How to Show Research Experience in College Applications
Have you joined a Scholar Launch webinar yet? If not, you may be missing out on some pertinent information about your journey to higher education. On November 5, we hosted “Navigating Research Programs in College Applications,” an informational virtual event for students curious about the pros and cons of participating in high school research. Here’s a quick recap of what the attendees learned.
Scholar Launch Webinar Recap
Kevin Covarrubias, one of our most experienced Scholar Launch counselors, guided webinar attendees through:
The different types of research programs and where to find them
Critical do’s and don’t’s when writing about research experience in college applications
A Scholar Launch alum’s recap of her experience with us, plus other case studies
Other extracurricular activities to participate in
We’ve talked at length before about the rewards high school research can reap when it’s time to apply to college. In the 2023-2024 academic year alone, Scholar Launch alumni reported the following admissions results:
3 students accepted into Harvard
5 students accepted into Yale
4 students accepted into Princeton
13 students accepted into Columbia
15 students accepted into Cornell
8 students accepted into UPenn, or the University of Pennsylvania
8 students accepted into Brown
2 students accepted into Dartmouth
6 students accepted into MIT
4 students accepted into Stanford
These types of outstanding achievements are possible not only because each one of these students had impeccable GPAs and test scores, but also because extracurricular research contributes greatly to enhancing your college application persona, the personal brand that reflects your academic identity. Also, admissions officers have been known to appreciate a student’s willingness to go outside of their comfort zone of standard course assignments to strive for ambitious experiences.
During the webinar, we made sure to inform students and their parents about the basics of high school research. We covered the purpose of research, the importance of a mentor that understands students’ academic goals, time commitment expectations, and how critical it is to select a research topic that’s relevant to the college major the student wants to pursue in the future. We also reviewed the many pathways students can take to gain research experience–summer programs, research institutes, labs at local universities, independent research projects, and Scholar Launch research programs–as well as their pros and cons.
Our counselor Kevin then detailed tips for how to effectively reflect high school research experience on college applications before welcoming a Scholar Launch alumni to talk to attendees about her experience. Karen Wang participated in our interdisciplinary Music as Medicine research program in summer of 2023 to explore the connection between music and emotion. After weeks of attending group meetings and fine-tuning her methodology with the help of her Faculty Advisor, Wang published her final paper, “Reciprocity Between Music and the Emotional State”, in the Winter 2023/2024 edition of the Scholarly Review Journal.
We’ve seen the positive impact that high school research can have on a student’s college admissions results. Our goal with webinars like “Navigating Research Programs in College Applications” is to ensure Scholar Launch families understand how important academic extracurriculars are, too. We’ll be hosting these virtual events monthly going forward, so keep an eye out for the topics that interest you. To access this webinar’s recording, or for more information about participating in research with Scholar Launch, contact us.