YouTube Deep Summary

## Welcome and Why Research Matters [00:00] Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody. This is Coach Art. Uh it is uh Tuesday and I'm on my training uh schedule here, my training session with uh Eagle Lock. Uh I'm so excited today because we're going to have a tremendous topic uh talking about summer research and how that can help you in your college applications. I have an incredible guest here. Um he is of course uh also part of Eagle but has been uh a really one of our top coaches. Uh we have coach Michael here and uh he'll be introducing himself so um very very soon. Um but excited about this topic because again coach Michael is one of the experts in this field as well. He's done a lot of research as well and so I'm just very honored and privileged to have him with us tonight. So, as I mentioned, if you can see my screen, if you could please um give me a thumbs up for all those that that have joined us, if you can give me a thumbs up, uh I would greatly greatly appreciate it. So that I can know that uh everything is working well. Okay, thank you so much. There we go. Excellent. Cool. So, we're going to go ahead and get started. And first of all, I'm going to, uh, do some introductions. So, uh, I'm going to introduce myself again. I'm Coach Art with Eagle. Been in the game for about, uh, eight years or so. Uh, I'm chief, uh, uh, head head of, uh, of coaching and, uh, chief product officer for Eagle. But my greatest claim to fame is my three boys. Uh, my oldest graduated from uh, UC Berkeley, Go Bears, uh, with a mechanical engineering degree. My middle son is at University of Illinois at Chicago uh pursuing his pre- N nursing degree and then my youngest is ## Coach Michael’s Background: From Berkeley to Stanford to USC [02:00] pursuing his physical therapy degree at Biola University but also playing college soccer. So I'm very proud of them. But just to give you guys an insight of that I've been there, done that, especially for the for all of the uh parents that are are there um and have helped a number of students as well. So, I have the privilege and the honor to uh to say hello and introduce uh my cohort, my cohort in crime today, uh Coach Michael. Coach Michael, if you can go ahead and introduce yourself to to the people out there. Yeah, thank you, Coach R for allowing me to be here. Hi everyone. My name is Coach Michael. I've been with Eagle Log for over a year now. Uh my journey started off at Berkeley. I was a integrated biology major there and was on a pre-med track and then upon graduating took off two different opportunities. Used to work for Apple and used to work for local county government agency and then I decided to pivot careers in a way. So I ended up getting two master's degree got a master public administration through CSU Eastbay and then a master of business administration in healthcare management at Johns Hopin University which led me sort of my full-time role. I work at Stanford Medicine which I work I did a executive fellowship first and then I transitioned to a mid-level manager role over there where I work in surgical services. But my passion in terms of where I did a lot of college advising started about 10 years ago being a first generation former low-inccome student. I basically wanted to make the path a little bit easier for the students that I get to work with. So I had the privilege of working for over 200 students and most of them are either doctors now got into Ivy League schools, the UC system. So, it's really great. And then lastly, I'm actually in my final sort of year right now at the University of Southern California where I'm getting my doctorate of education in organizational change and leadership. So, excited to present a little bit more about research. So, go ahead, Coach Art. Gosh, amazing. I I mean, I'm I'm envious because I love education as well. Hopefully, at some point I can get my doctorate as well, but I'm not going to definitely not touch where you are at, Coach Michael. But thank you so much. such a such a prestigious background and again so honored to have you with us today. So um what are we going to cover today? Basically it's all about summer research. What is research? Uh that there's types of research uh why is research important um and then um how to start you know and uh there's going to be also a sample correspondence of how to reach out uh cold correspondence some tips and then questions. I'll do a little bit in the beginning and then Coach Michael is going to take over here and and do a lot of the the beefy stuff that you guys are are are interested in. And please um want to make sure that you guys if you have any questions, don't hold back. Please put them in the chat and uh we be happy to uh and coach Michael and I will be happy to try to answer them. So first of all again what is research? So really again if you talk about research research is the process ## What Counts as Research and Why It’s a Top Skill of 2025 [05:00] of and this is kind of at a kind of a layman's terms high level is identifying something that's confusing or interesting finding out what we re already know about that subject and then conducting your own analysis to develop your argument and then of course documenting that research and getting it out there to the world. So you know a lot of that again that's a very generic description of what a research and so you can do that in all different types of avenues. You can do it on your own or you can do it through an organization or you can do it uh you know working with professors or professionals uh just like um you know uh coach Michael has done uh many many times as well as a lot of people out there have done as well. And so why is this important? So when we're talking about research um if you look at the top 10 skills and this of 2025 and this is according to the World Economic Forum you'll see a bunch of very top skills that are are here um that are important for individuals to have if they really want to be successful in their career. So you can see analytical analytical thinking and innovation, active learning and learning strategies, complex problem solving, critical thinking and analysis, creativity, originality, initiative, resilience, stress and flexibility, techn ability for to use technology and monitoring control, technology design and programming, leadership and social influence, reasoning, problem solving and ideation. So you can see that these top 10 skills are fairly utilized in all different disciplines. Do you agree, Coach Michael? I agree. And I'm sure that you