<p>I don’t think awards are necessary, but in some ways it’s kind of a confirmation. Also, if you can say you’ve had a mentor, and name them, it’s a bit of credibility. Otherwise, people could pass off the effect of time on WoW character’s level as research. i’ve been doing mostly independent research, at my home, for the past 4 years (different projects, though all in the same field). I have gotten to ISEF, intel semifinalist, and more with my independent, at-home research. I have also had the opportunity to work in a lab during a summer program and have done very well in competitions with that research. I think someone said it before, but summer programs are more than just the researchBoth experiences have been awesome and i’ve learned different things in each. Though I’ve done pretty well in competitions, I definitely would say that I do research for the sake of doing research. I think you have a very good opportunity with your mentor. You’ll also have much more time to develop a really nice project and maybe get published. Think of it this way as well: you would already have done most of the preliminary work by summer, and you can devote your summer to the core research, so you have more time to do stuff. If you do a summer program, you’ll be restricted to what you can accomplish. If you’re motivated enough , I’m sure you’ll do well no matter what you do. I guess accessibility of research also depends on what fields you want to pursue. It’s much harder to do biology research, independently at home, rather than math, computer science, etc. I don’t know if this post helped much, but I would be glad to answer any questions you may have, just PM me.</p>