Research Opportunities
Ralph Becker
The Importance of High School Research

Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.

The Importance of High School Research

National Science Foundation

Carleton College: a Superb Liberal Arts College in Minnesota

Carleton College: a Superb Liberal Arts College in Minnesota

Even in the sub-zero frigidity of a Minnesota January, brains are exuding energy in Northfield, a town about 40 minutes from Minneapolis and St. Paul. ‘Carls,’ Carleton students, also known as “northern commies” by more conservative elements who find their politics a touch too left leaning, have just begun their second trimester. If you can weather the Minnesota winter, and find enjoyment in talking with some of the most intellectually engaged students in the country, “serious students who don’t take themselves too seriously,” then Carleton College might warrant being added to any application list

Profile of Frank Olin School of Engineering (Massachusetts)

Profile of Frank Olin School of Engineering (Massachusetts)

There are outposts in higher education that defy classification and take unique approaches to education. Deep Springs in eastern California comes to mind with its select handful of students who attend for two years and combine deep analysis of such texts as Plato’s Republic with a daily dose of ranching and farming. Another one is Cooper Union in New York. Now, among this select group, with its first graduating class in 2006, is the Franklin Olin School of Engineering located in Needham, Massachusetts, next door to Babson College, the leader in undergraduate business entrepreneurship. All three schools were endowed by entrepreneurial men who intently made them tuition free.

Olin, however, does far more than give free tuition to attract the brightest students.