have used all of these skills and have probably more within you know your research background. Is that correct? Yep. Absolutely. And so you can see again this is from the World Economic Forum. So when we talk about well why is this important with respect to these top skills? Well, it's important because you're going to be utilizing this when uh you are implementing, you know, either a research project or being part of a research program and that's what those programs can provide to you and to augment these type of skills. So, the importance of research again is one building your future. So research internships open doors to college admissions and future careers just because um again they give you the opportunity to be exposed to the possible areas that you might be in as well as uh learning those skills. Uh gives you opportunity to learn beyond the classroom practical experience in solving you know real world problems. Okay. Uh that's a a huge aspect of uh being involved in research and again as we mentioned the skills of you know 2025 learning critical skills like critical thinking, communication and technical skills very early on. When we say early on, you know, again, in high school, that's very early on. And you you are learning these skills um to really again expose you to what possibly you would be experiencing when you get out there in in in college as well as uh in your possible careers and then gaining these skills so that you can utilize these not just with respect to research but all aspects of your life including academics and activities. Right? So if you think about it when you are talking about research, research allows you to really have the opportunity to build this profile. Okay, we talk about profiles when we talk about college applications where you're trying to build the story of you and this hopefully the story matches what the colleges are looking for. So you can see that research doing research or being part of a research program or research project or so one can showcase your academic excellence. So it can demonstrate advanced fieldwork opportunities to submit you know possible papers and and distinguish yourself as a highly competit you know in a highly competitive admissions process. And what does that lead to? It can lead to you know uh addition to your resumes interviews and future activities. When we're talking about research, you can have the ability possibility of working with a top researcher and that allows you to really build, you know, professional relationships, receive mentorship on a on university applications and really get personalized evaluations and that can lead to recommendation letters, you know, advice and support from very important people, you know, in in the possible area that you might be interested in getting getting into in the future. And then really showing university readiness. So going beyond just being a research assistant. Um but really if you are you know implementing your own project to show your own project and show independence and again as we mentioned critical thinking and problem solving and getting experience with you know helping you write your application ## Lab Research vs. Quantitative vs. Qualitative vs. Literature Review [10:00] essays and your interviews and that can lead of course into essays and interviews. So research has so many benefits in allowing you to build this profile uh you know and and a profile that can make you very very strong as a candidate when you're looking at getting into you know the the top colleges around the United States. Okay. So when we talk about the types of research that can be available out there um we have different types. So for example, there's labbased research, you know, and and you can see lab-based researchers in in the areas of medicine and biology and material science and psychology. There's quantitative research where you're gathering data, right? Uh in economics and political science and business and strategy and international relations. There's qualitative research, right? Where you're really looking and you're based on your opinions and based on your observations. for example like an anthropology and sociology and organizational behavior and then of course the systematic literature review where you have to go and do a lot of research or so that evolves in all fields. I'm wondering coach Michael have what areas have you touched upon in these these research types? I don't know if you've touched them on them all but I have all of it right now. So, it's a little bit of everything. And one thing that I would say when it comes into research types is really freaking out is to take a dab because you never know. Some people like wet lab. They're like, "No, that's not for me." Then try something else because research is not just always one thing. So, you could always choose and pick as well. That's right. Really great. I mean, that's that's that's great advice. So, if we talk about then, so I we went through again all the types and why it's so important. Well, here's the bread and butter. I'm going to turn it over to Coach Michael and he's going to let us know about well, how do we get started in all of this, right? Okay. So, Coach Michael, I'm going to navigate for you ## Step-by-Step: How to Get Started in High School [12:00] and and here we go. So, great. So, let's kick off things first with the first step. And honestly, right, it's something that many of you are probably already doing, which is extracurricular. So if you're interested in STEM or computer science, the best place is really just to start is just by exploring. So join those clubs, enter those competition, try things out like I said earlier, right? Maybe that means signing up for the science olympiate or joining your school's robotics team or even just solving puzzle and problems, right? Try a hackathon or coding challenge. So, but don't worry. It's okay if it sounds imitate intimidating at first. But the real point is that you don't need to be an expert. You just need to be curious and willing to try. These activities are just think of it like starter pack, right, for research. They show that you're interested, committed, and just ready to learn more. So, if you're just getting started, that's perfect. Everyone starts somewhere. And this is just step one. But now, let's go on to the next part. Okay. So now that you really had dipped it your toes into some of these extracurricular right the next part will be to focus on depth over breath. So here we want there is one important thing I want you to remember is go deep not wide. So it's