<p>I know this appears horrible that I'm worrying about how research impacts the admissions process, but I really regret also not having done it for its own sake...I've spent the last few summers pretty much just volunteering (and independent studying)...Will research alter chances at top universities, esp. since I'm Asian ?</p>
<p>I'm Asian too, and thinking about this, I don't think it will change much.
Doing research and boosting your own intelligence doesn't do that much to help the community in this stage of life, and I'm sure colleges value volunteering more than research.
Of course, if you did do it, that's great, but otherwise there's nothing you can do about it so don't worry.
By the way, I never researched anything either, and when I saw the Georgia Tech application I just skipped the research section thinking that it wouldn't matter.</p>
<p>Bump, please...anyone have ANY thoughts or experience? a simple, curt answer would be appreciated</p>
<p>I've never heard anything about anyone in my town doing research before graduating high school. It's something that not many high school kids have the opportunity or knowledge to do so early. My school still sends kids to MIT, Harvard, Brown, etc., so it's not a problem. If you're keeping busy, don't worry about it.</p>
<p>Don't wprry about it. An ambition to do research should be present in your app- that's more interesting to colleges than whether or not you've had the chance to do the academic exploring that you would like to have done.</p>
<p>I don't think research for the sake of it is the point. Colleges want to see what lessons you can get out of your research experience. Some people get really crappy research internships that's actually more like a technician job.</p>
<p>So, if someone refers to a research position as a "job" or "work," then that's not terribly impressive?</p>
<p>In general, anything that you have to be screened before you are allowed to do it is better than the ones you don't have to be screened, ie volunteer experience. But it depends on the volunteer experience also, some are better than others.</p>
<p>In my opinion, there are so many definitions of "research." If you don't win any awards, I don't see how you have proof that the research you did is worthwhile. Many of my classmates have some simple and tedious tasks at a local university (like counting cells, matrix calculations, "analyzing" data, etc.) and call it research. Obviously there's no way for the college to know otherwise. So I'd say they probably don't take "research" seriously if you've never won awards or published papers.</p>
<p>In other words, I second chronicidal.</p>
<p>Same with volunteer experience. Some just counting pink bracelets for American RedCross.</p>
<p>I don't think that research is as unique as it used to be, so I think that it won't help much or at all in admissions anymore. It seems as if everyone is doing research now, so it's not like you would stand out or get an edge from doing research, imo.</p>