Lakeside School

Each February and March, as families prepare for summer, my email inbox is filled with questions from parents/guardians about finding summer research opportunities for their students. The assumption underlying many of these messages is that “research” is a critical component of successful applications to selective colleges.

Here’s the thing: it’s not at all. And for numerous reasons.

Reason 1: Most admission officers aren’t academics and don’t understand the detailed language of academic research.

During my three years as an admissions officer at Haverford College, I remember reading countless applications where students described their research in depth, usually in science. To me, the words were empty, meaningless, a smattering of scientific terms that made sense only to scientists. And I’m not a scientist. I might as well have been reading another language.

Like most of my admissions colleagues (both 20+ years ago when I began my career and today), my background is in the humanities and social sciences. When applicants focus too much on research, even in non-scientific fields, they’re often using the academic lexicon of that field, which is almost never the lexicon of an admissions officer.

When I reminisce about our days working in admissions with my own Lakeside colleagues—college counseling associate directors Erin Foster and Frances Nan, who collectively read applications for Barnard, Pomona, Stanford, and Washington University in St. Louis—they also remember the countless applications, filled with academic jargon that was either unhelpful or meaningless to their admission committees.

Reason 2: Too much focus on research is a missed opportunity to tell admission officers about other aspects of the applicant that they deeply care about.

Last May, my longtime friend and colleague (and my former supervisor at Haverford College) JT Duck, Tufts University’s dean of admissions, shared a salient story with freshman and sophomore parents/guardians during his visit to Lakeside. A few months earlier, before Tufts released admissions decisions, an applicant emailed JT requesting that his application be withdrawn because he had already decided to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The student’s actions were laudable: they didn’t want to fill a spot at Tufts that could be offered to another deserving applicant. What the student didn’t know is that their application was already slated for denial. JT described the application as impressive: the student had done ample quality research in engineering-related fields. But at Tufts, one of the most important attributes admission officers look for is kindness. It wasn’t that the student came across as unkind. Rather, by focusing so much of their application—their activities, their essays, etc.—on the intricate details of their research, they sacrificed the opportunity to convey values and attributes that Tufts—and many colleges—find more appealing.

There are certainly select moments and institutions (big emphasis on “select”) when detailed descriptions of student research can be impactful. There are select schools, such as MIT, that allow students to upload a research portfolio that is reviewed by faculty. There are select institutions where faculty review applications, like California Institute of Technology and Cornell University. In all these cases, faculty identify and translate exceptional research into laypeople’s language for admissions colleagues. But this isn’t the norm.

The college counseling office can help students identify the schools for which detailed descriptions of research might be beneficial—where there will be an audience who will understand their research.

Reason 3: If tons of students are doing academic research, then academic research isn’t unique and doesn’t make applicants stand out!

This past fall, at our profession’s annual conference, an Ivy League admissions officer asked me, only half-jokingly: “What is up with all these teenagers from Seattle who do research at Fred Hutch? Does anyone do anything else?” While hyperbolic—obviously, there are many students who don’t do research at Fred Hutch, or who do research elsewhere—academic research appears so frequently in students’ applications, and often plays such a central role, that it feels trite and commonplace to admissions officers.

Think about it. How many times have you, as a parent/guardian, heard that your student should get a research position to enrich their college applications? Or heard about your student’s classmate spending their summer doing research? If all your students follow through with summer research and then center that in their applications, how can admissions officers perceive their uniqueness and authenticity?

There are definitely ways that students can talk about research experiences in meaningful ways. Student research, when told through the lens of why that topic fascinates them, or how the research experience changed their thinking, or what new questions (in laypeople’s terms) the research inspired—rather than the details about the research itself, how it was published, etc., all in the attempt to convey academic prowess—can be a powerful way of giving an admissions reader insight into the student. (Note that students are published so frequently in academic journals that being named a co-author on a paper is usually not a differentiator, either).

But those same insights can also be conveyed through equally potent means: books the applicant read and how those texts impacted their thinking and mindset; involvement in clubs and organizations, in and outside of Lakeside, that are related to the research topic (e.g., Computer Science Club, Biology Club, Science Olympiad,); even projects they’ve tackled within Lakeside’s curriculum that let them dabble in a topic that fascinates them. It’s the why behind their intellectual intrigue, rigor, and excitement that helps a student stand out. And there are many ways to convey that authentic, self-motivated energy. Going through the (sometimes rote) motion of engaging in academic research that is uninspiring to a student isn’t one of them.

How to know if summer research opportunities are right for your student

What does this mean for your student’s summer? If there is a research topic or opportunity that strongly stokes their intellect and they can’t resist immersing themselves in it, absolutely let them go for it. It will likely not only be an enriching opportunity, but one of many ways they might show the why that drives their choices about how to spend their time.

But if research isn’t what excites your student, let them do something else. Remember, there’s no recipe for strong applications to selective colleges, which means that merely “doing” research isn’t critical. Instead, they can go to camp. Or volunteer (summer is a great chance to engage in some awesome and exciting service learning!). If they’re an athlete, let them play their sport. Leisure reading is often an undervalued summer pastime, as is employment. JT Duck said during another visit to Lakeside that summer jobs, especially in customer service, are some of the most valuable, yet overlooked opportunities by parents/guardians.

Essentially, let them channel their energies into something that truly engages them. When the time arrives late in junior year, your student will be well-positioned to work with their college counselor in identifying their own unique and authentic voice for their college applications.
 

Ari Worthman is Lakeside’s director of college counseling. Reach him and other members of the team at info@lakesideschool.site. For further reading, you may enjoy the college counseling office's previous articles on student activities, on subjects including searching for meaning, passion vs. obligation, what makes a "good" activities list, summer activities, and how parents and guardians can support their students in reflecting on their activity choices.