Gap Year and Extensions
The Horizon Academic Research Program offers three extensions of our Core Program for students interested in research, podcasting, or publishing. Our Extended Programs are tailored to the needs of students taking gap years/semesters, and students seeking further opportunities to advance and apply their research who have enrolled in Horizon Seminar or Horizon Labs. Our Extended Programs aim to offer students longer-term research opportunities spanning a total of 6-7 months, commencing with our core 16 week research experience in our traditional research program, and followed by an 8-10 week extension which adds a podcast, or publication component. Students may apply to participate in one of our Semester Extended Programs directly, or they may choose to “add on” one of these extension focuses after completing our core research program.
Extended Programs Offered by Horizon
*Research Assistantship opportunities are only offered for the following topics:
Fluid Dynamics, Political Theory, Philosophy, Economics, International Relations, Psychology, and Neuroscience.
All Horizon Extended Programs Are:
Application Process
Program Costs
Horizon’s Core Research Program (Horizon Labs or Horizon Seminar)
Week 1-5
Week 6-12
Week 13-15
Week 16
Options Appear Below for Week 17 and Beyond
Three Different Paths
After You Complete the Core Horizon Academic Program
How They Work
Podcasting
Podcasting offers students a fun, interdisciplinary, hands-on way to apply what they’ve learned through their research and creating something that can be easily shared and understood by a student’s peers and wider community. Students can translate their research into podcasts in several ways: narrating the secret history of an important event, presenting a series of stories surrounding the student’s research theme, interviewing scholars whose work was at the heart of a student’s paper, or hosting chats or panel discussions with professionals whose work involves a student’s research subject. Creating and producing podcasts speak to a student’s ability to commit to one theme beyond the simple confines of a paper with a due date, demonstrating their passion for a topic and their ability to learn new skills like sound engineering, complex storytelling, graphic design, and planning a complex, multi-faceted project. Podcast competitions like those hosted by NPR, the New York Times, and various universities offer added visibility for particularly thought-provoking student-created podcasts.
Publication
Publication is a challenging goal for high school student researchers. Horizon Academic’s Core Program is structured to support students in creating a research manuscript, and we’re proud to say that many of our students have had their papers accepted for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Some students choose to do this work independently after they create a research manuscript, but some students benefit from added guidance from their research mentors. Our publication extension aims to assist students in editing, improving, and transforming their initial research manuscript into a paper with a higher likelihood of acceptance for publication. We do so by advising them on how they can add new layers of sophistication to their papers, better connect their research with the prominent papers and theory surrounding their research question, refine their arguments to be more precise, and, when applicable, add novel empirical data analysis to their argument. At Horizon Academic, we strongly believe that research is an inherently valuable process for high school students, but we also recognize that some students view the creation of a research manuscript as the first step in a longer process of understanding the peer review and publication process. For these students, we’re pleased to offer the publication extension as an added layer of support and structure. We have structured our publication extension program to improve their likelihood of acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal, but students and families should bear in mind that publication cannot be ethically guaranteed.
Research Assistantship
Research Assistant roles are coveted positions among undergraduate and graduate students, but it’s also possible for talented and particularly well-prepared high school students to undertake research assistant roles. Creating an original research manuscript is an excellent way to prepare to go one step further, in contributing to a graduate-level research paper and serving as a research assistant to a doctoral candidate or a postdoctoral fellow. Professors or laboratory Principal Investigators may have several or even dozens of undergraduate and graduate Research Assistants, and these positions are generally available only to students at the host university, but doctoral candidates and post-docs are rarely given budgets to hire student assistants, even if they have published many papers and are completing a groundbreaking dissertation. Our Research Assistantship is designed to offer a curated research assistantship experience to high school students who have already written their own research manuscript and who want to apply the skills that they’ve picked up to contribute to a larger long-term study or ambitious paper being completed at the PhD level, and who wish to be acknowledged for their assistance in doing so. Students will have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of impactful scholarship by doing work that is often entrusted to university students: fact-checking and sourcing claims, completing important replications and double-checks, and compiling and analyzing data.
Research Assistantship opportunities are only offered for the following topics:
Fluid Dynamics, Political Theory, Philosophy, Economics, International Relations, Psychology, and Neuroscience.
FAQ
Which programs are a good fit for my particular subject interests?
What is the value of doing a gap year or extended research project?
What are the requirements for admission? Is admission competitive?
If I’ve done research in one subject and I want to do an extension in a different subject, is this possible?
I’m confused. I thought Horizon Academic was a research program?
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