<p>As someone who did both research and Summer@Brown last summer, the local prof would probably be more useful but Brown or some sort of precollege thing would definitely be more of a “fun” summer experience. You have to decide which one is more worth it to you. You have time to do research and you have to decide if you have the courage to email a prof so young. I started my research summer between soph and junior year and I was a Siemens semifinalist (only a junior so I couldn’t enter Intel). Just as a little anecdote…</p>