way more impressive to be fully involved in the fields things than to join every club on campus and barely show up. Right? So think about it like this. Colleges aren't really counting your activities. They're looking for impact. And this is also in in in conjunction with research. So that means like taking on leadership roles like being a club president or or leading a team project or even better starting something of your own. Maybe create your own blog to explain science concept to middle schoolers or maybe you're even starting a coding club at school. Whatever it is, just make it yours. And this is where you you will show in terms that you're not just interested interested it, but you're invested in it. And here's a pro tip, like depth and leadership go hand in hand, right? The more you stick with ## Cold Email Strategy and Sample Script [14:00] something, the more likely you'll get to lead and actually make a difference. Which leads on to step number three, which will be how do we identify these research opportunities, right? So now that you got some experience, right, you gone deep into your field interests, what's next? Well, now it's time to actually find those research opportunities. And there's two main ways when we want to go about it, right? First of course you can always apply to established research program and these are the one that was official application deadline essays all that fun stuff right so think about these program like the RSI but they're competitive if you get in that's a huge plus but secondly you also create your own opportunity and this is where code emailing really comes in and we'll show you sort of some steps but emailing real professor researchers out of the blue right it may sounds intimidating ing at first but tons of high school have actually landed research by just reaching out. It's not easy but it works. So here's the difference right established program are more structured more selective they come over clear process but individual outreach is more flexible right it takes effort planning but also a bit of courage as well. So if you're motivated right and know what topic you're really curious about writing to that professor that researcher could lead to an amazing opportunity even if it's unpaid or just shadowing at first. So bottom line you have option whether it's applying or emailing the goal is the same right to get hands-on experience doing something that's very meaningful but also being able to connect your interest which leads me into the next part is what are these established research programs right and so here are some of the most well-known and respectful programs out there a few names to keep you on your radar right there are RSI at MIT think of this like the Ivy Lee High School research right super competitive But if you get in, it's a game changer. There are the SIMR. So this is at Stanford. Great. If you're into biology, medicine, anything life sciences, there's rise at Boston University, a strong option that pairs student with real faculty members. So these program are all competitive really totally worth it, but not just because the name right, but because of the experiences, the mentors, but also how much can you grow out of it. But here's the catch, right? Most of these apps are actually due in the winter. So, if you're thinking like, "Oh, I'll look into the spring, right? It may already be too late." My advice is really start early. Set those reminders. Really mark deadlines in your calendar. Just have your essay ready to go. And even if you don't get in, applying is a great practice. And there are plenty of other programs, too. Which leads me onto the next part is how do we create your own opportunity, right? How do we code email if we don't decide to apply to this program? So that means that one we got to reach out directly to these professor or researcher right who works you find very interesting and this is what we call code emailing and yes it may feel awkward at first but it can really work. So now the key to a good cold email really is that we got to make it personal but also showing genuine interest right. not sending the same copy paste message to 50 people. You're showing that you've done your homework. So, let's look, right? How do we go about this? And the goal is not to write a novel, right? So, what you really want to do is start with a quick intro. Who you are, where do you go to school, what are you interested in, right? And then you want to mention something specific about that work. This shows that you actually read their research. Then share what experience do you bring. Even even if it's small, it matters, right? And then finally, express your interest in sort of joining the lab or helping any way you can. What you want to do is really keep it respectful. Keep it short, but don't be afraid to follow up too as well if you don't hear back. That's normal. Even if one person replies out of like 20 email, that one reply could really make an amazing opportunity that you never thought about. So that leads me on to sort of the next part of code emailing. What are the best practices? Right? So now that you know a little bit about code emailing, but how do you make sure your email just doesn't get ignored or deleted, right? So what are the best practices? So let me just walk you through a few quick tips that could help you improve your chances, right? So the first thing first is be very specific and personal. Don't just say I'm interested in your research. What you really want to do is say say what part of their work grab your attention, right? And why does this really matter to you, right? Keep it short and clear. Professors and researchers are very busy. They're not going to read an essay. So just keep your message concise. Show your value. So even if you're new to research, talk about what you've done, right? So that could be the your extracurricular, coding, science fair, any clubs, whatever that may be, but how you're excited to learn and contribute. And then in addition, even ## Building a Research Resume and Application [19:00] if they don't ask, it's always help them to see your background right away attaching your resume, your transcript. And finally, always follow up. Even you don't hear it back in about a week or two, send them a polite followup, right? Professor and researcher, they get swamped, but a quick reminder shows that you're very serious about this. And remember, you're not asking for a job, right? You're showing interest and you're asking to learn and that enthusiasm will take you a long way. So that's that part. But