<p>Many of those who get accepted into good science/math schools such as University of Chicago, Duke, or Johns Hopkins have some sort of research done (usually over a summer).</p>
<p>How exactly does one go about getting started with official research? Where do you go to get a research program set up? Do you just walk up to a local college and tell them you are interested in research for the summer?</p>
<p>Those of you who have done research over a summer: will you please explain how exactly you get started?</p>
<p>You don't really need research to get into a good college.</p>
<p>As for how to get a position, it all depends upon your area of interest. If you're into something non-experimental, then your best bet is to just look up and bother (i.e., e-mail) professors and ask them if they'll assist you in a summer project. One of my friends got a research position in economics at MIT as a first-year just from e-mailing lots of people.</p>
<p>My friend had a project in mind that he wanted to do, and he had somebody from the local college mentor him.</p>
<p>I would agree with phuriku that you don't need research-- I think that access to research is not a function of how smart you are, but of how well-connected you are. For example, all of my friends either had support in their research through my high school, or they had major connections. You might have neither.</p>
<p>If you're still passionate about learning new things, perhaps you can list some of your interests, and some people can suggest books and textbooks to read through over the summer? There are a lot of excellent books on science, particularly by Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe) and Oliver Sachs (sp?). Reading up on topics that interest you is free and requires fewer resources :-)</p>
<p>I concur that it is not necessary even if you apply to elite schools indicating your interest in science. </p>
<p>Then again, it does help, especially if your work gets significant attention (say Westinghouse, NASA or IBM prizes). Unfortunately, many of the individuals I know who did such prize winning research in high school - and by prize winning really just scientifically competent by college sophomore standards - all seemed to have either lots of money to spend (e.g. got sent to a 12 week research camp at Stanford for 10K) or were very well connected (e.g. Father was a PhD at AT&T's research division, got daughter a gig with a coworker's department). Looking at where they are now as far as graduate school goes, none seemed to have any particular long term affinity or success in science, so it certainly was not genius breaking through. </p>
<p>Alas, pre-university research is one of the areas where socioeconomic status really becomes a large factor in distorting one's college admissions chances. That being said, the more ethical schools try to recognize red flags and discount them appropriately, e.g. the kid with B+'s in math who miraculously gets a internship with Google while still in high school.</p>
<p>Many not-well-connected kids get hooked up with research projects through their schools. Each of my kids had maybe 40-50 high school classmates working in labs, few if any of whom made the connection on their own or through their families.</p>
<p>^^ but JHS, you mentioned that your kids went to a magnet school of some sort, and that Penn and Chicago are both popular college destinations. If that's the case, I'm also assuming that there's in-school support for those pursuing science research. The kids in my high school who wanted to pursue science research were very much catered to and were "connected" through guidance counselors, science teachers, and math teachers who knew where the opportunities were and could help kids get what they wanted.</p>
<p>I don't know if OP has those same kinds of opportunities.</p>
<p>I went to a top 50 public according to US News for the year I graduated, and while our guidance counselors and some teachers understood the difference between UPenn and Penn State, they certainly were not setting up links with area high tech firms or telling us what were the best summer programs to attend. Indeed, I think that very much was the line in the sand between our well off but mere 60-100K average family income public magnet and the fortress of a prep school down the road (which required students do pre-SAT prep classes and take summer academic excursions to Europe).</p>
<p>Unalove, my kids at different points attended both a top private and a large public magnet. At the private, very few kids were involved in scientific research, and if they were it was through Daddy's or Mommy's connections. At the public school -- which serves a very broad, diverse, nonrich population -- they have terrific support for kids doing research. Basically, anyone who is a decent science student and who wants to put in the time can get hooked up with a lab somewhere. The school works really hard to maintain that pipeline. (It helps that there have been some sensational successes. One of my kids' friends, as a Penn sophomore, became the youngest principal author of an article in Science in 20 years, based on the research he began in high school. It also helps that the school's alumni include quite a number of working scientists.)</p>
<p>Of course, a big part of what makes this possible is that this is an area where there are thousands of scientists working at universities, hospitals, and companies large and small, and you can get to their labs on public transportation.</p>
<p>(By the way, Chicago is a popular destination at the private school. At the public school no more than 2-3 kids a year apply, and it is popular only with my biological relatives.)</p>
<p>LOL. I think I'm confusing the high school your kids went to with another well known Philadelphia area private, where Chicago is, after Penn, the second biggest college destination for graduates.</p>
<p>But your post more or less proves my point about "opportunity" for science research. I don't want OP to be worried if he or she doesn't have these connections!</p>