How likely am I get into at least one of these summer programs?

[shindotp]

So I'm a freshman and I finalized a list of summer programs I'm applying to. I'm kind of nervous that I won't get into any of them and therefore will be screwed for this summer. What are the chances I might not get into any of these programs?

1.UCSD Research Experience for Undergrads, 2/13: http://be-webapps.ucsd.edu/nsfreu/
2.UCSD Marine Physical Lab, 2/15: http://www-mpl.ucsd.edu/news/mpl.internships.html
3.Huntington Medical Research Institute summer program, 4/15: http://www.hmri.org/Summer_Student/summer_student.html
4.Emory Summer Undergrad. Research Experience, 2/1: http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/undergrad/SURE/SURE_application_06.html
5.Duke SROP, 2/8: http://www.duke.edu/web/srop/
6.Rice Summer Research Program, 3/3: http://rgs.rice.edu/AGEP/spd.cfm
7.Wake Forest IRM Summer Scholars Program, 3/1: http://www.wfirm.org/Education/Summer_Scholars.htm
8.NIH SIP 3/1: http://www.training.nih.gov/student/sip/




My first semester hasn't ended yet, but my GPA will be between 3.5 and 3.8 from a top Ivy university. I just hope I get into one of them! But if I get into a California one, that would be fantastic.

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[dr zaius]

Do you have any prior research experience? That always helps when it comes to these summer programs. Also, are you taking the regular freshman year classes?

Many of these programs look more for older students who have had higher level coursework as well as experience in a lab. I participated in 2 programs as an undergraduate, and I came across only one freshman. She wrote an amazing personal statement that went right along with the type of research and purpose of the program, which is why she got in. This was a few years ago, though.

 

[ej37]

Well, as Im sure you know, the NIH internship is very selective, and also looks the best on your resume...

That being said, you have to contact PIs to get it. Dont wait till the deadline, ask now.

 

[mdmarty]

There are also the Amgen programs, six of which are in California: UCSD, UCLA, UCSF, Berkeley, Caltech, and Stanford.

http://www.amgenscholars.com/

I would say these are more prestigious/competitive than the ones you listed. Like someone else said, your personal statement is very important. There were people with 3.5's in my program, so GPA is more of a checkpoint.

 

[shindotp]

My personal statement is pretty good, I think... I talk about a personal incident in my life, relate that to how I got started with research, discuss my various research experiences, transition into why I want to become a biomedical researcher, and how the program will help me along the way.

I have about 4 years of research experience. I'm taking courses which freshmen usually take, which involve physics, advanced chem - honors, mol bio, and a neuroscience course.

Thanks for all of the responses! I will definitely look for and start sending out emails to NIH investigators who I would want to work with.

 

[shindotp]

On average, about how many summer programs do sophomores/juniors apply to?

 

[Zona Pellucida]

On average, about how many summer programs do sophomores/juniors apply to?

Junior. Applied to 1.

Would LIKE to get in to have another research exp. under my belt but will not be devastated if I don't as I am currently starting one through my school's Microbiology dept.

 

[anbuitachi]

low? these programs are pretty hard to get into. I am applying to columbia amgen this year, dont know if i'll get in since i'll be sending in my App 2 days before the deadline (all planned out)

seem to me most of these programs accept about 20 students. they get hundreds of applications ~600 maybe. thats 3% acceptance rate

 

[scarletgirl777]

On average, about how many summer programs do sophomores/juniors apply to?

I want to say that I applied to 3 national research programs as a sophomore...got into 2. I think that it's important to remember (as I wish I realized when I was applying as a freshman) that the deck is stacked against you for national research programs because of your lack of experience and that you shouldn't sweat it if you don't get into any. You can always find some professor at your school (assuming you go to a university) who wants a lab monkey, and you should talk to premed or department advisors who can help you find funding. If you go to school far from home, then you can always try looking for a professor on the campus of your state school and try to see if you can commute. Having research during the summer of your freshman year is pretty rare, and as long as you do some kind of internship or study abroad or learning experience, you will still be ahead of the game.

