Is ROBOTICS Worth It?! · Rishab Academy

Is ROBOTICS Worth It?!

Incoming sophomore here with ~2 years of experience in VEX Robotics at my local school. I also do research and stem fairs as sort of my "main" ec and have attended fairs like NJSHS and a few others. I've been thinking about continuing robotics for the upcoming years by creating my own VEX team (transition from school to private team), and possibly also join a friend's FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team, so essentially I'll compete in 2 robotics teams and essentially have 2x the amount of work as opposed to just competing in one team, under one organization.

But now I'm not sure whether or not robotics is even worth it on a college resume when I plan on continuing research. I'm hoping to make fairs like ISEF and publish peer-reviewed papers, and I'm just not sure that doing FTC or VEX (even if I make worlds) will stack up to that in terms of prestige. Will colleges hold making worlds for robotics and making a fair like ISEF in the same regard? Considering I'll probably spend the same amount of time and possibly more on robotics, I want to make sure it's as prestigious enough as creating a science project and presenting it at high-level symposia.

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