<p>hello guys</p>
<p>i don't know what to do with my summer. i would like to intern at a science place somewhere where i can do my own individual research, that i can later submit to intel/siemens. preferrably it would be a free program.</p>
<p>my ideal place to apply would be rsi, but that's out the window because the deadline is past. what other options do i have? what do you guys recommend? is there anything else that can help me design my own research and enter it in the contest?</p>
<p>thanks so much for your feedback.</p>
<p>You can do your own research and succeed. My S has competed nationally with his research (ISEF, Intel STS semifinalist, JSHS) and has never worked in a lab or had a mentor.<br>
You are starting early enough and have the time. The most important and probably the hardest thing to do is to come up with a good idea.
There are a number of books on science fair projects. One is something like "Winning the Grand Award" and there are others to give you an idea of the rules and what the judges are looking for. You can order ISEF abstract books from years past from the ISEF website. This will give you an idea of the type of projects that make it to that level, and may give you an idea or two. You may also be able to get abstract books from the other competitions, if you call them.<br>
You may be able to find some of sample research papers online. I know that JSHS (Junior Science & Humanities Symposium) has a link to a sample paper. This, again, will give you an idea of what this level of project entails.<br>
Once you complete the project, then you can enter the same project in multiple contests, with some limitations (Siemens doesn't take behavioral science projects for example).<br>
Good luck.</p>
<p>there's only one problem with that, and that is i don't have access to a lab and i have never done research in my life... i have 0 experience.</p>
<p>You don't have to work in a lab. You don't have to have research experience. You don't have to have a mentor. These competitions aren't all about doing medical research in labs. A lot of the projects involve field research or writing computer programs. Try to find some of the abstracts to read and you'll see what I mean. You can read the names of the winning projects on some of the websites. Take a look.</p>