 

[redlight]

im applying to a few (2-3). i really, really, don't like my chances of getting into any of these so im going to do my best to find a lab at my university. next year i'll get my bloody LORs in on time. they are the only reason i am applying to so few and so late in the season /end rant.

btw for research through your own university, do they usually pay? or is that what people mean when they say they have to find funding for their research..?

and OP, are you applying to any research programs at your uni? i was thinking of applying to a bio one at your university since it would be instate for me, but i don't remember the program name (nor deadline) and it's through their bio grad school, i think.

 

[Pghboy18]

So I'm a freshman and I finalized a list of summer programs I'm applying to. I'm kind of nervous that I won't get into any of them and therefore will be screwed for this summer. What are the chances I might not get into any of these programs?

1.UCSD Research Experience for Undergrads, 2/13: http://be-webapps.ucsd.edu/nsfreu/
2.UCSD Marine Physical Lab, 2/15: http://www-mpl.ucsd.edu/news/mpl.internships.html
3.Huntington Medical Research Institute summer program, 4/15: http://www.hmri.org/Summer_Student/summer_student.html
4.Emory Summer Undergrad. Research Experience, 2/1: http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/undergrad/SURE/SURE_application_06.html
5.Duke SROP, 2/8: http://www.duke.edu/web/srop/
6.Rice Summer Research Program, 3/3: http://rgs.rice.edu/AGEP/spd.cfm
7.Wake Forest IRM Summer Scholars Program, 3/1: http://www.wfirm.org/Education/Summer_Scholars.htm
8.NIH SIP 3/1: http://www.training.nih.gov/student/sip/




My first semester hasn't ended yet, but my GPA will be between 3.5 and 3.8 from a top Ivy university. I just hope I get into one of them! But if I get into a California one, that would be fantastic.

OP, I was wondering, have you considered doing something outside of academia during your first summer out of school? You'll have two more summers to do research for which you'll be a much more competitive applicant and will probably get more out of the experience because of your greater knowledge base.

Things get more serious as you go through school. If you have something fun and interesting that you'd like to do this summer, I would seriously consider doing that and putting off research for a year or so. Who knows - schools might look at that more favorably in the long run anyway...

 

[scarletgirl777]

im applying to a few (2-3). i really, really, don't like my chances of getting into any of these so im going to do my best to find a lab at my university. next year i'll get my bloody LORs in on time. they are the only reason i am applying to so few and so late in the season /end rant.

btw for research through your own university, do they usually pay? or is that what people mean when they say they have to find funding for their research..?

and OP, are you applying to any research programs at your uni? i was thinking of applying to a bio one at your university since it would be instate for me, but i don't remember the program name (nor deadline) and it's through their bio grad school, i think.

Labs will pay for the supplies, and well funded labs will pay you a stipend (so depending on your university, you might be able to find that) but most people end up having to apply for funding from the university's departments or a general pool of money somewhere in the university (at least, that has been my personal experience). Talk to the appropriate counseling office. There are also some national grants out there that will fund undergraduate students to do research wherever they want, but they are usually geared towards ridiculously specific topics. Like I think I have a friend who got one to study fungi. Barring that, you will end up having to support yourself during that summer.

EDIT: OP, I just noticed you said that you come from a "top Ivy" (a bit of a superfluous description, no?) There should definitely be funding available for you to do research then. I don't think that doing research somewhere outside your university for a summer is necessarily better. If anything, if you do it at your university, it is more likely that you can continue it and eventually turn it into a thesis if you so desire, or at least a long term relationship that can produce a strong LOR. Good luck!

EDIT 2: Ok, now I'm noticing that you claim to have 4 years of research experience. This is the equivalent of the 3.9/39 people who worry about getting into medical school. I think you will probably be fine.

