Hello everyone, and I want to pursue comp sci research. Do you guys know how much experience, if any, should a highschooler have to do guided independent study - like doing your own research topic guided by a mentor/professor?
Are you currently in high school, wanting to do research while you’re in high school? If so, what grade are you?
Because you can learn as you go, you don’t need any experience to do independent research. You do need certain skills. At a minimum, (1) strong abstract reasoning skills (2) intermediate to advance skills in your target programming language (3) familiarity with algorithms, operating systems, and libraries and (4) intermediate to advance math skills.
Does your school offer AP Research or a similar class? That class provides a structured environment for high schoolers to conduct independent research culminating in a research symposium. At our high school, science fair participation was a mandatory component and students also often used work completed in the class to apply to competitive summer research programs.
I am a rising senior.
That’s interesting. My school does have AP Research, but I do not think I have room in my schedule for it - neither have I taken AP Seminar. In my school, science fair participation is rare. I just want to do the research to apply my pre-existing knowledge to a larger question.
If you’re interested in doing research because you’re really interested in doing it, that’s fine.
But if you think it’ll help your college application, at this point (as a rising senior with school starting just about a month away), it really won’t. I’m not saying that’s necessarily your intent, but I know some kids in a similar situation so I’m just pointing that out.
2 Likes
Deleted
@Trixster
Some colleges have extra curricular research programs for high schoolers, like Vanderbilt.
Perhaps there is something near you, or even online.
There are some for profit programs that come up, too, surely fee based.
Some federal or state agencies may have unpaid research internships.
For example, NASA, NIH.
See NASA’s Datanauts program for example
See STEM engagement for high schoolers, set search filters. Datanauts
Also, the Army has programs. Students | AEOP
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.