I’m a freshman applying to SURFs this summer and I have no idea where I stand in terms of competitiveness.
A weak point of my app is that my LORs are not from profs because I have not made those connections yet.
- I have a 4.0 but some mid-high 80s (Canadian, transcript says numerical % and letter grade “A” for all courses).
- I have one year’s experience as a volunteer research assistant doing dry lab work with a children’s hospital.
- This semester I am a research assistant in industry.
A weak point of my app is that my LORs are not from profs because I have not made those connections yet.
- One LOR is from a PhD who supervises my STEM volunteering
- another LOR is a similar relationship (not PhD though)
- an MSc who founded a research association I am an exec of
- and my strongest LOR is my research supervisor from the children’s hospital.