 

[redlight]

Labs will pay for the supplies, and well funded labs will pay you a stipend (so depending on your university, you might be able to find that) but most people end up having to apply for funding from the university's departments or a general pool of money somewhere in the university (at least, that has been my personal experience). Talk to the appropriate counseling office. There are also some national grants out there that will fund undergraduate students to do research wherever they want, but they are usually geared towards ridiculously specific topics. Like I think I have a friend who got one to study fungi. Barring that, you will end up having to support yourself during that summer.

EDIT: OP, I just noticed you said that you come from a "top Ivy" (a bit of a superfluous description, no?) There should definitely be funding available for you to do research then. I don't think that doing research somewhere outside your university for a summer is necessarily better. If anything, if you do it at your university, it is more likely that you can continue it and eventually turn it into a thesis if you so desire, or at least a long term relationship that can produce a strong LOR. Good luck!

EDIT 2: Ok, now I'm noticing that you claim to have 4 years of research experience. This is the equivalent of the 3.9/39 people who worry about getting into medical school. I think you will probably be fine.

ahh yes, ive been talking w/ my major adviser about finding research at one of the university's schools and he's been very supportive but i forgot to mention funding for summer research....i guess i'll go back and see him.

oh wow, funding for (potentially) any research-- sounds awesome! haha i guess i'll look into that. thanks for the help

 

[Rebs28]

I applied for summer research as a sophmore, to 10 different programs (including NIH), and was rejected by each and every one. Ouch. But I didn't come from an Ivy, nor did I have prior experience, my LORs weren't fantastic, and etc.

I would say that the most important thing for programs outside your university is to know who you want to work with and contact them early. You have to go through PIs to get into NIH especially.

OP, have you thought about doing research at your home institution? You may have a much easier time finding a professor to work with/finding funding/continuing the project. I ended up doing research at my home school and had a great experience.

 

[anbuitachi]

Do you guys know if you get into programs like Amgen, are you required to go or can you reject it for another program? I'm applying to Amgen and the agreement on the bottom is

By submitting this form, you agree that, if selected for an AMGEN fellowship, you will:

• Participate in the 10-week program of full-time laboratory research
• Check your email regularly
• Not hold another job or attend classes during this time
• Attend weekly meetings
• Write a research report summarizing your findings
• Attend the Amgen Scholars National Symposium
• Agree to abide by the Amgen and Columbia University/Barnard College codes of conduct

Seems to me if they select you you have to go..

 

[Stixman28]

OP, you don't have to apply to be in a formal research program in order to get
1) research experience
2) paid

My advice is to carpet bomb research departments at schools you'd like to work in. If you email 50 PI's, youll probably find one that will hire you for the summer. Worked for me several times, and led to full time paid positions with benefits.

If you want to see who has money, go the the NIH website CRISP : http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/

This is a database you can look in to see which investigators have recently received grants, i.e. who's got money for you. It is searchable by key words, locations, and pretty much anything you can imagine.

good luck, and just cause you're a freshman with no experience, don't let it stop you. just send more emails and widen your search area.

 

[shindotp]

^Thank you for that advice... I'll do that if I end up getting rejected everywhere or something.

I do have research experience, but that's coming from my high school days... Don't know how much they'll consider that. I did get an abstract out of it though. And some of these programs are really selective, so I don't think this is exactly like a 3.9/39 situation.

And it's not exactly a 3% shot at all 7 either: AMGEN is obviously more difficult to get into than the ones I'm applying to.

And the reason so few freshmen do these programs is because of 1) lack of research experience, and 2) most programs don't take freshmen. Neither apply to my situation (all programs I'm applying to accept freshmen).

Sorry about the superfluous description haha. I said the name of the school at first, but then thought it would be better to have some degree of anonymity.

 

[Ubergeek]

I don't know what basis the previous poster had for saying this, but the NIH program is not selective at all. It depends on contacting individual PIs and directing them to the application that you submit to the program. If you contact enough PIs and you're almost guaranteed a spot. I did the NIH SIP in the summer of '07 at the NIAAA.

