Doris Duke/CRTP/HHMI/Sarnoff Thread

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I can answer questions about the HHMI research fellowship for medical students, yay!
 
I'm happy to answer any Qs re: Doris Duke. Advice: apply to several programs unless you are interested in a particular mentor (my case). Easier to get into your home school if it is a DDF site.
 
This is for the year long HHMI Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students (http://www.hhmi.org/grants/individuals/medfellows.html)

Where are you now in the program? I am half way finished, fellowship ends in 6 months.

What was the the series of events that made up your application process, with respect to both the NIH and your 3rd year rotations? For fellowship between MS2/MS3: during MS1 to first half of MS2, locate mentor at your own institution or another institution. Complete and submit application with their support by January of your MS2 year.

How did you identify who to work with? You need to find a mentor on your own. I had worked with my mentor during the pre-MS2 summer and during MS2 year.

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile, or are they a waste of time? HHMI fellowship focuses heavily on basic science. No clinical time is required or expected.

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far? Worth it if you can publish at least 1 first author paper.

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot? No interview is required, I think having worked with my mentor for a while already helped a lot.
 
Hey, no worries. I applied to the Cloister, CRTP, and a few DDCFs.

I think your clinical experience helps with deciding a specific field of research that you want to pursue. Plenty of people who haven't done clinical year get quite a bit out of this program, but I would just suggest finishing your core rotations first.
 
I applied/inteviewed/was accepted to the DDCRF, HHMI Cloister and NIH CRTP programs.

Where are you now in the program?

Midway through a DDCRF year.

What was the the series of events that made up your application process, with respect to both the NIH and your 3rd year rotations? (or tell us the time line if you went MS2 -> HHMI)

I put together all three applications over my holiday break. I knew I'd be applying for a year off by October of my third year, so I had the foresight to ask my dean and attendings/PI's for LORs before I began writing my PS and filling out the apps. Doris Duke interviews at multiple schools began rolling in late January. I interviewed at both CRTP and the Cloister, so I heard from them in early Feb for a combined interview weekend in the first week of March.

How did you identify who to work with?
Dug through Pubmed. Read bios. General word of mouth/mouf.

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile, or are they a waste of time? (or, if you know anyone in the CRTP, what their experience has been so far)

The DDCRF has been AMAZING so far. I'm interested in being a clinician-scientist, so the appeal of a "protected" year of clinical research time was undeniable. I have a great mentor who is probably more of a friend than a boss, awesome techs and grad students who help me navigate in my lab, and the other DDCRF fellows in my program are really chill people to boot. We have a didactic component so we get to take public health/epi classes in our public health school most afternoons of the week. All the fellows usually have a weekly or bi-weekly luncheon to discuss topics in clinical research (or to just take a break from lab if the mood strikes).

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far?

Yes. I would do it again in a heartbeat. And given that I'm probably going into a demanding residency, this year has been perfect for a mental recharge after M3. I'm finally getting back into the shape I was before medical school!

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot?

Not sure really. My board scores/grades are pretty good, but I know people who had just as good, if not better, stats that weren't even interviewed. In retrospect, it was probably strong letters that may have been the difference. Aside from my research dean, I had a PI who knew me and my ability really well and an attending from my medicine rotation I was close with write on my behalf. My personal statement was also very clear about my goals to be a clinician-scientist and outlined my areas of research interest. The key to any good PS is weaving an interesting story/plot with your future goals.

Good luck all! Feel free to PM if you've got questions.
 
Just finished applying to 2 of the basic science research fellowships earlier this week! Good feeling to be done with the apps, now just to wait and see about interviews.

Thanks to those who have posted about their experiences 👍
 
anyone hear back about Howard hughes cloister (HHMI) interviews yet?
 
nope nothing yet. hopefully we will hear something this weekend?
 
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Superstarz34 said:
nope nothing yet. hopefully we will hear something this weekend?
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I imagine it'll be today or Monday. Most likely Monday considering the date that applicants got invitations last year.

BTW, does anyone know if all DD sites require interviews? It would be bittersweet if I got multiple interviews because I'll be in the middle of my clerkship at that time and might have to withdrawal if I accumulate too many absences.

Has anyone else given this any thought?
 
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thesauce said:
I imagine it'll be today or Monday. Most likely Monday considering the date that applicants got invitations last year.

BTW, does anyone know if all DD sites require interviews? It would be bittersweet if I got multiple interviews because I'll be in the middle of my clerkship at that time and might have to withdrawal if I accumulate too many absences.

Has anyone else given this any thought?
Click to expand...

I applied to Harvard, Columbia, Yale, UCSF and Penn and I think of those 5 only Penn requires an interview.
 
