<p>I have a quite straight forward question to you guys.</p>
<p>Let's suppose that there are two things what I can do:
1) Taking AP Chem, Cal, Bio during Junior year and other AP courses like macro/micro economics, psychology to take college science courses in Senior year.</p>
<p>2) Instead of taking AP exam, just focus on research experience.</p>
<p>Which one does it more favorable?
Before you guys decide, I want to let you guys know what kind of conditions I'm in.
I'm in really tiny Christian school so there is no any AP classes in my school.
I take 4 regular classes at my school and take AP Chem, Calculus as online course and do AP Biology by myself. If I take AP classes at my school, it would be lot easier for me. However, I am taking it through online class so it consumes lots of my time. That is why I can't do both AP and research experience.(It would be definitely good if I can do both haha) Please tell me which one can show better passion toward science and math.</p>
<p>And I have two short questions.
1)If I have a research experience, should I always compete in some kind of science fair and get some prizes? or is it just good to have a research experience and make my own research paper? </p>
<p>2)If I take AP marco/micro economics and psychology class, will it help me when I apply for Caltech or does Caltech only care about science or math courses?</p>
<p>Especially if you are doing courses by yourself or online, you need the AP test to show that your course was legit. I wouldn’t worry much about AP econ/psychology, but AP Calc (BC) is pretty important and you should definitely do it as a junior if you can. Doing well in other ap courses helps show that you can handle a rigorous science courseload, which is important if you come from a smaller school that doesn’t offer as many hard science courses.</p>
<p>While doing well in competition with research is good, there’s nothing wrong if you don’t (I’m assuming you’re going to be doing research with a professor at a local university)</p>
<p>I actually not doing research with a professor right now. I am doing by myself and it is extremely hard for me. So I wasn’t sure what to give up. If I am working with a professor, it would be great but I didn’t have any chances like that. Whenever I tried to contact them, they just rejected me. I was exchanging mail with a graduate student who told me to help my research but he suddenly ignored my mail and my 5 months effort was just gone haha.
I am really confused what to focus on.</p>
<p>I agree with jdhutchin - you need to take the AP test to prove your self-study is valuable. I think that, even at Caltech, research experience for a high school student is NOT a necessity, but proof of math/science ability is. Work on your classes and take the AP tests to show that you can handle the research opportunities at Caltech.</p>
<p>I think it’s easier for you to get competition experience than doing research. I think they are both looked favorably by Caltech, but doing research on your own without any guides, as you’ve mentioned, can be extremely difficult. For the same result, you can work less by competition. But of course, if you feel like doing research than competition, go ahead with research. There’s no use to do something if you don’t like it.</p>
<p>I have a quick question. I really enjoy researching and I am definitely trying to make a small research paper by end of this semester. Do you think it will have a good affect? or do I necessarily to get some kind of prizes at science fair? I am not going to join science fair since I’m not ready.</p>
<p>That really depends on what you mean by “enjoy researching” and “a small research paper”.
It is my understanding that pretty much all high school students don’t understand the meaning “scientific research”, mainly because they are not capable of conducting one. Heck, most undergrads can’t do it. We think we are doing research, but really, we aren’t.</p>
<p>So, if you want to research/get acquainted with some subject that interests you and write a report about your experiences, go for it (provided it doesn’t consume too much of your time). Otherwise, I would use your free time to learn some more math - it will make your life here a lot easier.</p>
<p>@Hriundeli// I totally got what you are saying and I know that high schooler has some kind of limit to perform research like graduate student or undergraduate student. However, I believe that it will be a good experience for me even though I don’t get a good result
Thanks for your advice tho!</p>
<p>Research without guidance is useless. The point of finding research opportunities for me was to get a feel for the academia environment and discovering paths of new interest. You sound like you just want to beef up your list of awards. My research project wasn’t even completed and I didn’t submit to any awards. But the people and the environment I worked with exerted influences that changed my application - and my life (I won’t go into detail =P).</p>
<p>IMO your best bet is to do the most AP’s right now, and go to RSI or lower tier research camps if you’re really into this kind of stuff. Also think about WHY you were rejected by professors. Another option is to find other professors, but they should hold high positions at more distinguished universities. Your average tenured professor at <em>insert name here</em> State isn’t going to make the cut. Yes, one of the things I found was that names matter.</p>
<p>I know this sounds a little rude, but you sound like the “what awards/positions/AP should I make to go to <em>insert school here</em>” type. Seriously, if you had real interests you would have finished those AP’s a looong time ago…</p>
<p>@Col// my previous school and current school don’t offer AP classes… that’s why I couldn’t really start till now.
Well… as Lizzard said… not everyone is at the same level and has the same chances to do something…</p>
<p>Check out the above link. It’s an institute devoted to research done by high school students. It’s in California, but even if you can’t or don’t want to attend they probably would have some advice on getting a research position.</p>
<p>My advice. Stick to school and competitions junior year. Do research during the summer and continue it in the fall if it is promising.</p>
