<p>Hi, I'm applying to many top schools this fall (Ivies, top 20 schools) and I have all the stats needed to have a small chance (3.9 GPA at a very competitive school with the hardest classes, 2250+ SAT, 800's for math 2 and bio m, 5 on bio ap this year (and my school doesn't have ap bio so I "self-studied"))
So as you can tell I want to be a bio major. However, I don't have much research experience other than volunteering at a math and science tutoring place. So, this summer I applied and was accepted at a research program at a local uni. But, the problem is that it's not real research. It's mostly that my mentor scientist gives me a few small experiments (like the labs we do at school) to do and she leaves me at the lab for the whole day and sometimes I have nothing to do. I have tried multiple times to let her know I have nothing to do and that I want more work; but she kind of ignores me. The project I'm working on is becoming really disorganized (since I rely on her to supply me with materials and give me permission to work) and its definitely not something on such I could submit a paper to college (But i do have to write a paper anyway for the program).
What do I do? Do I just suck it up? I have tried telling her that I would want to send something about my research to college (and I have hinted which colleges) but she doesn't seem to care. I mean she is nice, but I'm not doing anything significant here and I feel like I'm wastng my time if I don't have anything to do.
how will not having research material or a supplementary will affect my chances of getting into a top school? I don't have any science related activities or awards other than the volunteering at this program! Help!?
Also</p>
<p>Many people don’t have research experiences at all. Do you have other science things on your application that stand out? If this is the only thing, then it’s not that strong anyway. However, a lot of internships are fashioned in that way - to teach techniques rather than to actually perform groundbreaking research. Have you let her know what you would like to work on? Have you done a review of the literature to find what other academics are finding and have a project in mind? It’s very hard for a post-doc to design a special experiment just for an intern who will be leaving after a very brief time. Generally, the whole process of designing a study and performing it could take months or years. And then it takes another long period of time to publish it. For instance, my paper from two years ago is just now coming up for publication.</p>
<p>This won’t ruin your chances, it just won’t boost your chances as much as a traditional research opportunity is (which is rare among students nonetheless). So just make the most of it and try your hardest to do more things in the lab!</p>
<p>No unfortunately I do not have other science ec’s other than this and the science tutoring (to be fair, I had my first intensive biology course last year (first time taking biology) and that’s why I only recently found out that I want to major in bio.
I have researched all the relevant research and tried to come up with simple tests but she keeps saying that they would not work for my experiment 
But the major reason I am annoyed is (didn’t mention it in my first post) that another girl from the program is working in the same lab (so we are alone together) but she has a different project that she works on for 4-5 hours a day. And it’s not like she has more research experience than me and I know exactly what her project is. It’s just that our mentor assigned her the more organized, proffessional project and I guess I got stuck with the easy/boring project. (I also think its because my lab partner’s sisters have all worked for my mentor before so she gets special treatment -_-)
Also, I am planning to double major or minor in Italian so I have a ton of good Italian ec’s. would that help make up for my lack of significant research in bio?</p>
<p>Also wanted to say thank you for your comments; they are very helpful!</p>
<p>I honestly can’t tell you which ECs would be helpful if any would be helpful at all. I am not familiar with the intricacies of Ivy League admissions. However, it does seem strange that the same mentor is giving you different projects. Are you saying that you don’t have a project at all? That is, what is you function in the lab every day? Are you just shadowing people or are you doing trivial procedures, like, say a Western or PCR that you just throw away? Describe “small experiments.”</p>
<p>Well my partner is doing an extensive dpph assay with different variables such as temp, concentration, and time with antioxidants. I am testing antioxidants in food and u have done some dpph and I am supposed to organize tastings however this is he problem. While
My partner does her analysis all day I usually wait because my samples have to be in an incubator. And when I try to organize tastings my mentor comes in late or reschedules them which is not good bc shouldn’t everything be accurate in an experiment? U can’t just randomly say “I did this a 6 days later but I did this part 10 days later”!</p>
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<li>I have done not “u”</li>
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