now, let's go over to step four, which is like how do you build a store strong application? So I'll go ahead. So here right once you found your program or research opportunity that you're excited about the next step is sort of how do you put this sort of solid application if you decide to go to the other route why where you apply to the the to the traditional way so that I mean focusing on these three main pieces your essay your rec letters and your resume right so let's just break it down so the first thing will be your essays this is your chance to show who you are beyond your grades and your test but Don't just use the same essay for every program. We got to tailor it, right? We got to make it personable. We got to make sure like talking about why this subject excites you, what you done to explore and what do you hope to learn. The other part will be your recommendation letter. These matter more than you think. So with all these great program you're thinking about like for example UC Santa Barbara program that they have, they really going to make sure that you have great strong letter recommendation. So choose your teachers or mentors who actually know you very wisely, not just for someone with a fancy title, right? And ask them early. Give them time and make it easier by sharing info about the program and also your goals. And then lastly will be your resume, right? Even if you never had a job before, you can still have a strong resume. And this is highlighting like your leadership, your competition, your awards, your personal project. Anything that shows that you're very serious and keep it clean and easy to read. When you have all these these lined up, right, your clear story, your essay, your support from a mentor and a resume that backs you up, you definitely will have a strong application right there. So that's sort of step four right there. But now let's look on to the next part is like how do we network for research opportunity, right? So here's something that a lot of students overlook when they're trying to find research and it's networking. Now, I know that word the word networking might sound super formal or intimidating, but really it just means talking to people who might be able to help or connect you with opportunities, right? So, this could look like asking a teacher if they know someone doing research in your area of interest or talking to older students who have done summer programs and asking how they found them or even attending like a public lecture or even an event at a local university and introducing yourself after. Right? The truth is that many opportunity doesn't just show up on Google or these random ads, right? They come from real conversations. So a quick email, a message after class or even ## What to Do If You Don’t Get Into a Prestigious Program [22:00] like a direct message can be the things that lead you to this right project. So if there's one takeaway here is like don't be afraid to ask around. You never know who's someone who knows someone, right? So that's going to be very important. And now we go on to the next part is like what are research opportunity outside of the programs right and so let's be real not everyone is going to get into a fancy research program and that's totally okay right there are plenty of ways to do research when it come outside of these official program and they can just be impressive sometimes even more right so for example you can work on a personal project maybe you're building an app running experience at home or even exploring a question you're very curious about Or you could team up with a teacher or a mentor at school. Maybe they'll let you help with their own research or guide you through their your own as well. Or you could start something new to be honest as well, right? A studentrun blog, a YouTube channel or community project that really applies research skills to real life. Right? The big idea is this. You don't need permissions to start being curious and exploring ideas. Like what we really want to see is student taking initiative and building something from scratch. So if structured programs aren't for you, don't sweat it, right? Just start where you are. Use what you have and then just make something very meaningful. Which leads you into sort of my step five is like how do you stand out or personal project. So here let's just wrap this up by talking about one of the most powerful way, right? And honestly sometimes it's very overlooked, but ways to stand out is through your personal project as well. And why do they matter? because they show that you're not just doing things because someone told you to, right? You're creating your own opportunity and that is a kind of initiative that is something that really we love to see. So what counts as a sort of personal project, right? Here are just a few example. You could code a a mobile app to solve a problem you care about. You could run your own science experiment and writing your results or ## The Power of Personal Projects (And How to Start One) [24:00] you can even organize like a mini research event for other student to present their work. Right? What matter is isn't how big the project is. It's just that you started it, you follow through and you learn something from it. And that's a huge bonus tip right there is like don't let your work just sit on your computer, right? Publish it. Put it on a GitHub if there's a code. Write about it on a medium or a blog, right? Or make a short video explaining what you did. It's a great way to just to share your thinking, your building's profile. But what's most important too is showing that you're really serious about your interest. So that leads me on to sort of my final tips in terms of what I wanted to give you and just making sure that how do you make the most out of your research journey, right? Whether you're just getting started or already on your way. So one, start early. Like I mentioned, the sooner you get involved, the better. Whether it's club courses or just exploring your interest, getting a head start is going to give you more time to grow and try different things. Two, you want to keep learning, right? Research isn't something that you do in a lab. Like you can build skills by taking online courses, reading scientific articles. You can even watch like YouTube lectures from real professor. Like what you want to do is just really stay curious. And then three, you want to be persistent as well, right? That's one that's very big. You might get ignored, but the one thing I would say is like keep learning. Like this is where