ASDRP - Aspiring Scholars Directed Research Program - Fremont, California

Shirley C.

I left a review earlier to mention about the slow/lack of response from the admin team to my emails. Once my review was up, one of the admin team approached us immediately showing concern about the issue I saw. He genuinely wants to hear more about the issue from me and solve the problem. With some face-to-face communication, I've got to understand that the admin team are all volunteers and due to the budget limitation, they can't hire someone full time just to perform admin duties. They receive hundreds of external emails which they've already tried their best to attend to everyday. His eagerness to communicate with us immediately after my initial post shows me that he DOES care and try to resolve any issue/question. I appreciate his honest communication with us.

As for the program itself, I'm very grateful the existence of ASDRP because seriously, I do see all principal investigators (mentors) are very hard-working and diligent to teach and mentor their student researchers. Almost all (if not all) researchers are high school students who know basically nothing about researches and wet labs when they start. With my 2 daughters who was/is with ASDRP, I can see that their PI have been very patient with them. I'm thankful for this program especially when it's not easy for high schoolers to gain any hands-on experience in researches. My older one is now in college doing research on neuroscience and her past experience at ASDRP did definitely help her lay a solid foundation.

Ananthaprakash B.

After emails and communication, they got back to me very quick. I was in an emergency situation, and they were very understanding and were able to address my situation. Please keep in mind, they are a non-profit and with their limitations comes time. Their dedication to the sciences is amazing and the faculty and the staff are great.

Ray C.

My daughter attended here for two and a half years, now my younger one is too. Big time commitment, but she learned a lot and we are very happy with how ASDRP has been part of her and our journey over high school years. Advisors are typically doctoral-level scientists and most are very serious about science. Students should attend their events to get the most out of the experience.

Jay M.

I'm a current student in ASDRP, entering my third semester this spring. After eight months in this program, I finally feel like I have my feet on the ground in the research space, and have the capability push projects independently and understand the science behind what I do in lab. For me, lab has been the best thing I could have invested time in during my high school life. Not only do you get hands on, real lab experience where you could publish or go to conferences, but you can understand work place environments, strengthen time management, grow more responsible, extend a social network, learn to work collaboratively, understand the scientific mindset, gain insight into what collage and PhD programs are like through the stories and advice from advisors, and much much more. For those who are looking to join, there are probably some things to consider before signing up.

First of all: if you're a parent reading this and signing up for your child, just don't sign them up. It's not worth it if the actual student isn't personally invested, and you'll end up complaining your child is getting nowhere. Research being available to highschoolers doesn't lower the standard accepted to publish- everyone I know in my group who has published papers invested hundreds of hours into their work, spent late nights into the mornings in lab, working for months or often years. The truth is that if you're signing up for your child, the likelihood is they aren't interested enough to put in that kind of work - especially if they have 252903 other extracurriculars. All the students I know who succeeded in lab signed up themselves. Also, don't come into lab if your only goal is to publish. Publishing is great but it takes years, I haven't published yet after eight months and I'm not close at all. Lab work is partially luck as well as skill- some projects just don't work out, even if you're in a few you might get unlucky. If you only want to publish you'll probably get discouraged and burn out. You have to go in hoping to just learn.

For students who are interested: Do it, if you think you want to try. It's worth it- the most worthwhile thing I've done in high school. For those worried about time, it is possible to do well in school, have some extracurriculars, and do lab. Most ASDRP researchers are also good students with responsibilities outside of lab - it's just more work.

If you're curious what a realistic week is like for me at lab (I'm in the Njoo group, schedule varies by group), I personally spend about 20 hours a week in lab during the school year and 40-50 during the summer. (I live around 40 minutes from lab, commute time isn't factored into these numbers.) I know people who spend 40-50 hours a week during the school year in lab and 70 in the summer, and I know people who spend 10-30 in the school year and summer. The schedule is extremely flexible, you just have to put work in. Going into lab, I had no idea how much work it would be, and while it's a huge time commitment, I've learned such an incredible amount here. It doesn't feel much like work to me most of the time, because I'm doing what I love alongside my friends. Lab is open daily with some holiday exceptions, and you can go whenever is convenient for you. There is an extremely steep learning curve in lab, and the first six months or so are very awkward. Even after, I only am just starting to feel comfortable working independently as opposed to with my friends. You have to be willing to feel stupid sometimes, and ask for help. Growing in lab is sometimes painful, but worth it to understand the science behind the research that goes on.

ASDRP has become my home away from home over the last eight months, and I'm really thankful for my advisor and all the friends I've made. Working on novel research is an incredible experience, and it solidified my certainty I want to go into academia.

Overall: If science truly excites you, if you think you can invest lots of your time, and you aren't afraid of occasionally failing, you will not regret joining.

Ron C.

My student had a great experience spending three years at ASDRP, big time commitment and challenging but he learned a lot. He spent a lot of time every week on project, his mentor was very persistent on everybody learning how to do materials engineering the proper way, and learning how to use instruments. Coming from physics/engineering background myself, I am very impressed with expertise of faculty, and persistence in having students learning to be independent.

Nrupali S.

If there were an option to give a 0 star, I would have given that. It was a horrible experience. No one is taking ownership of what is going on. It is a total waste of time for kids and money for parents. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. We wasted thousands of dollars hoping the conditions would improve if the mentor were changed, but no luck. A few groups were doing stuff, so if you are lucky, you are fortunate. If we are paying money, somebody should take accountability. Those kids coming to the lab for extended years do not allow the newcomers to do things.

Karthik J.

Being at ASDRP is probably one of the most impactful factors in my son’s choice of college majors. When we first started I was little skeptical, but what became apparent very quickly is that these folks are serious about science and about training kids to be young adults. My son made lots of friends here from different school. Thank you to the team for making it a great learning experience for all of us.

Cary X.

Our experience was great. Coming from a biotech background myself, it is a special place to see scientist coming together to train my child. The research capabilities are well organized and I appreciate the emphasis on training kids in real research. It was a good learning experience for me as much as it is for my student.