A ONE Institute
Jan 31, 2024
Non-STEM students’ research ideas and approaches
I will tell you in detail about EC activities, which are common activities among students who have advanced to the Ivy League.
Please note that this information session was held on August 2, 2022.
Before explaining the student case in earnest, I would like to tell you four things to prepare for entering college.
•GPA
• STANDARDIZED TEST
• E.C.
• ESSAY
GPA can be determined by taking a lot of rigorous classes and getting good grades on standardized tests, but many people are curious about EC because there is no right answer.
Today, I will tell you what and how to start among the activities that students who have entered prestigious universities have done a lot.
Let me explain as an example that the student's conditions are that he or she is an outstanding top student, the high school he or she is attending is an advanced school, and he or she wants to advance to a non-STEM field.
Let me first talk about Outstanding and Advanced level Social & English competitions.
Let me give an example of a case where a non-STEM student prepares research through EC.
In the STEM field, if you decide on a topic and conduct research, you can do research, and if you research it for a long time and in depth, you can receive an award. However, non-STEM research may be difficult because it is a little different, but in fact, it can be approached similarly to STEM research. I will explain the method in detail. Before that, let’s find out what types of non-STEM research competitions there are.
Social & English related competitions
TASS (Telluride Association Summer Seminars)
For competitions like this one, the topic is very limited and race-related research is needed.
If a student has been interested in this field from the beginning, it is a good program to pursue. If not, they can give up.
HIEEC (Harvard International Economics Essay Contest)
This competition is about economics, and one of the topics for 2021 is "Is it wise for a country to have debt when national debt exceeds GDP?" Students must write in depth about the topic based on research.
NHD (National History Day)
The NHD competition is a competition that is not difficult to start. The biggest advantage is that the topic itself is very broad, so you can bring it into the topic even if you are doing other research.
The theme for 2022-23 was “Frontier in History.”
At NHD, when a year's theme is determined, the year's theme is organized into a PDF format of about 5 pages and posted on the website. As you read it, it is a good idea to pick a specific topic and see how the field you are interested in is connected or if any new topics come to mind.
Since you must apply with an advisor at your school, we recommend that you prepare at the school level.
John Locke Essay Contest
We also recommend the John Locke Essay Contest, which is known as a very in-depth essay competition, to students.
The John Locke Competition involves writing down answers to specific questions within seven categories.
Since this is a contest where the topics are within 7 broad categories, it is easier to apply for this contest than for contests with narrow topics like TASS or HIEEC.
Now, from the perspective of a student preparing to enter a non-STEM field,
I will explain in detail how to effectively prepare for the competitions described above.
The student successfully completes a piece of research on a topic in a field that the student is interested in and wants to develop.
After that, plan on competing in all of the competitions highlighted in yellow in the image above (listed below).
• The Concord Review
• The Leonard L. Milberg '53 School Poetry Prize
• John Locke Essay Contest
• National History Day (NHD)
• Scholastic Art and Writing
• Young Arts - National Arts Competition
I see NHD and The Concord Review as two major axes.
Let me say it again
The Concord Review is a free-themed competition related to history, and NHD is a competition with a theme that is announced broadly every year.
The specific approach I will teach you is to start research based on NHD and prepare to research the topic in more depth before submitting it to The Concord Review. And since there are history-related questions in the John Locke Essay Contest, it is recommended that you select a topic that fits the topic you have been researching and participate.
In this way, we recommend that you develop yourself by participating in various competitions with a single research.
Additionally, The Leonard L. Milberg '53 High School Poetry Prize is a contest in which you submit your poetry. It would be a good idea to give Poetry a try, and Scholastic and Young Arts participate every year, so I recommend always preparing.
Topic Selection Approach
Let’s take some time to think about specifically how to start research in non-STEM fields.
It may be a little complicated, but if you assume that you are researching what NHD calls Frontier, Let’s grab the idea and do research within the big topic of ‘Frontier boundaries’.
There may be many different boundaries, but let's approach it with the subject of the boundary of 'vision' in mind.
When conducting research within history, historical events that have already occurred do not change.
Let's start with the importance of looking at the same event or fact from a different 'perspective'.
Yuval Harari's Sapiens book The Agricultural Revolution was not an event that marked the beginning of human civilization.
It attracted public attention as it was interpreted as the beginning of labor and an increase in working hours as an event given to mankind.
Historians and humanity professors like to apply research by looking at the same event from a slightly different perspective, like Yuval Harari. It would be a good topic to study how history has flowed according to this 'perspective' and whether the relationships and policies of each country have changed following these changes. A nation has developed throughout history by expressing its power and strength, and it would be a good research topic to study how national power is expressed depending on the times.
In 2D, or 2 Dimensions, we refer to a limited perspective that is confined to the surface of the Earth.
Moving to 3D, we consider both the ground surface and axis together, expanding our view into three dimensions.
Now, let's connect this understanding to history and explore how each country demonstrates its power.
A method of expressing state power is through territorial expansion. In a 2D perspective, this idea appears rather one-dimensional, primarily focusing on expanding territory or increasing power. For example, during the period when the British Empire occupied a quarter of the entire Earth, the perspective was limited to 2D standards.
To deepen our research, we can contemplate what it would mean if boundaries extended beyond the Earth's surface and axis into the sky.
The Egyptian pyramids serve as a prime example of expressing state power within a field of view that extends to the sky.
In modern times, as our field of view expands to include the sky, the number of high-rise buildings has increased. Naturally, countries with many high-rise buildings tend to rank higher in current national competitiveness.
Today, the competition extends even further than high-rise buildings; we are now competing in space.
Considering the visual frontier in connection with history, we observe how the method of expressing power changes as the frontier of our field of view expands. Similarly to how the ownership of high-rise buildings coincides with national competitiveness, the number of satellites in each country now reflects its economic ranking.
These research findings can be well-suited to the NHD topic, "Frontier in History."
As our perspective develops from the ground surface to the axis, to the sky, and possibly to 'virtual space' instead of 4D, we can speculate that countries will express power by occupying virtual space.
Exploring what lies beyond 3D opens up avenues for research into the next dimension, offering intriguing possibilities.
Participating in competitions with fresh and unique perspectives, rather than simply presenting facts, can lead to favorable outcomes.