you're going to h have it. You might get rejected. That's normal. But what's matter is that you keep going. like creativity and consistency are what really is going to set you apart compared to other students, right? And then track those deadline like seriously like make a spreadsheet if you haven't, right? Like most research will have very clearly deadline especially over the winter. Planning ahead is going to make everything way less stressful later. At the end of the day, right, the student who succeed in research are always the smartest to be honest. They're the one who show up, they try new things and they just don't give up when things doesn't go perfectly because that's just how lab and research work to be honest. So, but now in sort of our next sort of final step, right, with action, what can you take, right? So, I know we covered a lot, but none of it matters unless you make the first step. So, here's what you can do right now to get moving. Just pick one topic you're really curious about to be honest. Just one. That's your starting point. Then join or start an extracurricular related to it. Even if it's small, just it's a move forward, right? Then look up one research program or one professor doing work in that area. Then write down your plan. Even it's messy. Remember, actions beats perfection every time. The truth is really that you don't need to have everything figured out. You just need to start. And your curiosity, your question, like your willingness to explore, those are your biggest asset to be honest right now. And trust me, those things matter more than you realize when it comes down to college, career, and everything beyond. So take that next step, right? You got this. So you leave here literally with one thing. Let it be this that you you don't have to be wait to be chosen, right? You could choose yourself and just start. So that's what ## Publishing, Presenting, and Promoting Your Research Work [27:00] I really want to share about when it comes down to research. And then in our last slide, we'll share you an example of our sample correspondence here. And go ahead, Art. Thank you. And this is just like a little mini sample email of which I was referencing a little bit earlier. But this is where you could use this template just to get you started. Always direct them of either de because most of these professor researchers are doctors. So if they have like a PhD title, MD title, EDDD title, JD, whatever you could direct them in terms of like as a doctor and you want to be very succinct like I said, right? You're going to write your name, what are your current grade level, fill that in. And then from there, sort of what pathway you're on, if anything, and what is your strong interest, what are you exploring and what is this field? And then what you want to talk about in the next part is is really do you read up on their work? If so, mention what is that research that they did. So most of these are always going to be on the school website or on their lab website. So you can feel free to download their journal articles and give it a read and mention about what really intrigued you about that. And then you could talk about sort of their approach is very compelling to you and why you're really fascinated. Just list out little bullet points about what intrigued you, right? And then here you could talk about in your next paragraph is what is your experience? What do you have which has gained you right from what are these skill set that you develop and how has it this helped you understand the specific concept or such and how has this inspired you to implement sort of this project that you may be doing right or how can you help them in sort of a larger scale. And then in the fourth paragraph, right, you want to talk about sort of your knowledge. What foundation have you developed? You could talk about through your sort of coursework that you have done, right? And that you have a deep passion in whatever science, if it could be biology, chemistry, whatever is that field that you're really interested, but you want to say like, hey, you're confident that your skills and within their lab setting that you could hopefully be able to contribute, right? Gain this valuable experience in this area within their organization. And then here lastly you could say I attached my official scr transcript resume for the review and it just say hey it'll be arm just to be able to explore this with you and your team and just close that off. Something very simple. And again remember you got to email as many as you can. It doesn't just take one email and say oh I'm going to wait for this one person. Email as many as you can. I had a student literally last year where we did it around April. We heard a response in May and he emailed over 30 and he got one out of those 30 but he got Emory like that's what I'm saying like persistence everything and that was like the most life-changing experience that he has taken and then he was able to utilize that experiences mention it into his app and now he's about to attend Yale University. So this is what I'm saying about why research can be very critical and help you because this is something that you can utilize in your college app but also about why you're interested in this field. So, I'll stop right there and then I think we're going to move on to Q&A. But, Coach Arch, I'll pass it over. Yeah. Gosh. Again, Coach Michael, ## Connecting Your Summers and Showing Growth Over Time [30:00] that was incredible. There's I mean, I learned a lot. I got a lot of stuff in there and and just looking at all the recommendations. And it's funny how you you talk about this because um a lot of the things that that you're even mentioning here are not just applicable to research and applying for research and doing research, but it applies for a lot of things in life in a sense of even college applications, you know, and doing work at school or so. There's there's very basic things that you need to do in a sense of knowing what you you know finding out what that idea is and then doing the research and particularly when you're talking about the networking piece is huge. I love networking. I think networking I think every I think that is a such a vital skill to learn is to network and when we talking about networking networking can be done anywhere literally I have found um I I'll give you one instance where I was sitting down in an uh an airplane I mean I was in an airplane and right next to me I just started I struck up a conversation you know and we just had a great time just talking with the