 

[shindotp]

^Ohh I see. I'll definitely try to contact as many PI's as I can then.

How many did you contact? How much research experience did you have/what year were you?

 

[anbuitachi]

wow thats an interesting way to do the application. though how do you guys handle it when 2 people accept and you have to reject one? doesn't that seem a bit rude

 

[Ubergeek]

It's not rude at all. It is imperative when selecting a lab to choose one in which you are most interested, has the most opportunity for independent work, and the one with the friendliest members. If you don't take these precautions you can end up with an unhappy, unproductive summer. PIs recognize that an invitation to work in a lab is in no way binding; a good PI will encourage you to look into many labs as well since a good fit is just as important to them as it is to you.

I applied as a sophomore. I had done research in hs (intel semifinalist, etc.), and the summer after my frosh year, but most of the others had little or no experience. I didn't have the greatest time in this program---I would recommend looking into a program with more structure and more interaction between students.

 

[Ponger]

So I'm a freshman and I finalized a list of summer programs I'm applying to. I'm kind of nervous that I won't get into any of them and therefore will be screwed for this summer. What are the chances I might not get into any of these programs?

4.Emory Summer Undergrad. Research Experience, 2/1: http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/undergrad/SURE/SURE_application_06.html

I can't speak for the other programs but I just did the Emory SURE program last summer so I'll talk about that one. As an Emory student, the guidelines for application are a bit different; we had to have the lab we were working in pre-arranged. Non-Emory students had to do a personal statement stating their research interests and were matched to a lab who had agreed to take a summer student.

The program is not hard to get into for Emory students, with about half of 60 Emory applicants getting in. It's considerably harder for Non-Emory students; only 30 out of ~300 applicants got in. To the best of my knowledge, only 1 person I knew in the program was a rising sophomore and he was an Emory student who got into the program off a wait list. They definitely look for an older, more experienced applicant.

While it is good-looking on the med school app to have done such a program so early on in the college career, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. I was rejected from one the summer after my freshman year; that program told me they preferred rising juniors/seniors. I simply contacted some local PI's at an institution near home and ended up doing research that summer anyway.

Be forewarned there's a reason schools and PI's prefer older students for research programs. They're typically looking for students who can do independent research projects. In my case, I couldn't really fully understand the theory and relevance underlying the project I was doing until my 3rd summer of college research, after I'd taken almost all of my upper level biology classes. Only then was I able to make a good deal of scholarly contributions to the project. I mean really, after freshman year you've likely taken only introductory biology, how are you supposed to drive the direction of your own independent research project? Whoops, sorry to go off on a tangent there.

I hope some of that information helped and good luck with your applications!

 

[shindotp]

Well, I submitted all the applications.

*crosses fingers* Guess I'll start finding out around late March or so?

 

[shindotp]

Got rejected from my first one today (Duke SROP). Very expected. But it was one of the two I wanted to go to most

 

[PhillyDoc123]

Got rejected from my first one today (Duke SROP). Very expected. But it was one of the two I wanted to go to most

im sorry! I hope you get into the other!

 

[shindotp]

Thanks Philly.

 

[shindotp]

Dammmmit, after getting rejected from UCSD's REU my top choices are down to NIH's SIP (contacting a few PI's everyday for that one) and Emory's SURE (but from the post above, it looks like I don't have much of a shot...).

 

[mbe36]

It's not rude at all. It is imperative when selecting a lab to choose one in which you are most interested, has the most opportunity for independent work, and the one with the friendliest members. If you don't take these precautions you can end up with an unhappy, unproductive summer. PIs recognize that an invitation to work in a lab is in no way binding; a good PI will encourage you to look into many labs as well since a good fit is just as important to them as it is to you.

I applied as a sophomore. I had done research in hs (intel semifinalist, etc.), and the summer after my frosh year, but most of the others had little or no experience. I didn't have the greatest time in this program---I would recommend looking into a program with more structure and more interaction between students.

Great advice.