I got an email from Cloisters this morning 😀

It was awesome to find the email waiting for me as I got out of my first final of the term.
 
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Helo said:
Hey everyone!

I also got an email this morning! Ditto on the whole exam thing...just finished a morning path/pharm house exam (which was brutal) when I read the email 🙂
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Congrats!
 
Do they send emails or Letters because I thought they send you letter notifications?
 
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is HHMI-NIH done sending out interview invites? anyone heard from crtp or hhmi fellows?
 
congrats everyone!

When are you interviewing? Mine is March 6-7th :-D
 
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Hey all!

I received an interview invite early this morning. Will be interviewing on March 13-14. Best of luck to the rest of you.
 
Definitely will let you know how it goes.

I'll be down there 13-14th.
 
I got an NIH-CRTP invite @6:15pm today!!! Best of luck to everyone!
 
I just got my CRTP interview invite as well 🙂 Anyone know how many people they invite for interviews? Just wondering what percentage of people interviewed end up getting an offer...thanks!
 
Does anyone know if the Doris Duke program at UNC interviews applicants? Anyone have any idea how competitive the UNC DD program is? Also, is there anyone here who has participated in the UNC DD program in a previous year who wouldn't mind posting his/her experiences?

I got an email from the DD co-ordinator at UNC with potential mentors a couple days ago and got in touch with one of the mentors. Currently hashing out a project proposal with him.

Thanks!
 
Electrophys said:
Does anyone know if the Doris Duke program at UNC interviews applicants? Anyone have any idea how competitive the UNC DD program is? Also, is there anyone here who has participated in the UNC DD program in a previous year who wouldn't mind posting his/her experiences?

I got an email from the DD co-ordinator at UNC with potential mentors a couple days ago and got in touch with one of the mentors. Currently hashing out a project proposal with him.

Thanks!
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Same here. I sincerely doubt they interview considering the mentor's letter isn't due until March. But don't hold me to that.

Any more word on DD? So far, UPenn and Iowa have offered interviews. UNC and WashU definately haven't. I can't say anything about the rest.
 
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Helo said:
Hey,

UNC does not interview, I emailed Susan Pusek about that. Apparently we all need to get a mentor letter submitted and that will place us "within the first group given acceptance to the program."
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Electrophys said:
Does anyone know if the Doris Duke program at UNC interviews applicants? Anyone have any idea how competitive the UNC DD program is?...
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This is all pretty interesting. Does the UNC DD program have a formal classroom component? I ask because

1) I am interested in getting the formal training these places offer
2) It's a measure of how serious the host institutions treat the program

Electrophys said:
Also, is there anyone here who has participated in the UNC DD program in a previous year who wouldn't mind posting his/her experiences?
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👍
 
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I was just wondering are these fellowships considered taxable income?
 
Hope everyone's applications are going well. Any word from UTSW (confirmation email, interview, etc...)?

The more and more I think about this...the more and more of a black box this application process becomes...haha, maybe its best to leave it at that.

Good luck!!
 
got an email from utsw today to set up a phone appt to discuss my research interests, career plans, etc....

anyone else get a similar email. not sure what to make of it. said they have completed their prelim ranking of applicants - im guessing this "interview" is to further solidify it?
 
got an email today from utsw also with the same information.

i am a student at utsw.

i did not know what to make of the email either 🙁
 
hey, i emailed to set up an appointment with mcphaul but havent heard back from you. did you get a response back?

StartingLine3 said:
got an email today from utsw also with the same information.

i am a student at utsw.

i did not know what to make of the email either 🙁
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nope, i havent heard anything back. i emailed him with available times also.
 
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Helo said:
Hey,

I just got a message on my phone today from someone from UTSW DD, but I unfortunately didn't hear my phone ring. He left a message asking me to call back tomorrow...I'm sure by now you guys have also heard from UTSW?
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yea i spoke with the assistant program director last week. he just wanted to know a little more about my previous research experience and answer any questions i had. he mentioned they are talking to about 20-25 applicants on the phone (out of a total of 50). according to him, they anticipate to take 7 students unless they can secure additional mentors/funding.
 
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I talked with the director of the program from UTSW on the phone. Basically, the same thing, asked about my research interests and if I had done research on possible mentors on campus. He stated that applicants will be notified if they are accepted by this coming friday.
 
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Helo said:
According to my convo with the UTSW program, I am not sure if anyone had an "in person" interview. He mentioned that of the 50+ applicants, 20ish were being called on the phone of which there are 8 spots.

Did anyone hear from UNC this morning?
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Did UNC starting releasing decisions?
 
Anybody else nervous about Friday? Are HHMI fellows and cloister/NIH crtp decisions going to be released the same day?
 
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