individual and then um And you know and then after that I said oh gosh I I wondering if I could have your car just and to find out he was that you know he was the head of one of the largest golf companies in the world. Okay. And what was great about that is because at that time I wanted to learn how to golf. So he basically helped me out in in getting lessons and everything else. But the thing is that in in that that story is with everybody out there, networking is so vital because you want to build relationships with all of these different people so that when when it is time for you to ask something of them, you're not a stranger. You are someone that they're going to say, "Yeah, I do know Michael." and or as as coach Michael mentioned, they might not have an immediate opportunity for you, but they might have a buddy that comes along and says, "Hey, you know what? I'm looking for somebody that has these skills. We can't find anybody." And boom, right there, they'll say, "Yeah, I know. I have this I got this kid. His name is Michael." And he'd be amazing for you. And that's how the power of a network works because of all those tentacles and those those those webs of that they're how they're all connected. So, you know, with that said, um please, we'd love to have questions. Please list the questions on the chat or also in uh the Q&A section that we have for anybody that's questions. Now, I know we had some previous questions, so I'm going to kind of ask those of you um Coach Michael. So, first of all, what do you see are commonalities amongst successful students that have found summer research projects or programs? what are some you know common common skills common attributes yeah that's a really great question ## Research as a Vehicle for Purpose and Identity [33:00] right so from what I've seen the students who successfully land like these research opportunity whereas through programs or outreach right they tend to have few things in common one will be curiosity they generally want to understand how the world works they ask question follow through to find these answer the second will be initiative like they don't wait for someone to hand them opportunities they're going to join club start project reach out to professor on their own. But the third one also be consistency like they showed a pattern of interest over time. It's not just a oneoff activity, right? Maybe they've been involved with robotics for two years or they worked on a sire project every semester and this is where also leaders effort right like they're okay with rejection. They applied wy emailed multiple mentors. They follow up politely when they don't hear back. So that's really the most commonality that I have seen so far when when it comes down to sort of finding these summer program or research itself. Yeah. And and so the second question comes here is that you know our research research programs research projects do they apply to all students or is you know is it is it always the case because I hear that from parents are like oh my kid's got to he's got to get a research project you got to get an internship research internship or that. So does it apply to all students or maybe not? Yeah, honestly I feel like as anyone who's curious and willing to learn like you don't have to be already be a research expert. You just need to enjoy asking these question solving problem and thinking deeply about something that interests you right whether that's in science tech social ski uh social issues or even humanities like research program are basically a great fit for people who are enjoying digging into topics beyond the classroom right who want to explore real world problems or big ideas are open to feedback and want to grow and are really looking to challenge themselves and learn something new. So if that sounds like something like a little lit like you, right? Then you should absolutely consider but you don't always have to be ready, right? So this is just part of the learning process. Yeah. So let me ask you this and this is a question I've always wondered is okay. So we always talk about in our program personal projects, right? And personal projects are ones that can be self-initiated, self-run by a student. when we're talking the difference between the impact of a personal project and let's say a program that you join like Cosmos or you know the ones RSI that you that you've talked about. Can you give us kind of perspective of, you know, how how relevant, how effective can a personal project be in comparison to these, you know, bigger name programs, right? Because like you said, not everybody is going to get into these bigger name progress. They're just so very, very competitive. How can a personal project have kind of the same way or the same impact as those? Yeah, really good question. Honestly, both can be very powerful, right? But they shine in different ways. So established program like Cosmo or RSI right they they come with a name recognition. So when all when admission officer they see that on your resume it signal that sort of they gone through a competitive process right and they work with these top tier mentors that definitely helps right but especially if you're aiming for a very selective college right plus these them give you very structured experience access to advanced lab and very formal recommendation. But here's the important part though, right? A strong project, a personal project to be honest, passion project can be just as impressive, sometimes even more if it show depth, curiosity and real world impact. Like why is this important, right? Because personal project are very self-driven. No one made you do it, right? You took initiative. You solve the problem. You follow through and maybe even share that your work publicly. That's what really college is not just not just what what you can do, right? But who you are. So for example like I said earlier like coding an app that solves that problem right or organizing student le research fair whatever that may be or running your own climate data analysis and writing about your finding right all these same traits either elite program look for they're really looking for curiosity following through and independence so you can literally achieve that either through the cosmo program a formal program or through your own personal project but basically to sum it up right prestigious program gives credibility and structure, but personal project shows initiative and authenticity and it can do both amazing but a big name program if isn't accessible to you don't worry right a wellthoughtout