Rant about "research" and "internships"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I separate the two: many internships can be real/valuable.

As for research, money almost always changes hands and the credential is purchased. The key example of this is hiring Crimson to help your kid. They are a venture backed, for profit college consulting firm that has international offices. They have these gigs all lined up (for a hefty fee, of course) and the kid just slots on the team. Doesn’t do much. Voila! Research.

I am overseas. They have this one guy in a local FB parents forums who posts as if he is a parent. He just has this great idea for you! I think they are popping up everywhere. It’s so gross.

I have never heard of money changing hands to give someone a research opportunity. (And I am a scientist, and the parent of a scientist).

Sounds like some level of corruption that goes on overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a thing.

There are some universities that have established programs to give these opportunities to high school students, but those are structured, competitive, and clearly established program. There are also high schools that have connections with certain places for internships (MCPS + NIH or UMD, for example). It really is not a thing that a kid can send an email to a prof, get hired, get their name included on papers (which take YEARS to get published...they'd have to get their name on it in 8th grade to make it to publication in time for college applications) and get into college this way.

Couple of reasons:
- there are so many college students competing for these things
- grants don't work like this; you can't just use a random high schooler for research or work
- liability
- no one unaffiliated with a university is going to get hired for a student worker job many of which are federal work study or open to certain types of enrolled students

If someone has a dad there and just tags along and helps clean lab equipment and gets SSL hours or writes about the experience and enriching conversation, maybe. Maybe. But it's not a job. And if someone tells you it is they are either in one of these programs or they are embellishing a glorified take your kid to work day.

There are pay to publish journals (including student journals that don't pretend to be real research journals) that will publish in 3 months or less.

Think of it more like "getting published in poetry magazine" than "published in Nature"

Couple of things. Any academic knows that certain journals mean something and others don't. Which I get is what you're saying. So why would it matter to publish in a pay-to-publish if you're submitting this to academic-adjacent admissions officers?

Also, poetry journals can be very competitive. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

Being like 4th author in JACS isn't out of the realm of possibility, though.

[Anonymous]

I am concerned about young kids wasting their childhoods trying to do adult things like publish papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am concerned about young kids wasting their childhoods trying to do adult things like publish papers.

You can do independent research on whatever you want at our high school as an AP class. It’s not all that hard. And this is a student thing, not an adult thing. Getting published is always hard but possible.