Rant: Tell Kids to Stop Bugging Professors for Internships

[Anonymous]

I'm a professor and regularly get emails from high school students who ask for research internships. They haven't finished high school, much less basic undergraduate courses in my field. I don't know who encourages this, but obviously those kids didn't think up this idea independently.

"Dear Professor X:

I am very interested in your work after reading [one of my obscure papers from a web search]. I would like to help you with research because I want to have a career [making a lot of money by doing something I know nothing about]."

This is insulting to their high school teachers, who have a lot to teach them.

[Anonymous]

A common myth over on reddit is that teens need "research" experience to get admitted to highly selective colleges. I don't know where the myth started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professor and regularly get emails from high school students who ask for research internships. They haven't finished high school, much less basic undergraduate courses in my field. I don't know who encourages this, but obviously those kids didn't think up this idea independently.

"Dear Professor X:

I am very interested in your work after reading [one of my obscure papers from a web search]. I would like to help you with research because I want to have a career [making a lot of money by doing something I know nothing about]."

This is insulting to their high school teachers, who have a lot to teach them.

I am curious what research you do that leads to making a lot of money. I gather if your research was relevant to making a lot of money...you yourself would make a ton of money (and maybe not be a professor).

I feel you. You must have a TA that wants to haze these kids. I am sure they could think of creative responses.

[Anonymous]

Some of the MCPS magnet programs require the kids to do a research internship.

[Anonymous]

OP sounds like a mom trying to cut out the competition!

[Anonymous]

ha! my son got a research position for this summer sending an email that didn't look very different! the only difference was the money angle - can't imagine this professor makes very good money doing academic research. the kids know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who encourages this

The college application process encourages this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professor and regularly get emails from high school students who ask for research internships. They haven't finished high school, much less basic undergraduate courses in my field. I don't know who encourages this, but obviously those kids didn't think up this idea independently.

"Dear Professor X:

I am very interested in your work after reading [one of my obscure papers from a web search]. I would like to help you with research because I want to have a career [making a lot of money by doing something I know nothing about]."

This is insulting to their high school teachers, who have a lot to teach them.

Blame the college admissions process fella! Talk to your peers/co-workers and have them change their stupid process. Colleges have questions along the lines of "Why XXX college?" and guess what, kids make up crap like "I love Crystal Meth Biology, love the work Professor Impatient is doing and would love to work in his lab. After lab, I want to grab late night pizza at Local Italianao's". Your idiot colleagues think the kid is genuine because he used a real prof's name and a real pizza place that is open late nights, and that the kid is really into your college. The kid does that for every college he applies to. Why are you now upset if the kid just follows the same playbook and contacts one of y'all in real life? You trained him after all..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who encourages this

The college application process encourages this.

Exactly. I am pretty sure the students would rather spend the summer lifeguarding. I did. But they are being made to think if they don’t pursue this sort of “opportunity,” then they will never amount to anything.

Don’t hate the kids; hate the game the adults are forcing them to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professor and regularly get emails from high school students who ask for research internships. They haven't finished high school, much less basic undergraduate courses in my field. I don't know who encourages this, but obviously those kids didn't think up this idea independently.

"Dear Professor X:

I am very interested in your work after reading [one of my obscure papers from a web search]. I would like to help you with research because I want to have a career [making a lot of money by doing something I know nothing about]."

This is insulting to their high school teachers, who have a lot to teach them.

Blame the college admissions process fella! Talk to your peers/co-workers and have them change their stupid process. Colleges have questions along the lines of "Why XXX college?" and guess what, kids make up crap like "I love Crystal Meth Biology, love the work Professor Impatient is doing and would love to work in his lab. After lab, I want to grab late night pizza at Local Italianao's". Your idiot colleagues think the kid is genuine because he used a real prof's name and a real pizza place that is open late nights, and that the kid is really into your college. The kid does that for every college he applies to. Why are you now upset if the kid just follows the same playbook and contacts one of y'all in real life? You trained him after all..

Preach!

Professor, drop by your admissions office and show them that email and ask them who encourages this.

[Anonymous]

This makes me sad. When I was in HS a million years ago, I wrote a letter to the psych department at the local University looking for opportunities because my HS didn’t have psych classes. I started volunteering as a HS senior and worked in the same prof’s lab all 4 years of college. With her mentorship, I went on to get a PhD. I guess when it’s easy for kids to send such inquiries (google + email), profs are feeling overwhelmed. Although I’m sorry to know that you find such requests irritating, may I suggest creating a kindly worded boilerplate rejection email? For college and HS kids who are looking for summer opportunities, it’s much better to get a polite rejection than no response at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who encourages this

The college application process encourages this.

+1-- it is RIDICULOUS. at this point, an internship won't cut it anyways. Find a cure for cancer- that may help, except for Michigan.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can ignore these emails.
-Another Professor

[Anonymous]

I was a lab manager and my boss (the principal investigator) would task me every summer with handholding some high school student. They were generally just some random who had emailed him and he would always put their name on a publication! I noticed that every single one was the same ethnicity he was.

[Anonymous]

And yet, this works. And did for my kid with tremendous benefit. Some professors love to do it when they find the right kids.

Let's tell kids to stop doing stuff because it is hard and slightly annoys some people. Great lesson there.

And if we get to tell others who can and can't email us, I wanna go first. Fortunately though my computer comes with this great feature called "the delete key", and both of my mail services do a rough priority sort of email.

But maybe that's just mine.