personal project can absolutely help you stand out on its own and I have seen many students do that because they didn't they didn't want to do research through this organization and that's totally okay as well yeah and I I I know I've said this to to other to our families and to people we advise is that they don't realize that even with personal projects or other projects but personal projects you know the uh one of the important aspects is the journey that you go through with that project. It's the it's the who, what, where, when and how of of bringing the project up. It's the resources that you need to get. It's the it's the struggle and the and the overcoming of that struggle. It's learning all of these skills that are transferable skills that you can utilize in college, you can utilize even outside in life. And those skills are the skills that colleges out there are looking for. They're looking for students, like you said, who are resourceful, that have taken initiative, that have curiosity, that have perseverance, that don't give up, um that have, you know, again, that that are creative, right? And so all of those skills even though even if and I say this even though if uh if you have a personal project and it fails you are still going through that journey of learning all of those skills and even some I I've seen it I've seen a student write about a failure and it's that that type of essay is even more impactful than the ones that have been successes because it shows them that they're resilient that they that they've recognizes fail, but it's not even a failure. It's an opportunity to become successful and to grow. And that's where I'm like, uh, I mean, I'm I I get excited about when you talk about, you know, personal research projects or or those that could be even more impactful than some of these bigger organizations or or programs, which again, they're all amazing, of course, right? So, yeah, incredible. I want to I I've been kind of asking if there's anybody out there who has questions for us. Again, Coach Michael here is is a huge wealth of knowledge. He's our goat when it comes to uh you know, research and and because of the all of the experience he's had. So, please, if you if you have ## Real Student Questions + Coach Michael’s Personal Story [40:00] questions, uh don't be shy. Uh put them in our chat or put them in our Q&A. Um, one of the things that I will ask you while we're kind of waiting here and then, you know, we can close this out here, Coach Michael, is, um, if you were going to, you know, give an advice to, let's say, a potential high schooler right now, right? And I know you kind of say, how do you get started? And I hear this all the time, like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know how to what, you know, what I should what I should um, you know, work on for a project. What is one tip or one advice that you would give them to to to get them off their, you know, to get them off and try to to really, you know, start a project? Yeah, I think that's such a common feeling and honestly it's a really good sign because it means that you care enough of wanting to do something meaningful, but you just haven't found that what yet. Right. Right. Here's my advice is that don't wait for the perfect idea. Start with what you're curious about. yourself. What's something that annoys or fascinates me? Right? What's a problem that you notice at school, in your community, or online? What is a topic that you could talk about for 30 minutes without notes? Once you got a spark like that, even a small one, try asking, "What's one small thing that I could do about this in the next week?" That could be like watching a new a few YouTube videos, right, to learn more. You can make it making a simple survey for your classmate, edging out an idea or article online. The truth is basically that the project doesn't start with big breakthrough. They start with small step. And here's like the best part, right? The more you do, the clearer your path get project goals as you explore. So don't stress about having the perfect plan. Start messy. Start small. Just start basically at the end of the day. I I I gosh, I love that advice. And and I mean that's amazing because one of the things that I will say to my students is and I say this is especially in your high school freshman is connect the summers. I I I say this connect the summers. And the reason why is because they think they have to have this this amazing behemoth project to start out with this amazing you know cure cancer type of of you know idea or something. And it's like no start small. And let's say you just let's say you're a freshman. you're going into summer, start small and start planning in the summer and and and then maybe if you're if if you have some things organized, try it out in the fall and then keep on going. But then as you connect the summers, it grows and grows and grows from there because you are building on your idea. And regardless of whether you fail or or you succeed, you start you still are learning and you're growing and you connect the summers. And by the time you've connected the summers enough where you're getting to your se, you know, after your junior year summer, you're, you know, it could be something quite sizable. But it's because you took that time and I and and I I think you probably do agree, Coach Michael, is that the colleges love to see that progression, right? That consistency over time. Is that true? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I see there's a a question here and I will happy to answer that. Um Sure. It said, you know, my daughter has some health issues, right? And she went through a lot and she wants to do research related to her health issues as we don't know what the specific reason like why this happened. This could be autoimmune. Do you think this is a great idea? So, let me share a little bit about myself so you could get a better understanding. I know in this sort of virtual world you can't see, but I'm actually a person with a disability. I'm in a wheelchair and me doing my doctoral program right now, one thing that I learned is that you have to make it very purposeful and you got to be very passionate about the subject that you do in terms of research wise because when you think about research and think about something that you really want to do this in the long run, you want to be able to solve this complex, it got to be very personable to you so you can feel like you're doing something good out of it. So, I love this idea because that's where you can really help