<p>What is the competition? What do u do your projects on? because im totallly clueless. =/</p>
<p>pm me.. btw its gonna be really tough to start now.. iv been working at a research lab and iv already half way done with my paper.</p>
<p>This</a> page has links to more information including previous abstracts. Most student who apply (and do well) have done research in a college lab under a professor's guidance.</p>
<p>Do you have to be a senior to compete in the individual competition?</p>
<p>confidential, I realize you don't want to give away too much of your project before the competition, but what topic is yours on?</p>
<p>ill pm u....</p>
<p>yeah, you have to be a senior to compete in the individual competition, but you can be of any grade level if you work as a team. I have also worked in a university lab for two years now for my project (i'm going to be a junior)</p>
<p>hi,
i'm a freshman in high school currently, and i'm really interested in doing the siemens westinghouse competition. are there any people here who have reached at least the regional finals? how did you do your research? my high school has a bunch of classes like microbiology, neurobiology, anatomy, etc. are those the kinds of classes you took to do your research? thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I made it to the semifinalist level two years ago (didn't make it to regionals). It's amazing that your high school has such specialized classes and you should definately take advantage of those, but that alone probably won't be enough. Most people who enter these types of competitions conduct some sort of research in an university laboratory. Try searching through old threads about finding a research position. Some people do it through organized summer research programs while others simply approach (email) professors/scientists at local universities. (There are some people who come up with specific research projects before approaching professors, but most often, people probably have no idea what they will be researching when they get into a research internship)</p>
<p>thanks for the info, tanman. i'm also a bit curious about if you just went head-on into research without reading books on biochem or whatever subject you did your project on? will the professors teach you everything you need to know about the subjects? what did you do to prepare for research? Thanks again, tanman.</p>
<p>I did my research in an Organic Chemistry lab. I had just finished taking Chem AP and I knew basically nothing about Organic Chem. When I joined the lab, for the first week or so, the professor and grad student that I was working with taught me basic material (gave me textbooks and papers to skim and explained what I needed to know) and demonstrated basic procedures. After that, I worked alongside a grad student who answered any questions I had (which was quite a few). I really didn't do any preparation before hand because in the summer program I was in, we didn't pick labs until we came to campus on the first day. I have some friends who did research simply by approching professors and I remember that for a few of them, the professor gave them some material to read before coming to the lab for the first time. Essentially, if you contact a professor to get involved in research, he/she should guide you through whatever you need to learn</p>
<p>Sorry, tanman. My idiot brother wrote that last part of the message while I was away.</p>
<p>I deleted it just after he put it on the post, so I don't know if you got the message.</p>
<p>Anyway, in case you didn't get the message in your e-mail, here's what I said (a bit modified though):</p>
<p>Do you basically come up with the idea for the project after reading the notes the professor gives you? Also, am I guaranteed an internship at a good university? If not, what do I have to achieve to gain an internship with a well-known professor? Thanks again.</p>