So recently I got accepted into the NJ Governor’s School of Sciences, which I am ecstatic about. The problem I have, however, is that the program, which only lasts three weeks, will cause me to have to forgo doing research this summer. The dates of the program (all of July) makes it impossible to participate in anything else if I choose to go to Governor’s school. I did research last year, and I’m worried as to how colleges will react to only having one year of research, especially when that one year is not the summer of junior to senior year. Considering I want to go into research as a career, I’m afraid this will be disconcerting to colleges.
Right now, I am trying to get into an equally prestigious research summer program, but I don’t know if I will be accepted. I have the opportunity to go into the less well-known program I completed last year, which would place me in the same facility I researched in last summer (in a program with a 15-20% acceptance rate). My family is hesitant to allow me back into that program though, because travel to the facility was brutal (yay living in the middle of nowhere).
At this point, I just don’t know what to do. Assuming I can’t get into a better research program, should I stick with the lesser-known research or go to governor’s school? Maybe I’m overthinking this (I tend to do that a lot), however I would like some other opinions. Thanks! 