bring in sort of your depth, your passion, your authenticity that no textbook or summer program can ever match, right? It's not just your curiosity, it's your purpose. And colleges love that. If you're able to really re-examine, take your own personal, but now you're trying to do something about it. That is showing you have grit inside of you. You have this level of tenacity. You're really trying to solve a complex problem. So, I couldn't agree more with you. get started, right? It could be able to review and summarize any existing study that she had noticed about autoimmune condition that affecting teenagers or such. She could be able to do some sort of like, hey, let me interview some people or people who I know even virtually, right? You could create this blog or this mini project to raise awareness and share information, right? This is how you could get started. And that's one thing that I have done is when I decided to do my doctoral journey, I wanted to be make sure that this research project that I did was something that's personable for me, but also how can I be able to change the lens within my community. And so I made sure of that where I want to focus on my population and be able to give back and be able to contribute because these are the type of things where research we tend to leave out is these voices of the unheard because no one really talked about it because we think that oh it doesn't apply to these certain individual. Trust me if you start in and then if other people see that work they will feel inspired and you able to contribute more research that definitely needed much needed. So I say definitely that's a great idea. Give that a huge start if you can. Yeah, you know that's first of all that's an amazing story uh coach Michael. So uh and and I'm so glad that you know that your personal experience matches kind of what she was looking for. I I was recently talking to a student and I asked them I said um you know they wanted to get into computer science and when I was asking them about the because you had mentioned about do things that you are passionate about things that you love to do and it was it was interesting because he said I want to go into computer science I've been doing all this programming all my life and everything else and I go what else do you want to do and he goes well I want to get my real estate license and I go whoa okay wait hold on that's not computer science at all that's totally different. He goes, "Oh, no, no, no." Because, you know, my family, um, we always had a problem. Uh, I come from a low-income family, and we could never find the right housing. And so, what I want to do is I want to I want I've learned all my computer science and programming. So, what I can do is program a application that will help um, you know, low-income families fill out mortgage applications to find a house for themselves. And I said, "Oh my gosh, that is a gold project because it's so personal and it meets and it helps a ## Final Motivation: Start Small, Start Now, Be Authentic [47:00] community." And it gave me chills. I said, "That is incredible, you know, and and he's doing that not because he wants to look good in his application. He's doing that because he wants to affect personally, you know, a community that he's been part of, right? And and that's where I I just I it made me so proud of him, you know. Um and and and also so so yes, I I would highly encourage again the question about the daughter and yes, if it's personal like you said, go for it, right? Um see, let's see. There's another message. Do you think it's a great idea? Thank you. Okay, I guess it's thank you. So, um any closing remarks, Coach Michael? I know you first of all you've said so much and we're just so privileged and honored to have you here and and and this this message, but any any final words to the team or to the to the to the people who are watching? I will say that when it comes down to life in general and I had a great conversation with a executive literally this morning and he really helped me really really think about what do I want to do and it could be anything in life. One thing that I will say is like really connect it to your personal your why and your mission and why you're doing this in the first place and that your identity your experiences matters a lot and even though you may feel like you're the only one and as you continue to climb up in your work and such leadership development and such it can feel lonely at the top but always know the reason why you're doing the first place. So like for me when I look back on why I'm doing research it's like it's because these are the type of root that has been ignored like my disabled community people who seek in terms of patients seeking services of like physical therapy or being able to navigate the bureaucracy and I had to remind myself like this is the reason why my researches matter is important even though it may not look like it from the lens of other people but don't let other people diminish sort of your why like your why is more personable than someone else to think about it. So that sort of might sort of take away message for you all to really like yes even though it may not look glamorous or it may take a while to get there but knowing that your work will make a difference in the society that we definitely need in the long run. I I I I couldn't say it better than myself. Uh Coach Michael, thank you so much for being with us here. Uh presentation was amazing. I want to hear from the please give us some hearts because I think that coach Michael deserves it. So please give us some hearts and and you know show show the love out there that uh there you go. Yay. All right. So so thank you so much. Um thank for everybody that has joined us. I think there was a lot of amazing information here. Please, I hope that you are able to utilize it because I think um one of the things that research, you know, research and research projects can do is definitely make a difference in your college application. Again, we always say don't do it because for the application, but do it because you love it and that will show through. Your passion will show through in in in the in the application that you submit. So, thank you so much, Coach Michael. Thank you everyone for joining us. I know that uh you could be, you know, with your loved ones and your family and friends or doing something else, but you're with us and uh we truly truly appreciate it. Have a wonderful rest of your week and uh we will see you next time in our trainings. All right. Bye-bye. Thank you.