which is why I don’t understand your seeming animosity towards my posts, and I certainly wasn’t advocating only for opportunities with ‘fancy titles’.

I concur with @blossom that having research on a college application isn’t a ticket to anything, but sadly, it is becoming more and more common for students to feel they need to do this. Enter the new “pay to play” schemes for the ambitious high schooler: paying to do a research project.

Many high schools offer a science or humanities research course. That, IMO, is a great option for kids who are interested in doing research. It’s credible, it’s meaningful, it’s free, and if you do well, it’s good for the GPA.

IMO, I see no reason to try and find research opportunities unless you are truly interested in doing research. If you pursue this, yes, it makes sense to ensure it aligns with your preferred area of study.

Make sure your doing it for a REASON, rather than just trying to add another point to your application. As far as independently doing your own research, I would not pursue that idea without the guaranteed support of a mentor. Without a mentor, you’ve got little chance of any official acknowledgment of your work. That person could be an expert in the topic you wish to research, or maybe you can take some kind of independent study course at your high school under the guidance of a teacher.

There’s a way to research, and one reason it is better to do it with a mentor is because that persona should be able to guide you in your research and keep you on course. Be wary of just jumping into an independent research project with no guidance. You can do some research about how to organize a research project.

Don’t assume that getting into a super selective university or college depends on doing research. I’m guessing most students who get into those schools don’t have research under their belts, especially with COVID.

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My kid had good success sending out cold emails to researchers at the local university. And the task was challenging. He did his homework, looking to understand the importance of their research. He wrote and attached a resume. He had to learn to write a persuasive letter, to get people to read it. And, painful to him, had to learn to brag a bit about his skills and what he could offer them.

Of the people he heard back from, he met with two, discussed their needs and his options. One asked him to do a lot of reading, come up with a topic and he would support it. The other needed help within a pre-existing project. I thought the first sounded like the better challenge, but he chose the second. He loved working with a team. He could do most of it remotely. He produced his piece of the puzzle for them, and the next stage of the project got funding.

If this really appeals to you, I say go for it. At the very least, you’ll have put together a good resume and hopefully learned to write good letters. But there aren’t shortcuts here. You’d have to do the work to understand their research at the start.

I would also focus on the experience, not just the outcome. My kid’s work will probably not lead to a publication. But his work was key in developing a new way of taking measurements that will lead to future publications. And he developed good relationships and a better understanding of how research is done.

But don’t do it to get into college. Do it because it interests you.

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@Zinnia203 Does your child’s school offer a science or humanities program? Interested to know. Glad your child found a mentor.

It’s best for students to do research with a school program, as I mentioned before, because the student will, at the very least, earn a grade that will add credibility and, hopefully, a GPA boost.

The school facilitates a two year independent project, whatever the topic (arts, humanities, science, business), which involves work with a mentor outside of the school. It’s a new program. He chose not to go that route because it lowers your course options those years by a quarter, maybe a third. He really wanted to continue with a foreign language, take second year sciences, continue with art classes.

So this was the right option for my kid. Finding the work, being accountable for it, building relationships–these things are very important to us. More so than the outcome credentials. But if authentically driven, it all works out in the end. His time in that lab led to glowing recommendations and other opportunities, which will probably yield a published paper by spring.

The school sponsored program is lovely. But his choice was right for him. With my youngest kid, I’ll probably push for her to consider the school program. Some of the projects have been spectacular.

We live in a pretty low key part of the country, having moved here from more rat-race paced places. I don’t know if his route would have been the same elsewhere.

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“Finding the work, being accountable for it, building relationships–”
That’s what it’s really about, if you’re aiming at super selective colleges. That’s what I usually mean about energies and pursuing your drives, etc.

It’s just so difficult to do this during covid. Plus, not all parts of the country even offer these opportunities. So you do the best you can. The idea is to try to climb out of your usual comfort zone, stretch. As well as being in the actual milieu.

A certain type of kid benefits from standing back to assess what he or she can do, besides the usual hs offerings. And then going for it.