<p>I'm a sophomore this year. I want to do something this summer with research, but most of the programs are geared towards juniors (ie. RSI, RISE, Women's Technology Program at MIT, MSU's High School Honors Program...) Is there any research program for sophomores that I'd have a chance of getting into? I'm currently looking at Ross, SSP and SUMAC. </p>
<p>Just as a reference, I've gotten into USAJMO twice (eighth and ninth grade), a 231 on the PSAT, 2240 on the SAT (with an 800 in math). I'm taking AP Calculus and AP Physics this year. </p>
<p>Ask to professors at a local university. You may be able to continue the project over the school year, and potentially next summer too, making it even more worthwhile (and a better chance at Intel/Siemens, too ;)</p>
<p>Try keep an eye out for local things, if you live near any local labs or universities. The lab I worked in had a summer internship programs for high school students where different labs in the facility volunteered to take on students. They were all local kids who were given a project to do over the summer (I think there was a requirement that they had to be high school students in the county that the lab was located in), and I think there was just an age restriction (had to be over 15 or 16 or something like that). You may have more luck looking locally than at big internship programs.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster too that if you can’t find a specific internship program, try contacting nearby professors or labs to see if you can volunteer or shadow. If there’s nothing near you, see if there’s something near a family member or friend of the family who’d be willing to host you. There were some high school students we took on just because they emailed our PI who circulated the emails to everyone in the lab. I think one of them was visiting family in the area and was staying with them. Even if the experience doesn’t seem very exciting now, anything you can get will make you a much better candidate for something more involved in the future.</p>