What does everyone think of organizations that connect students with research orgs and PhDs?

[Anonymous]

It's marketed as research consulting, that they will help you explore your "passion" then connect you with a research team for an internship. The researchers are paid by the consultant to hire the student intern. This feels like open cheating.

How do college admissions officers tell the difference between these cases vs kids who genuinely wanted to do research and went out to find a research assistant job and did it for 2 years instead of 2 months? What kills me is these authentic jobs are probably nothing impressive, I mean what could a high school junior possibly do for a real research team beyond taking notes? But the paid-to-play kids above could be getting more impressive research "experience" that involves authorship on research papers. It's incredibly unfair.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

[Anonymous]

Why is it wrong? Money buys a lot of things in life. Just because you don’t approve, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

The difference is their kids are too dumb to do scientific research. Therefore, they’re gonna demonize it and no one else should do it.

[Anonymous]

It's a Win-Win for all parties. The researchers get the funding they need to continue doing research, despite the current funding situation. The student get to the desired top colleges and career prospects they dream off, despite the current competitiveness. Money exchange hands and the society is the better for it.

[Anonymous]

Pay to Play, nobody pays any attention to it. Waste of money.

[Anonymous]

This is the great equalizer. Some get research through parents’ connections. Some get research through third party firms. I don’t think there are any differences.

[Anonymous]

I'm a well-known professor who receives "counselor" and private school student emails me about wonderful opportunities to work with high school geniuses when my field is only taught to Ph.D. students.

I actually replied to one student giving him a simple math puzzle. He sent back three replies asking for clarification. I sent one final email explaining that he was too high-maintenance to work independently, and needed to focus on his math and science courses. Then I blocked him.

One prestigious London college has a summer program for high school students taught largely by their Ph.D. students. The high school students collaborate on a group paper and I think you can pay extra for a letter.

I presume college admissions officers see through this pay-to-play stuff. Professors can easily see it. I saw a documentary about the national science talent search. When interviewing one semi-finalist, a professor casually asked how far the sun is from the earth. The student replied "I only know about carbon-dating alligator teeth!" It is obvious when a student is narrow versus broadly curious and self-motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

The difference is their kids are too dumb to do scientific research. Therefore, they’re gonna demonize it and no one else should do it.

How is different from hiring a consultant to work on (or write) your kid’s essay? It’s something rich parents do and poor parents don’t do.

Just another inequity in American college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay to Play, nobody pays any attention to it. Waste of money.

This just isn't true. They absolutely do pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

Sp obvious this PP pays someone to hire her DC to do research because her DC couldn’t land a research internship on her own.

This is very different than paying for piano or soccer lessons. This is more like paying someone to put your child on a soccer roster when they weren’t good enough to qualify for the tryout. When you apply to college, all the professors at that college will look down on your pay-to-play research if they find out, and you know that too that’s why you would never admit to it. That’s the difference. By the way, your kid also knows that you had to pay for their research and they will have to lie about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

Sp obvious this PP pays someone to hire her DC to do research because her DC couldn’t land a research internship on her own.

This is very different than paying for piano or soccer lessons. This is more like paying someone to put your child on a soccer roster when they weren’t good enough to qualify for the tryout. When you apply to college, all the professors at that college will look down on your pay-to-play research if they find out, and you know that too that’s why you would never admit to it. That’s the difference. By the way, your kid also knows that you had to pay for their research and they will have to lie about it.

No, it's the same as paying an athletic coach to work 1:1 with your child so they can make a team or a music teacher to help your kid with an audition to a selective program. Money buys credentials and extra support for achievement.

Not sure why you're miffed that people are paying people with scientific skills to help their kids develop research skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why you have such a bee in your bonnet about research. High school kids do dozens and dozens of different extracurriculars. Some do it through their schools. Some pay outside companies for it. Some do it another way. There is nothing particularly unique about research when it comes to trying to develop skills for admittance to college.

The point is those researchers would not have hired the student if they weren't paid to do so. It's like paying someone to give your child a trophy that they didn't win on their own. I bet you a million bucks the student will not disclose on their college application that their mom paid someone $20k to hire them to give them a research job. They know this is wrong and so do you.

What is wrong with having a business designed to teach interested students about science research? I don't see how it's any different than giving piano lessons or running a soccer program or teaching ballet and on and on.

The difference is their kids are too dumb to do scientific research. Therefore, they’re gonna demonize it and no one else should do it.

How is different from hiring a consultant to work on (or write) your kid’s essay? It’s something rich parents do and poor parents don’t do.

Just another inequity in American college admissions.

The difference is most of the research is NOT pay per play unlike what DCUM wanted you to believe.