Research Woes

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Earlier this month, I began doing research at an astrophysics lab at a certain Ivy League institution. I am really not enjoying it, and the pressure is getting to me. i feel like everybody there sees me as really stupid, and I feel stupid as a result. It is completely non-collaborative. I sit alone in a room full of other, more experienced people's projects, and I am expected to do vague work that should eventually lead to a project, but I have no motivation. I have to commute in and out every day, which takes an hour and a half each way, and I am getting sick of it.</p>

<p>I really don't want to continue. I feel like I'll be trapped by research not only for the entire summer, but during the school year. There is pressure coming from all around: my adviser at my school, my parents, the people at the lab, and I don't know why I am doing it except to be competitive in college admissions. I detest the fact that after hanging out for a day in the summer, my dad tells me that I'm "slacking." I don't need it. I wish my summer could just be my summer. But if I give up, I'm letting down my parents, my adviser, myself, and everyone who had hope in me. On the other hand, it isn't right for me to be completely miserable in July. </p>

<p>Even if I weather it through the actual research work, I will be spending tons of time writing and revising my paper and essays for competitions, both during and after the summer. I want to have a life during the school year. I do two time-consuming extracurriculars, and I really don't want to give them up to accommodate research. If I don't finish my research this summer, I will not be able to continue during the school year, and my efforts will have been for naught. I think I wouldn't have as bad a time if it wasn't such a lonely environment, but it is now too late to do anything else.</p>

<p>I want to quit, but I am ashamed of myself for even considering it. It will hurt my college chances irreparably, but if this is the cost of getting into a good school, maybe it just isn't worth the effort. I wish there were some other way to spend my summer that colleges would like, but it is too late seemingly. Will starting something like a charity look better or worse than research?</p>

<p>Should I quit or am I just being unreasonable?</p>

<p>Sorry for the rant. if it was incoherent, it's because I was writing things as they came to mind.</p>

2

<p>please don't tell me you're at RSI and hating it.</p>

<p>But it seems like you're not too crazy about research. If you don't like it, don't do it.</p>

3

<p>No, it isn't RSI. It's not a program; it's just independent research at a university.</p>

4

<p>If you don't like it, quit. What's the point of accomplishing something if you don't feel good about it? Pursue something you are truly interested in.</p>

<p>I'm guessing you must be aiming to get into an Ivy League if you're doing research. Believe it or not, but there are many good schools out there that are not Ivies. Most people do not attend Ivy League schools and they are successful in life.</p>

<p>My high school, which is one of the top 20 in the nation and very competitive to get into, gives students the options of graduating with distinction. One of the requirements for this honor is that you complete a research project similar to what you're doing. Once the project is complete, it is presented in front of an audience and the research is published. The one thing I hear over and over again about doing research is you must pick something you truly enjoy. To put it blunty, the students who do not complete their projects did not pick something they enjoyed and burnt out. If you don't get a sense of accomplishment and well-being from your research, then maybe you should find something you like more, no matter what it is.</p>

<p>You are in charge of your life and you need to keep yourself happy. Don't worry about the future or what other people think.</p>

5

<p>Well I was looking through your old posts and I think you should take your own advice, "Not everything is about college. If you like it, do it. If not, don't. By the looks of it, you shouldn't do it."</p>

<p>Trust me, doing something you don't want to do is just a waste of your time because when it comes time to write essays and do college interviews you really won't be able to genuinely convey your interest and dedication for this activity like a college would expect you to. Continue Marching Band and Drama because these are the activities you enjoy and these are the activities where you are more likely to have better experiences.</p>

<p>Realize research is becoming a very common EC and colleges are becoming increasingly unimpressed by the hoards of students who go to labs and claim the lab's research as their own. I think your activities set you apart because they show that outside of good grades you have a sense of creativity and personality (working in a lab is never conducive to your social skills).</p>

<p>Personally, after spending 3 years working in the lab I am a bit tired of it and I am probably going to stop going in a couple of weeks. While I did enjoy my lab experience, this is my summer before college and sometimes you just need to let loose and have fun! When it came to college admissions my lab work was only significant because I enjoyed it, there were some activities which I regretted doing like Model UN which if my interviewers asked about I wouldn't be able to speak about them with the same interest and passion as I could about my research.</p>

6

<p>I'm not going to be redundant and regurgitate what everyone else has already said. I agree with the previous two posters completely. </p>

<p>If you're putting yourself though something you don't like to prepare yourself for the future, imagine what you're going to do later on. When you're in college, perhaps you'll pursue a PhD--in a field or at a school you have no interest in--or else you'll feel like you're letting everyone down. What are you going to do then? In my opinion, gutting through something you absolutely hate will follow you throughout life; if you don't change now and try to live a life that you love, you'll be stuck living a life others envision for you.</p>

7

<p>I've taken research for 3 years and next year will be my fourth. I was supposed to do research over the summer but I cant because I have a summer job that I cant just quit because of research, Im pretty upset bout that but oh well.</p>

8

<p>After weighing my options further, I've concluded that I am more worried about my father than about my college chances. He puts me on a pedestal and always raves about my "accomplishments" to the point of embarrassment. He involves himself in every aspect of my life, including personally meeting with the heads of the lab at which I'm working. I think maybe I'll go to the school tomorrow and try to find this computer science professor who I met on Monday. Maybe I can find something to do that I actually like more than applied physics, and then I'll tell my father I switched. I haven't really made much progress with my initial project anyway.</p>

9

<p>If you go to the massive Research in High School thread, I made a few long posts including how to find a good lab which might be helpful to you. It might be the case that you just picked a bad lab. Many labs aren't used to undergraduates and really don't know how to teach or train students. Also in many labs, sometimes people don't have any time to train students. So maybe you just need to find a lab with a better commitment to students (whenever I speak of this I flag this point as one of the major things to look for in your prospective colleges, as you can see just because a college has research doesn't mean you will have an active part in it. So keep that in mind when you start your college search)</p>

10

<p>i'd love to, but it's far too late for that. It's almost August.</p>