ichimatsu

If you have a very specific topic in mind, would you be able to research exactly what you want to do? Or are you assigned a topic relating to your general desired field?

Also, based on the website/mentors listed, it seems like there haven't been any projects in my area of interest (materials engineering/electrochemistry). are there other mentors besides those listed on the website that participate in the program?

gregariously

Oh wow!

Hey guys-- I was one of the 2010 Clark Scholars, so if you have any questions or need any advice about your applications, please let me know. I love to help

I'm sure the other Clark kids will pop in here too We were meaning to start a board, but I guess we all got so swamped we kinda forgot..

.. Oh well, here now, at your service!

EDIT: Oh, I didn't see that another Clarkie has already posted. Oh well, we're both here for you!

And to answer some questions that have already come up--

@fudginess: I actually do not know, but if you have questions about that sort of thing, I would definitely email Ms. Lynda Durham-- she does a lot of work with putting together the pieces of the application and would be able to give you a definitive answer. (My guess is that it depends on the type of the supplementary material/why you want to send it.)

@jordijay23: I was in a similar boat. I was juggling between education, theater, chemistry, actually. I wrote one essay about education, the other about chemistry, and I think a third one about theater just for kicks. As long as they're all subjects you are passionate about-- I don't see why you can't indicate interests! I ended up doing education because they had a very good mentor available for that.

Which brings me to the other part of your question. You do not need to have a specific research project/idea in mind. If you are accepted into the program, Ms. Durham will put you in contact with your mentor and you can figure out the details there. Maybe your mentor has a project they want you to tag along on, or maybe you have an idea, or maybe you can meet halfway. The lovely thing about Clark is that it is what you make it.

@MathRules: Another great question for Ms. Durham, but I am going to take a stab out there and say that if it's possible to send scores. Now you said you haven't taken the PSAT because schools won't let you take it, but since you're in Grade 11, it might be time to take the ACT and/or SAT?

That being said, none of us really got in on test scores alone-- but also none of us got in without test scores either.

I'd ask Ms. Durham on that one too.

iceui2

^ Thanks for the text, gregariously. Merry Christmas to you too!

Anyways, back on topic. @ichimatsu: I actually worked in materials engineering, while another Clarkie did a project in electrochemistry (both fall in the general field of Chemical Engineering). On my application, I put biological science as my number one choice. But I ended up working in biochemical/materials engineering, and I probably couldn't have asked for a better project.

Also, a lot of the professors actually read your application. So you definitely want to be pretty specific in your research topics. If you have only have a general field of interest in your mind, just imagine yourself doing research in a specific area and expand on that.

And if you haven't taken the SAT yet, you should just do it in January or February. You don't want to be put at a disadvantage if you don't have a test score. Like I said before, you don't need an amazing score to get in. But you do have to present your best self in the application.

jordijay23

@gregariously
Awesome, thank you for the help! I'll try to come up with a few specific topics in each field that interest me.
That said, I'm completing the application online, and I believe on top of the space they give us to complete the narrative it says, "please limit your statement to this page," implying that they're only asking for one narrative. Is this different than it has been in previous years?

gregariously

@jordijay23
Oops! I should've been more clear. Let me try again:

I wrote three short paragraphs for my "academic interests" portion of my application (Part B, I believe?) For the narrative (Part C?), I wrote one essay that-- upon reflection-- really did not speak much about my academic interests at all, as much as it was an introduction to me as a person.

FOR THE RECORD I am not recommending this route (nor am I discouraging it). I'm sure past Clarkies can chime in here and say how your narrative should reflect your academic interests and yada-yada-- All I'm saying is that this worked for me.

NspiredOne

question for siemens/intel research. now will you have to tell your mentor that you are interested in doing siemens/intel and they will help you design a project that can be entered or is it all on your own thinking? I have done prior research one but i was not at a point where i understood everything. The main purpose of this program for me would be to obviously do research and submit it to siemens/intel since i already live near a prestigious university and i can easily intern there. and what categories for siemens/intel seem to win more often? i'm interested in pathology so idk... sorry if i made absolutely no sense.

proletariat2

'09 Clarkie here! *wave of nostalgia* Anyway, I am ready to dispense incredibly vague advice if you would like some, and I would advise you to look at the Clark Scholars 2010 thread I started.

I didn't tell my mentor I would be entering Siemens/Intel, nor did anyone else my year. I guess you could do that...

And don't worry about which categories win more often. I mean, you don't see many ecology projects in the listings of winners, but there probably aren't many submitted either. Just do what interests you!

tarofang

So i'm thinking about applying.
One thing confuses me. Evaluation Form They only leave 2 lines for remarks in the form. Does that mean teachers' words should be limited to that space?

NspiredOne

right off course, thanks proletariat! but obviously, do you have to have a research question and topic in mind or will your mentor help you? I have researched before but it was not very indepth but more of a lab experience where i tagged along with my mentor.

ichimatsu

can some of the alumni post their project titles/a general description? I think it would be helpful to see what type of projects you end up with.

NspiredOne

Also is this social? i don't want to go to a 6 week camp that feels like solitary confinement.... i know RSI is pretty social since they do have like 70 kids

iceui2

Here's a project title from last year: "Tumor necrosis factor alpha augments AMPA-induced toxicity through an interplay of calpain and calbindin"

And here's another one: "Spans of planar continua"

As you can see, it really varies. You usually get assigned to a topic in a general field, but you definitely get to put your own spin to it.

And yes this is social lol. I actually think we're a lot better off than those larger programs because we don't form cliques. Plus, we receive a lot more freedom. On weekends, we go out to dinner (like real places, not a cafeteria), watch a movie (I wanted to watch Despicable Me, but 11 other people wanted to watch Inception. sigh), play ping pong, etc. We also had a picnic/went swimming by this large lake. All of us are usually busy doing our own work on weekdays, but we hung out at nights. We had a TV in our suite (!!!), so we would hook up our laptops (or rather, MY laptop) and watch random shows and movies. Basically, we did a lot of things as a whole group, and I doubt RSI can say that.

Ahh... the good times. There were bad times as well, but there's no need to mention that.

gregariously

@NspiredOne

Believe me, I had the same worry before I went..
.. and while I was there, too :/

But I came to the conclusion that it is what you make it, honestly. Living with the same people for seven weeks, you're bound to do a lot of things together (like iceui2 said). And, with the right attitude, get super close. But if people are bent on working/sleeping/not talking to other people, then that's just what they're going to do. That was probably the one fault of our awesome dorms. While it was nice to have our own rooms within the suite, it was all too easy to escape into your own world and kind of ignore everybody else.

Before I scare you too far away, though, I feel like the group of twelve kind of forced us to stick together. You could easily tell when somebody was missing, for instance. Also, the van conveniently fit all of us when we wanted to go see Inception (btw, iceui2: Twelve people-- Kristin and the rest of us-- wanted to see Inception, you wanted to see Despicable Me. I still haven't seen Despicable Me, and it's making me mad.. but I am glad we saw Inception on opening weekend-- I got to brag about it back home..)

SHORT ANSWER: It is social if you make it that way. (Though it helps if you like lazer tag. And going out for random movies at weird hours. And taking the RA's TV. And eating out. And frozen yogurt. And actually going out on the weekends and not working or something silly like that. And actually trying to explore Lubbock and doing something interesting. And malls. And swimming in freezing pools. And cookouts. And lazy rivers. And goofing off. And not thinking you're too cool for any of it.)

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.

Leftyy

Which grade do you have to be in to apply for this?

NspiredOne

mmmm sounds pretty goood. hopefully i can get into RSI or this.