<p>So it's the beginning of August and for a while, I've been thinking of starting scientific research with a mentor. I've always been intrigued by scientific phenomenon, and I want to further my exploration.</p>
<p>A few problems though.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>As mentioned, it's the beginning of August. Is it too late to start research with a university professor now, and continue throughout the school year?</p></li>
<li><p>I have no research experience. Any things I should know?</p></li>
<li><p>How much should I know to commence research? I'm interested in physics (just from reading a few articles/parts of books) and math, but I've never taken a physics class and I have heard that most math research requires concepts from college math.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'm willing to go to far lengths to try this out, but I need these questions addressed. Please help me out, and thanks!</p>
<p>Rising junior. Entering AP Calc BC, taking Honors Physics and AP Chem next year. I am fairly advanced in math (and I have experience with proofs) for my school’s standards, and I am also pretty good at the physical sciences. Though bio isn’t out of the picture. </p>
<p>I’ve pretty much had lab experience mostly through Honors chemistry and biology in school. I also took a biochem course over the summer that introduced me to concepts like PCR, westerns, ELISA, electrophloresis, etc.</p>
<p>Not at all. I started research at the same time as you, a rising junior. I started e-mailing scientists in August, and didn’t get an actual position until September, which i continued throughout the school year. And now i intern at another very prestigious laboratory. I didn’t even have much background knowledge. But seeing as how you have a strong interest and motivation, i say go for it. It is never too late. </p>
<p>Thanks wilddreams! I think I will just e-mail a few professors/scientists at local universities, just from the advice on these forums. So what did you do when you first started research?</p>
<p>Oh and just out of curiosity, what did you research?</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with waiting until college, it actually may be better and you may appreciate it more. From what my mentor told me, starting research is not a linear process, you will get the most out of it if you start at a time where you can put in at least 40 hours a week to truly get a solid start so it is usually easier during a summer in college.
I am a physics major and a thing to keep in mind about physics research is that there are five major subfields (condensed matter, particle cosmology, high energy, astrophysics, and biophysics) and each subfield is separated in a theory and an experimental component. If you had a lot of time you could definitely go into experiment as a high schooler. However, to go into theory it is recommended that you have taken classes up to first semester Electromagnetism (a year long course) and first semester quantum mechanics in order to be useful. A professor/grad must invest time in you in order for you to be useful to them so it is important you have a good background and are hardworking.
If you want to be paid you might have to look quite a bit for funding, usually there are programs you can apply for.</p>
<p>I actually think it’s better to start in high school because that way when you’re in college you won’t be in for a major shock. Like, what if research isn’t really your thing? Well it’s better to find out earlier than later. Plus, in my opinion, if you find research opportunites in high school, it gives you a pretty solid foundation for the future.</p>
<p>As for me: like i said, i didnt have any research background so i didnt do many of the technical stuff. Just mostly analytical. So i analyzed infarcted rat hearts, did a lot of readin, etc. But this summer i got a (paid) internship at another laboratory, and here we do alot of PCR’s and things.</p>
<p>I think you have to be pretty lucky to get a meaningful position in high school. Most people I knew who did any significant work got the position from connections. However I did know a girl who worked in a biomedical lab that accomplished quite a bit. It seems like working in a biomedical lab might be better for high schoolers, so I would probably try that before physics and math.
You might be able to do some things in experimental physics if you are lucky enough to get a position, however at this stage you probably can’t do much in theory. One professor said to me that he’s only had three undergrads work for him in his whole career just because it’s hard for them to be useful.
So if you genuinely want to start research now, I guess you could try to email professors and hope to get lucky. However, if you wait until college you really won’t be missing out. Most people I know started in college, including kids who have been published several times in widely regarded journals. If you wait you can learn at a much faster rate and be able to have more independence.</p>
<p>@Poeme: which biomed lab? Is it at the Wistar Institute…because that’s where i intern, and it’s awesomeeeee But before that i did lab at UPenn Medical Center, which wasn’t too bad either.</p>
<p>But i agree, it does depend on your circumstances. For instance, i live around the UPenn/Drexel area and they have a lot of lab opportunities (imo). Of course, if the OP decides to do research during the school year, he/she won’t get much out of it because research requires time. But if he/she is willing to dedicate several hours a week to research, then i say go for it. It never hurts to start early.</p>
<p>This was actually a girl I knew from high school so it was somewhere back home. She actually got the position by herself I think, she did something in the summer and then stayed during the year. I knew very few people who did research over the school year in my high school, it felt hard to do much of anything because of time. But I hear in some areas universities are more willing to work with high schoolers than others.
I was told by my mentor that it’s good to start in the summer and then continue during the year. That way you will have mastered all of the technical things so you can use your time more wisely during the year since you don’t have as much. The issue with being in high school is that you may not be able to use all of the things you need technically if you are in an experimental group. As an undergrad I can do pretty much everything and even use the clean room facilities, but to do a lot of that you need specific training and I’m not sure if they would invest that in a high schooler (for example even going into a clean room is very expensive).
Maybe you could try a computational area like computational biology. For this you do a lot of computer program which you could do as a high schooler. It’s also a tremendously useful skill for later on.</p>
But before that i did lab at UPenn Medical Center, which wasn’t too bad either.</p>