Research: with a professor or at a summer program?

blossom
Thu, 16 Feb 2023 17:48:14 +0000

hebegebe:

In terms of admission impact, every one of the dozen plus students who had applied to Columbia and had won a similar prize received a likely letter from Columbia a few weeks later. That is not random. I don’t remember the exact count, but a large number also received a likely letter to Yale. Again, not random. The average number of HYPSM admittances for this group was over 3.

And the average number of elite college admittances of my kid’s cohort at the fast food restaurant where he worked (night shift, cleaner) was ALSO over 3. (zero to Stanford, full disclosure).

I wouldn’t tell anyone to work the night shift in a uniform as a way to get into an elite college (although my kid’s essay about getting grease stains out of polyester was hilarious) even though he and his co-workers did extremely well admissions-wise.

The point is that adcom’s care about everything… paid work, volunteer work, research, hobbies which show deep commitment, etc. So for kids to perseverate about which TYPE of research is going to be more prestigious, and will the letter of recommendation from a “famous” professor vs. a run of the mill professor…the adults on here should not add fuel to that fire. Do research if that’s what you want to do and can do it (transportation, access, don’t need the money from a paid job, can find a sponsor), but don’t do it if there are other things you’d rather be doing.

Friend of my son’s from college- who is leading a team at a “highly prestigious” lab as an MD/PhD (elite program) now, did no research in HS. He went from server to assistant manager to shift supervisor to manager at a pizza restaurant during HS. That also shows tenacity and work ethic and all that jazz.

Don’t fetishize research for a 17 year old!