Experience for a high school student?

theJorge551

Hello everyone, I'm a 16 year old physics and mathematics enthusiast who's just moved to NYC, and will be getting my IB in Physics when I graduate from this new school. I do independent research heavily when I'm not doing schoolwork, and I've been wondering if there are any locations within or near the city that offer work experience for a high school student extremely devoted to the study of physics and math. Any recommendations/pieces of advice are extremely appreciated, thank you for your time.

-Jorge

kramer733

Yeah when you're 16, the best job you can generally get is mcdonalds or working at kmart. Sorry but that's the truth. UNLESS YOU HAVE HOOKUPS, then there's little ways you can get a job that involves physics research. That or you'd have to be extremely socialized and good with words to pass an interview and really impress the interviewer. Basically you gotta sell yourself really good. From my experience, physics majors and math majors aren't exactly the most social people in the world.. You could be different though =)

thrill3rnit3

Profs have a pool of undergrads at their disposal.

twofish-quant

Try volunteering at a museum

http://www.amnh.org/join/getinvolved/volunteering/

for example.

Theorem.

Or at a science center.

theJorge551

My sister's good friend and professor of Communication Arts at NYIT knows several powerful contacts at amazing universities like MIT, and a few others around the country that I'd love to consider attending, and I am slowly coming to strengthen my connection with him and hopefully (quite likely) he knows someone who could find me some experience at a university in the city.

And, I know that I can succeed with flying colors at any interview...but I'd be hard-pressed to find an organization or institution that will give me one without an undergraduate degree. :P

theJorge551

This is very true. I'm just getting tired of sitting back and skating across classes in high school while my independent work goes unnoticed, so perhaps I could try to take the initiative now.

kramer733

Well you're really lucky. You're ahead of the rest of the world with those connections and work ethic, along with social skills. Congratulations. I must admit i'm jelous haha. Just don't f**k up =) and best of luck to you. I know my friend's coworker who's only 15 programs for a company and gets paid 17/hour. Though i don't know what the company its called. He got that job through major connection. His father is best friends with that company's owner and his father is some big business man himself.

theJorge551

Thank you very much for the link! Ironic, I'm attending a private school just a few blocks away from the museum. I highly appreciate it.

Newtime

So you're trying to find actual research work? You said you have done independent stuff...what kind of stuff? If you have self studied the necessary pre-req's to help with certain research projects, why not email professors directly asking to volunteer? Although, since you're 16, I would tend to agree with the posts above unless, like I said, you've managed to learn the background material on your own.

edit: I just searched through your previous posts to get an idea of what your background is and according to this thread, http://physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=420336, you've working your way through calculus and some basic linear algebra right now, correct? If this is the case, don't try to rush into getting a research position since you do not have the necessary background. IMHO, some of the advice above would be best to follow. But keep self-studying! It's great to be so motivated and it's something I wish I had done more of in high school.