<p>I was first thinking of joining a high school research program, but from what I have found they application is way back when all the summer program applications were due ( I applied to a summer program for engineering and got in though). I thought then about contacting a local university, and seeing if anyone there would mentor me. They gave me a short response asking for more information, and I am waiting now for a follow up.</p>
<p>I want to participate in the Siemens Competition, but I have no prior experience in research and am not extremely versed in any particular subject. I just have some ideas of projects I would like to do. </p>
<p>Therefore, I really don't see why a professor or undergraduate student would want to mentor me? It seems it would be a waste of their time..</p>
<p>However, I was thinking of asking a Chemistry teacher at my school to help me? She is young but graduated from Notre Dame. Her husband also graduated from Notre Dame in Mechanical Engineering and comes by the school a lot. It is a very friendly small catholic school. If she/ they would be willing to mentor/ teach me ( I assume they do some teaching?) would that work as a good mentor?</p>
<p>Lastly.. am I the type of student that should be trying to participate in these programs? I'm a smart kid that likes math and science.. but I don't have a ton of knowledge about a certain field. It seems all the Siemens winners are crazy smart with ridiculously complex science projects.. what do you think? Am I inadequate for this kind of thing?</p>
<p>Thanks all. :)</p>
<p>READ PLEASEEEE!! :p</p>
<p>Quick response please??</p>
<p>Hi! I hope I can help a little…</p>
<p>I’m currently a sophomore and I work on an environmental engineering project with a professor at Columbia. I would recommend working with a university professor/grad student if you can, because often they will have access to labs and equipment that would be hard to find in a high school lab. Of course, it all depends on the project. A lot of professors and grad students are really nice and enthusiastic, I would send some emails around to professors that work in areas you’re interested in. If you can just get by with the resources at your high school, then your chemistry teacher should be sufficient.</p>
<p>I read a lot of the Siemens/Intel abstracts and they sound ridiculously complicated, but I think if you focus on a small area and commit time to reading and researching, it’ll work out. I’m not some super-genius or anything special, but I like to research. You’ll be fine. :]</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>Dang… Smart ass sophomore! aha… Lucky you get to work at a school like Columbia! Talk about location…</p>
<p>Well if I were to access a professor, it would only be for a week or two, at max. Is this a substantial amount of time? Especially since I will go in not really knowing what the heck I’m doing? (Given I will do background studying first so I’m not a dumb brick walking in)</p>
<p>Yeah… I figured they just sounded complex because they were super specific… but I could never be sure considering how out there the projects sounded.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of a lot of finalists in Siemens/Intel that work on their projects only the summer before and end up doing really well. A week or two is kind of short, but if you work really intensively and do a lot of background work before and after you should be able to put together an intense project :p</p>
<p>I volunteer through this website and they have some helpful advice [Science</a> Buddies: How to Find a Mentor](<a href=“http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/top_science-fair_mentors.shtml]Science”>Science Buddies: How to Find a Mentor)</p>
<p>Oh, also, a friend of mine that was successful in Siemens/Intel told me that they take into account how much help you had on the project. They respect a lot of independent research. A lot of people (like me :p) enter their projects with little or no knowledge before hand, but learn through osmosis. </p>
<p>Hope to see you at Siemens!</p>
<p>Thanks, that information is helpful, and I will look into some of its suggestions.
It’s main suggestion as yours seems to work with a professor. Like I said I am trying to get in contact with one. However, my dad, who is a professor at UCI in computer science, doesn’t see why a professor would want to work/ mentor/ teach a high school student. It seems it would be a waste of their time.</p>
<p>I want to do a project in Engineering, so my Dad can’t really help me find anyone. I have emailed them and I’m still waiting for them to reply… should I keep emailing different professors if they don’t reply (don’t want to come off short notice) or would that come off as impatient?</p>
<p>I would keep emailing different professors…it took me a little while to find a mentor, but it’s worth it in the end. Some students end up emailing whole lists of professors in a certain field. A lot of professors with smaller research groups tend to be more open to high school students. </p>
<p>What I did was I emailed a lot of professors at first asking them to meet and discuss their research. A lot of them are enthusiastic about their work and agree, and a lot of times you can ask them then if you can work with them.</p>
<p>Should i send out a standard email? Or did you do a bit of background research on the professors/ their works?</p>
<p>I was thinking maybe just letting them know what I’m interested in doing, etc. :)</p>
<p>My emails were pretty uniform…I changed a sentence or two in each one talking about how I was interested in so and so’s work specifically in ______. I didn’t do too much background research, besides browsing their websites or googling some. Mention one of your ideas, how it relates…Nothing too formal/long/elaborate :p</p>
<p>Okay sounds great. Lastly… how long should i wait for a response?..</p>
<p>I sent this one director of a research department an email asking if they knew of any professors in the department who might be interested. They asked to know whether I was local or not, i responded, and I am waiting for a response.</p>
<p>I don’t want to start sending out emails to a bunch of professors in the department because I don’t want to come off like I am spamming everyone aha. And I don’t want to send another email to the director without a response first. Suggestions? :)</p>
<p>Btw, thank you for all your help!!</p>
<p>Hm. I would give a response maybe about 1-2 weeks. The professor I’m working with now though didn’t email me until a month after I had emailed him. </p>
<p>If you contact the undergraduate representative of the department, then sometimes they have a list of professors willing to do research with undergrads, and often, those are the same professors willing to research with high school students. </p>
<p>I would email professors that you’re most interested in first, then maybe wait a week and email others. Make sure you send thank you emails to whomever responds. </p>
<p>Haha no problem my pleasure :)</p>