<p>I'm doing biophysics research at a local university this semester for 8-10 hrs/wk.</p>
<p>I got into this research after an injury barred me cross country, my main fall EC. Undertaking some sort of research sounded like the most enjoyable plausible alternative (to doing nothing). </p>
<p>Rather than the normal route of formulating some idea and finding a professor to support it, I searched through the research going on at this university, found a professor with an interesting research focus, and managed to acquire a research position with him. (So there goes creativity and originality)</p>
<p>This position isn't paid or for credit, nor is it an internship. I most likely won't get anything published, and my research isn't anything groundbreaking, as you would see in Intel/Siemens. All I will potentially have is a recommendation from my mentor.</p>
<p>All that said, will this help my application at all? (or maybe even a lot?) I've gathered that research is a major plus for admissions to MIT, and other top schools as well... but I wonder how well this holds for minor research, such as mine.</p>
<p>Hmm, this sounds horribly cynical. I will note that, although this research position was an alternative to an EC I had to drop, it wasn’t just the lesser of the evils. I actually really wanted to try out researching. And the topic was/is really cool.</p>
<p>You’re a hs senior? Doing research at a U? How could it be valueless? Don’t focus on it’s origin in an injury. Start seeing it as great proof of your motivation. Start working now to formulate the best short summary of it as you can. Be honest. State the intentions in the best legit light and same for any prelim results. If possible, state the potential impact and further potential research directions.<br>
Even if you’re currently in coll, hoping fo a transfer, the effort is what’s key. Publishing would be the icing.</p>
I would actually posit that this is the normal route, particularly in the sciences. Even graduate students and postdoctoral fellows don’t come up with brilliant ideas and find professors to support them – they join a lab, then come up with a research topic together with the professor.</p>
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Vanishingly few high school students actually get published. Not very many college undergraduates even get published after working in labs for two or three years. (I’m a graduate student, and I haven’t published in my PhD lab after three years here.) It takes a long time to publish, and whether or not you publish isn’t necessarily indicative of the effort or novelty of your research. </p>
<p>Nobody is expecting you to publish something as a high school student – the point is more to learn about the process of science and hopefully to get you excited about your topic or research in general. The value is in doing research, not in any tangible outcomes.</p>
<p>Oh, I understand there is intrinsic value in doing research. I have really enjoyed it so far and will continue it regardless of its effect on admissions. Even so, I’m hoping that it does improve my chances a noticeable amount. Even more so, I’m hoping that however much it will improve my chances will offset the amount that quitting cross country senior year (and thus not showing passion, four-year involvement, etc.) will be a detriment to my application.</p>