Research: with a professor or at a summer program?

1NJParent
Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:23:03 +0000

I generally agree with many of the posts above, but I’ll add the following:

1. It depends on the college to some degree. AOs aren’t specialists in any field of research. A few colleges may use departmental resources to validate certain selective research claims on applications, but most don’t. As expected, the quality and authenticity of your research matters more to the colleges that validate (even if selectively).

2. Because of their proliferations, research with individual professor is only valuable if the work can be validated (and few colleges do that).

3. Paid summer programs (other than those that are need blind and meet 100% need such as SSP) generally don’t have the impact that applicants assume. They can still be very meaningful extracurricular activities and can demonstrate students’ strong interests, however.