<p>Being a junior and high school, time is coming close to filling out college applications and what not. I want to be able to stand out from other applicants widely. Im in the top 5% of my class, have various numbers of extracurricular activities, and also take high end classes. Since i go to a vocational High School, i’ve been learning about computer Science for the past 3 years, and am going to learn for another year next year. I already know about web designing and want to expand my knowledge more towards coding programs and security based information on computers. I thought if I do something with a college professor, like so sort of research, that would definitely help me stand out, except i dont exactly know the apporach nor do i know what college professors would actually do for a person who wants to major in computer science. If anyone can put a little insite, i’d really appreciate it, and if theres other ways to stand out for computer science, id love to know. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Start with asking around at your HS to see if any of them know any profs looking for help. You could also ask at your local CC or U or college – asking at their computer science department to see who is looking for student help. Good luck! Start asking now so you could work over the summer & perhaps part-time next year as well.</p>
<p>I am wondering if it’s actually a good idea for you to approach a professor about individual work already, or if you might benefit from more coursework first. Do you know college-level discrete math, data structures and algorithms? </p>
<p>Professors can’t really work with you productively until you have a solid undergraduate computer science foundation; otherwise they’d have to teach you the foundations first, which is not a very good use of their time.</p>
<p>The good news is that taking college courses in high school will make your application stand out too!</p>
<p>ahh, yeah i mean i really dont know any of it, a teacher who was suppose to be my teacher next year, was subbing a few days and taught us about binary coding and what not. I mean i can always learn on the side, but if not, what else can i do? I mean I’m in Computer Science, am going to take Computer Science AP and im going to learn oracle Javascript etc etc next year.</p>
<p>Let me be blunt: if all you’ve learned so far is basic web design (HTML and CSS?), you are in no position to approach a professor about a research position. You haven’t even had a comprehensive programming class yet, let alone basic theory classes. (The most basic project a professor could hand to an undergraduate student is a coding assignment, with no creative contribution required. But even that requires familiarity with a general purpose programming language and data structures.)</p>
<p>If you want to go beyond your high school curriculum, why don’t you start by taking a college class on the side? There might be a local college where you can take (or audit) a class at a time that doesn’t interfere with your high school curriculum, or maybe you can sign up for an online class. If you are just going for enrichment and don’t need documentation, check out MIT Open Courseware.</p>
<p>By the way, does your high school have a computer science club of some sort? That might be a fun way to get involved. And if there isn’t, you could start one yourself! There are several national programming and engineering competitions targeted at high school students with various level of experience. If you could organize a team, find a teacher to mentor you, learn the relevant material and compete, that would be way more impressive on your college application than a vacuous “research” position with a college professor.</p>
<p>If everything else fails, computer science is one of the few fields where you can entertain yourself with access to reference materials and a compiler. For example, I spent my winter break writing a jump-and-run game with graphics and sound effects after I took my first programming class in college. It was so much fun that I really didn’t want to go back to school after break!</p>
<p>They have an engineering club but im not into robotics and what not. I like the idea of starting the club though, what would u recommend it be about? Specifically, like Javascript…C++ , C, Python or, ssomething else?</p>
<p>OH, and i just looked at ur location, kudos for being in silicon valley, hope to go there one day xD</p>
<p>A lot of students do research now, so in terms of standing out, it won’t make an admissions officer look at your application with awe. I say that with caution, since there are student researchers who are absolutely amazing an do stand out in a pile of applications. For the majority of students, research becomes another thing they add to their laundry list. Caught up with the hectic world of school and 60+ clubs, research gets put on the back burner. When the student gets to it, at long last, he does a mediocre job and the professor forgets about him after a few months.</p>
<p>If you really want to stand out, though, take a few high level (for high school) math and CS classes, like b@r!um said. Or, have a skill that few posses and that can be useful to your research. Then, do every little assignment well. Add in something extra and do it quickly. After a while, the professor will trust you with more meaningful projects. This isn’t something that comes overnight – if it did, it probably wouldn’t be worth doing.</p>
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First, I would set a goal. Participating in a specific competition, for example, or writing a program for the robot(s) that the engineering club is building. (Robot soccer anyone?) Then see what you have to learn to achieve that goal. If you want to participate in a specific competition, for example, you probably want to practice in the language that the competition is using. </p>
<p>If there’s no reason to choose another language, I would recommend Python or Java (not Javascript). Java would be convenient because it’s the language used in your AP computer science class and currently somewhat of an industry standard. Python is easier to learn and more pleasant to work with, which you will appreciate when writing lengthy programs (e.g. a computer game or robot soccer).</p>
<p>I actually asked around a few places and im planning to redesign the PBA website for my police station or district, not sure which, but its for the community, is that good, will that make me stand out?</p>