AMGEN Scholars Program - Summer 2009!

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Definitely do the research that interests you. You will be more passionate and get more out of your work. That's why I'm not doing the NYU SURP, because the 3 faculty that I would nominate to work with all work on a campus that's too far away for summer students. If NYU had something more interesting to me than the faculty I got paired with at Columbia Amgen, then I would pursue that. All of these research programs are good/prestigious. Do what you love. I don't see enough of that these days from some students.

The Columbia Amgen professor that I'll be working with seems extremely interesting/pertains exactly to my neuroscience interests. I'm excited
 
I got my MIT acceptance 3/4. I applied to UCSD, Washington, and Columbia as well.
 
Just curious, did anyone apply to the Caltech amgen program?
 
If you get accepted, be sure to tell us what type of research you will be doing, I saw that someone's doing Parkinson's research, cool stuff!
 
OMG I GOT ACCEPTED

Caltech Amgen Scholar !!!

i got rejected by UCLA last week
 
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Congrats,

But how did you know you got rejected by UCLA? Did they send out rejections already?
 
They sent a email to me on friday. I'm guessing you still might be on the waiting list (which is a good thing?)
 
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Has anyone heard back from UCSF and UWashington?
Do you know if they rank applicants based primarily on the GPA?
I have only a 3.83 and 1-year lab experience. I have a feeling I'm gonna be rejected =(
 
got accepted by the UCSD program. proally cuz i go here. haha
 
Anyone want to give stats?!?

Does everyone who got in have >3.9??
 
so i was wondering, is it the norm to try and get in contact with a PI at the school when applying to these programs? I mean not just amgen but REU's in general...
 
Some stats:

Double major in Zoology/Physiology and Biology
Minors in Neuroscience and Honors Programmme
3.89 Cumulative GPA
1 year lab experience
 
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GPA is not everything. I read on the 2007 Amgen handout that the average gpa across the 10 universities was a 3.72. Some were higher...some were lower...
 
tigernell said:
so i was wondering, is it the norm to try and get in contact with a PI at the school when applying to these programs? I mean not just amgen but REU's in general...
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It will depend on the program. Some of them specifically tell you not to. While the first step of caltech amgen is to find an PI and get interviewed by them.
shindotp said:
Anyone want to give stats?!?

Does everyone who got in have >3.9??
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To retain some anonymity
I am a sophomore that goes to an LAC
molecular biology
gpa: >3.9
a summer REU experience
 
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Stanford AMGEN said they sent out their first pool of acceptances and those people should be confirming by the end of today...they said they will a second wave of acceptances based on how many people accept....

HOW LIKELY IS THAT YOU COULD STILL BE ON THE SECOND WAVE OF ACCEPTANCES (i didnt get into the first batch 🙁((()
 
Transformers said:
Stanford AMGEN said they sent out their first pool of acceptances and those people should be confirming by the end of today...they said they will a second wave of acceptances based on how many people accept....

HOW LIKELY IS THAT YOU COULD STILL BE ON THE SECOND WAVE OF ACCEPTANCES (i didnt get into the first batch 🙁((()
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The same as you do for the first wave. You either got in or not, where your name is on the list you dont know. Just wish they could have done it with the application system where we could just login to see our status.
 
so those of you who got offers from columbia...when did you guys need to confirm by? so i can brace myself for the rejection email
 
Columbia amgen scholars:

We had to notify our acceptance/rejection by today, Wed 11th. I accepted, but it was difficult since I was accepted to other summer programs. Good luck! I'm sure there will be a few people not accepting...there's always those crazy ones who apply to a bunch of the Amgens and therefore can't go to them all. Hopefully I'll see you at Columbia this summer!

here's my future PI's research descriptions. I'm excited to work with embryonic stem cells, now that Obama has uplifted those restrictions and has stepped forth into the field of science!

"We are studying the molecular bases of midbrain dopamine neuron development, function and survival. Midbrain dopamine neurons are thought to play key roles in learned and addictive behaviors, and degeneration of these neurons underlies Parkinson's disease.

