<p>Also, I don’t know much about ISEF, but I read somewhere that white some papers are (really) good, some others are not that good. But again winning that competition is HUGE right?</p>
<p>@dbadani do you have a mentor? And, did you do ISEF?</p>
<p>@Gibby, thanks!</p>
<p>@Gibby @hrmosp One more thing: how could I distinguish my work from the numerous high school projects coming in? I mean, yes, my papers will speak for themselves but my academic credentials aren’t crazy good. (B’s at school in some subjects, no 2400 on SAT I etc.)
But, I want them to know that this isn’t typical scientific research done over summer where you just assist a professor or whatever. It’s pure Math, that I’ve done myself and is probably the most important part of my application. So how do I prevent the categorisation of my work as an ‘add on’ or ‘just another research intern?’
I’m not being arrogant here, sorry if you feel I am. I just don’t want my work to get sidelined :/</p>
<p>^^ Then, you might want to write your Common App essay about Math, or your Math project, or why you felt so passionate about doing this all on your own – why is it important to you and what you discovered about yourself in the process of your self-motivated learning. Or, you might want to write a supplemental essay about it.</p>
<p>@Gibby, sorry to be interfering in your thread with mathjj but, even I am in a similar situation. Is writing an essay the only way to showcase the level of work???</p>
<p>@mathjj, no I don’t have a mentor. Did it myself only…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unless your research has the potential to be the next cure for cancer, stop thinking about showcasing the level of work. Instead, focus on showcasing your passion and love of learning. All colleges are looking for students who love to learn and who are self-motivated learners. Aside from the work itself, writing an essay is probably the best way to demonstrate who you are to an Admissions Committee.</p>
<p>@Gibby, sorry if I annoyed you. I just got a little curious; mathjj and I happen to know each other well (in fact, we’ve just discovered that we know each other in real as well! )and our research work is <em>extremely</em> similar (not only that, are stats are nearly DITTO. Yes, Score for score, grade for grade and even some ECs :o ). While my work has been seen by math professors who have appreciated the level and originality, it is surely NOT as good as a new cure for cancer, LOL. I was anyway going to include it in my essay; just wanted to know if there was something else I could have done to maximise my ultra minimal chances. Sorry again. I should re-word my previous post correctly as : ‘what is the best way to present my work on my application so that it is interpreted correctly?’ I now realise what my previous post couldve implied (wrongly): that I’m some super genius, trying to show off, hahaha. Harvard will itself judge the level of my work. Sorry if I seemed mad or something, it certainly wasn’t intended.</p>
<p>Oh, and what about SlideRoom? Should we send the work in by SlideRoom or by post? </p>
<p>One more thing, just to satisfy my curiosity: are you a Harvard student? :P</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Admissions will not interpret your work at all. If they are interested in you, they will forward your work to the Harvard Math Department, which is capable of assessing all manners of material correctly. So – aside from writing an essay – there is nothing you can do besides just submitting the work and letting it speak for itself. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Submit it through SlideRoom, as it will automatically be generated as a pdf to add to your file. If you send it by post, someone has to manually scan it to pdf.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m a parent of two kids. My daughter is a senior at Harvard and my son is a junior at Yale.</p>
<p>@dbadani the humble kid who @Gibby thought is a show-off, LOL. If only Gibby knew you personally, hahah. But you got me thinking about another valid question: as to whether or not we should use SlideRoom? There’s a fee for SlideRoom right? Is there a waiver for that too @Gibby?</p>
<p>^^ I don’t know; you’ll have to email SlideRoom and ask.</p>
<p>@mathjj hahah, true that man. I don’t even have anything to show-off. Only that my choice of words in that post was rather pathetic. :] </p>
<p>There is a fee waiver. You must request for it, though. Quoting Harvard’s page:
“There is a $10 submission fee, but if this fee causes you economic hardship, you may request a fee waiver at the point of submission.”</p>
<p>@dbadani, thanks a lot!
And, I read your papers. They’re freaking amazing! How could you not get a mentor? Your work demands the attention of academia. You have a great chance if your papers are sent to the Math Dept for review; just pray for the best!</p>
<p>@Gibby: A friend of mine was saying that research papers have become a ‘fad’ for applicants. She was saying that she knew someone who was rejected at a top 10 institute last year because of the supplementary material submitted. (It seems that that rejected applicant spoke to the related dept a few months later and they told her this. They criticised her work tremendously even then :o Her work was on reducing nitrogen oxide emissions and used math models for it, which, I guess every student wants to do nowadays LOL) Does the dept. get annoyed if applicants submit stuff that is okay-ish for high school level?</p>
<p>^^ Most likely, it has nothing to do with the Admissions Department being annoyed, but may have something to do with the level of competition at places like Harvard. Please re-read post #4. The best of the best apply to Harvard. Many students, who think their research project is above average do not understand the caliber of student that applies to Harvard. My daughter knows several students at Harvard who sold their computer software product or research idea for multi-millions of dollars while they were in high school . . . and submitted the project as part of their application. That is what your research project is going to be compared to — and 99% of students would be better off writing about their project, or interest in a subject rather than have their project be compared to the likes of the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. Unless your project is of the HIGHEST caliber, you are better off NOT submitting one.</p>
<p>@mathjj: Thank you. Means a lot to me. If only my academics were better. 