A focus of the lab is to understand the mechanisms by which mutations in Parkinson’s disease-related genes, such as a-synuclein and parkin, lead to midbrain dopamine neuron dysfunction and eventual demise. We are also particularly interested in the normal cellular roles of these genes. We use a combination of molecular biological, cellular, and mouse genetic approaches to this end.

In a second project, we are characterizing molecules that play a important roles in the specification and late development of dopamine neurons using an in vitro culture system. Embryonic stem cells have been shown to give rise to dopamine neurons in response to a set of extrinsic cues such as sonic hedgehog and FGF8. Furthermore, a few intrinsic cellular factors, such as nurr1, have been implicated in the generation of dopamine neurons. We are using molecular biological tools to investigate the mechanism by which such intrinsic signals determine midbrain dopamine neuron fate."

Some of the other schools don't notify you of your PI until right before the program. What I liked about Columbia is that the mentor chose me (after I listed my top 5 people). Makes for a good connection.
 
So its apparent that if you didn't get an acceptance from Columbia and Stanford, you probably didnt get in. But has anyone heard from UCSF and Washington yet? Those were the two I was really hoping to get into.
 
That probably means that having no acceptances or rejections = waitlist!!
I haven't heard anything from Stanford/ UCSD/ Berkeley yet!! 🙁
Being optimistic: This atleast means that I (we-who did not hear from programs yet) was/were not ruled out in first screening 😛
 
I just got an offer from UW Amgen Scholars! :laugh:

Too bad I can't accept since I already accepted an offer from Stanford Amgen! 😀

This should make someone on the UW Amgen Scholar wait list uber happy!

I hope one of you gets it!

UST2010 said:
So its apparent that if you didn't get an acceptance from Columbia and Stanford, you probably didnt get in. But has anyone heard from UCSF and Washington yet? Those were the two I was really hoping to get into.
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WOW, Just got accepted to UCSF AMGEN Scholars Program, cant believe it.
Good Luck to all who applied!!
 
UST2010 said:
WOW, Just got accepted to UCSF AMGEN Scholars Program, cant believe it.
Good Luck to all who applied!!
Click to expand...

Congrats!!!

Did you get a phone call acceptance? I just got a call from the director a couple minutes ago with an offer...🙂
 
I did get a phone call acceptance from the director. Pretty surprising call during my physics exam!!

By the way some of my stats:
3.61 GPA, definitely not elite like everyone else's it seems
Biochemistry major
1 year immunology research on Substance P neuropeptide.
100+ hrs volunteer work at hospital with cardiology unit.
Worked full-time first three years of school for financial reasons.
 
congratz to you guys and good luck to all those still on waiting list (hope the list starts moving for acceptance)
 
Congratulations to those that have heard. I got into Mayo Clinic's SURF program but haven't heard back from any Amgens (UCSF, Stanford, UCB) which is looking pretty bad right now. Mayo Clinic gave me until Sunday to reply, so hopefully I get off a waitlist (I'm assuming I'm on waitlists at UCSF and Stanford) before then.

Anyone ever done the SURF program at Mayo Clinic?
 
I haven't done one but one of my good friends has and he said it was a blast. I have no doubt that the Mayo SURF is just as prestigious and competitive as the AMGEN program and it would no doubt be sweet working at one of the top research and medical centers in the world! I didn't apply because I live in Minnesota and really wanted to spend my summer out west otherwise i for sure would have applied. Congratulations man, be proud!
 
Is the SURF program at JPL just as prestigious as the Amgen program at UCLA? I am having trouble deciding which one to do.
 
YO GUYS, HUUUUUUUUUGE QUESTION: I was wondering for those who did MAYO surf or the VANDERBILT Clinical Internship Program whether you had an end of the semester POSTER Presentation?

Thanks 🙂
 
I havent done Vandy program before, but i got accepted to the Vanderbilt Summer Undergraduate Clinical Research Program today and in the email it says there will be end-of-summer research symposium.
 
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In the email I received from the Mayo Clinic they stated that you have to give an oral presentation to the faculty in your department at the end of the program.
 