the truth in Gibby’s post has shaken me up, though. </p>
<p>@Gibby, multi-million dollars?! Damn, why would they even apply to college?! So, is there a way for us to be able to check whether our stuff is as good as theirs? I know I can have a look at the STS and ISEF abstracts, but again, abstracts convey less than half of the story. Besides, in all probability, the research papers being submitted to Harvard might be much better than the papers in these competitions.</p>
<p>Obviously, I don’t even want to try and compare myself to the multi-million dollar works, but instead to those papers which are really good, but not with such crazy credentials. I just want to know if my paper is atleast at the min. level for Harvard.</p>
<p>@Gibby, they were laughing at her work when they spoke to her a little later, Lol. They were like “stop sending in material for the sake of it. Your paper was ordinary but you were a very strong applicant otherwise.” I don’t know if they were joking but otherwise, that applicant was amazing. Not only academics and SAT score-wise, but even ultra unique ECs. So she was most likely rejected because of her ‘ordinary’ paper?</p>
<p>@dbadani, you don’t even talk about the level of your work; any normal math person who sees it will likely be spellbound. But again, it’s Harvard, LOL.</p>
<p>
That’s great! Just make sure that you verify with a professor in the field that your work is of high quality (I’m not saying this to be snarky, but many many students have the mistaken belief that what they’ve come up with is either novel or ground-breaking). A professor who has worked with students in the past is a plus, since they won’t automatically say “nice!” with the implied (“for a high schooler”). They’ll know to judge you in comparison to undergraduates, which is what the admissions committee is going to do.</p>
<p>Also to add, gibby is right in that conveying love of science is an effective way to demonstrate your interest. But I also think (if I’m interpreting what was said correctly, sorry!) that’s perhaps a little naive, because you definitely aren’t going to get into Harvard with a ‘love’ for science. You need to demonstrate aptitude, which is why the supplemental material submission is important, <em>if</em> it is of extremely high quality. A friend who is a very very talented biologist decided not to submit because he felt nothing was particularly ground-breaking, and he was probably right (he got in! so it’s ok not to submit as well!).</p>
<p>
Ha! He just said that. I also work at a pretty laid back university and my strong math/cs background really made the computational stuff fast, and I delivered way faster than he expected (he’s a chem/physics professor lol).</p>
<p>
Erm, no, sorry! I don’t really want to be identified by my posts, sorry. There are way too many ways that information could get misconstrued.</p>
<p>
I think the rec letter was, since he mentioned the paper and the ones that we’re holding on publishing. Of course I can’t be certain. As to getting a mentor, email 20 professors at a nearby lab/university. 5-10 will reply. Look at their work and pick the ones that aren’t <em>unbearable</em>, and go talk to them. If you’re lucky, one will be interested in actually being a mentor instead of petri dish washing. Impress the hell out of them. Good luck!</p>
<p>
No problem! I’ll try to reply from time to time but I’m super busy. I know how confused I was when starting research, so I’m glad to help!</p>
<p>Oh I didn’t see your other post, sorry.</p>
<p>I’m not entirely certain. If you want to make sure that they realize that this research experience was meaningful for you, write an essay on it (as gibby has already said). I personally would recommend going to a professor and asking them whether it’s publishable, and if so then attempting to publish, etc. The process of doing this will also get you to know the professor and then you can ask him/her for a rec letter.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I’m not sure if you’re applying this year or later.</p>
<p>@mathjj,</p>
<p>My daughter submitted an abstract from research she did during a summer internship and was accepted SCEA. My suspicion is that Harvard uses past accomplishments as a measure of future success…it’s not the accolades, but the potential that counts. Keep in mind that this is only a single data point, and her academic credentials are stellar (highly regarded high school, top grades, excellent scores). I have no way to tell whether submitting her research abstract helped her application, but it appears it did not hurt. My suggestion…if you not are part of a demographic that is likely to be accepted, be proactive and take measured risks. If you feel that your research strengthens your application, go for it!</p>
<p>@BldrDad,</p>
<p>Thanks for the inputs! Now, we must consider that her research was done during a summer internship, which (I assume) would mean she had a PI or a mentor to guide her. That PI or mentor would have made sure that the work is indeed good and can be submitted as a supplement. The work, in your case, certainly didn’t harm her. Mine and dbadani’s cases are such that we did it independently. dbadani’s work is indeed of a high quality from what I know, but again, he hasn’t had the opportunity to work with some mentor. Also, did she get a recommendation from her mentor?</p>