Was happily surprised after my morning run to find this on my computer:

Congratulations _____,

You have been accepted to the University of California San Francisco Summer Research Training Program. I have attached your acceptance letter. Please read, and respond by the date posted in the letter. We look forward to having you be apart of our program. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.


We have to reply by March 16th and I was still waiting on one more program, but this one is just too good to pass up, so I accepted it. Btw, congratulations UST2010, I guess we'll be meeting each other in San Francisco. I spoke with the director today and he said something like 2100 people filled out applications to the program and 900 actually completed (LORs, Essays, etc) the applications they began. He also said UCSF received more applications than any other Amgen program too.
 
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900 applicants!!! I didn't think I had a shot in hell for acceptance at this program, but I'm guessing my biochemistry and physics professors wrote me pretty good LORs then.

San Francisco sounds like an amazing place and I can't wait to explore the city. I'm definitely gonna give this program everything I've got cause I have no doubt the person who would have gotten my spot would have and I hope everyone who gets accepted does as well.
 
Guess I may have lost out to Mayo and UCSF. I probably deserve it though; I more or less recycled my essay from last year 🙄
 
I've been too lazy to check all of them, but it seems like all of the Amgen schools give out the $4000 (based on a salary of almost $12/hr) and UCSF added in another $1300 just to be nice. Is that true? Also, UST, I take it you're a junior (I'm a sophomore)?
 
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I am still waiting to hear from UCSF and Columbia! any ideas what that means?🙁
 
Hard to believe that the Amgen program only started two years ago, and now everyone's considering it all prestigious and old-school now :meanie: I was in the program in its first year, and I don't think I need to tell you that it was a great experience! The best part isn't only the research but also getting to know your fellow Scholars from all over the country 🙂 It's a great opportunity to make new friends!
 
Did anyone applied to UC Berkeley's Amgen program? Any news?
 
I applied to UCB/ UCSD/ MIT/ Stanford!

Mit: Rejected
UCB/ UCSD/ Stanford: No news

However, I emailed Stanford wondering about my status and they said that they had sent out first pool of acceptances and the second pool of acceptances (depending on how many ppl reject the offer) will be sent next week!

I am guessing that people who did not get acceptances nor rejections from stanford- are on waitlist!!

And no news from Berkeley!! I might email them on Monday if I dont receive any update on my status.

Did anyone apply to UCSD?? any news??
 
Have any of you guys heard about/ applied to CBST- Center of Biophotonics Science and Technology Summer Internship at UC Davis Medical School????
 
You applied to all of the UC's but San Francisco, how come? My opinion is biased, but UCSF is the best one!
 
I have also heard nothing from UCB. Also, I got a 'hold' notice (essentially waitlist) from SUIP at Penn.
 
Ok, I'm clearly becoming obsessed with this. I called UCB and they said they sent out the first wave of acceptances and that students needed to respond by today. They should send out the second wave next week.

They told me that I was on the list for the second wave of acceptances (if enough people don't accept) and I will definitely being saying yes if I am lucky enough to get an offer! A summer at Berkeley and San Fran? It doesn't get much better.
 
Wish you the best of luck wagonwheel23! Especially hope you get the UCSF AMGEN award.
 
@Beta cell:
I am not sure if anyone here participated in AMGEN UCSF last summer, but I was told (by one of the administrators from ___) that the committee had some issues and few students were not assigned labs for weeks! Also, I work at UCSF during school year and hence wanted to try some other place for the summer!
 
They had students there doing nothing? You blanked out an important part, are you sure it was from a credible source? Maybe it was Stanford Amgen Director, lol.
 
Beta Cell said:
I've been too lazy to check all of them, but it seems like all of the Amgen schools give out the $4000 (based on a salary of almost $12/hr) and UCSF added in another $1300 just to be nice. Is that true? Also, UST, I take it you're a junior (I'm a sophomore)?
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It is true that UCSF pays $4000 + 1300 food stipend. However, not all of the Amgen programs pay the same amount. It ranges from Caltech which pays $5500 to Stanford which pays $3,200. Also whether each program covers food or not, i'm not sure. Anyways quickest way is to check each Host University Site.
 
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