- Joined
- Oct 23, 2003
- Messages
- 337
- Reaction score
- 2
How big of a deal are the Howard Hughes fellowships? How difficult is it to get one? Just curious. I have a friend that is considering applying next year and I just wondered how realistic it was.
Howard Hughes fellowship
- Thread starter trudub
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2005
- Messages
- 634
- Reaction score
- 0
Hughes fellowships are nice- not the end-all-be-all, but I think mine helped alot. Its a good thing to have if youve done research, and especially if you dont have any publications, because it's another way of showing adcoms that you were substantially involved in research and made a serious commitment (and weren't just washing test tubes). You (or 'your friend') should definitely go for it.
As far as how hard it is to get, I think that depends on what school you are trying to do it at (I know there are a bunch). Is hetrying to do it for pre-existing research, or for research you havent started yet? If it's the
former, then the PI should help write a good, solid proposal- the lab you work for gets money too, so if nothing else, that should motivate him or her to help. Also look at previous proposals to get an idea of what it should look like.
At my school about half of the people who applied got it. As far as who gets and who doesn't, alot depends, of course, on the impact of the research and the quality of the proposal. Some of it also depends on who your PI is and whether or not he knows anyone on the selection committee (because that's just the way things are sometimes). If ones PI is on the selection committe for that year, then its a slam dunk.
Any other questions just ask.
EDIT: wait a second, is this referring to getting a hughes fellowship as an undergrad or a med student applying for residency? If its for residency then I have no idea how helpful it is.
As far as how hard it is to get, I think that depends on what school you are trying to do it at (I know there are a bunch). Is hetrying to do it for pre-existing research, or for research you havent started yet? If it's the
former, then the PI should help write a good, solid proposal- the lab you work for gets money too, so if nothing else, that should motivate him or her to help. Also look at previous proposals to get an idea of what it should look like.
At my school about half of the people who applied got it. As far as who gets and who doesn't, alot depends, of course, on the impact of the research and the quality of the proposal. Some of it also depends on who your PI is and whether or not he knows anyone on the selection committee (because that's just the way things are sometimes). If ones PI is on the selection committe for that year, then its a slam dunk.
Any other questions just ask.
EDIT: wait a second, is this referring to getting a hughes fellowship as an undergrad or a med student applying for residency? If its for residency then I have no idea how helpful it is.
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2004
- Messages
- 511
- Reaction score
- 1
Per a listing of research grant and fellowship oppurtunities from Duke, in 2005 there were 160 something applicants to the HHMI-NIH Cloisters program, 83 got interviewed, and I think there are 64 spots.
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2003
- Messages
- 337
- Reaction score
- 2
USCTex said:
So roughly one third get it, but what is the caliber of those one third? Are we talking about the top few students from each school having a chance? How stiff is the competition? How big of a deal is it to actually get it?
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
- Messages
- 306
- Reaction score
- 0
I would assume it is fairly easy to get at the med school level. I know basically all the students who applied at a particular medical school got it. I don't see why this would be any different any med school.
I think (as someone pointed out) your chances of recieving it probably has to do with faculty backing (at least in terms of research proposal)
I think (as someone pointed out) your chances of recieving it probably has to do with faculty backing (at least in terms of research proposal)
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2003
- Messages
- 337
- Reaction score
- 2
trudub said:
I know it is not EASY to get. In fact, I know that the competition is pretty stiff but I just want to know how stiff. And, how big of a deal is it to get it? The reason I ask is because people I have heard talk about it (doctors, faculty) make it seem like a HUGE deal. I had never heard of it before. Now my friend is thinking about applying for it, so I was just curious.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
- Messages
- 148
- Reaction score
- 0
trudub said:
I'm a rising intern who just went through the residency application process this past year. I was a HHMI-NIH cloister scholar for two years in between my MS2 and MS3 years. For me, being a Hughes scholar has been a tremendous benefit. I've forged very strong relations with mentors in my area of interest (tumor immunology/immunotherapy) at instituions across the country through my fellowship. For residency, my application was very well received. I received interviews at every program I applied to and matched to my number 1 choice. My research experiences were a principle topic of conversation in every one of my interviews. BY ALL MEANS, GO FOR IT! Becoming a hughes scholar has honestly been one of the best choices I've made in my adult life. I would encourage you to apply broadly, however, to the Hughes Med fellows, Hughes Cloister Program, and the NIH CRTP programs to maxamize your chances. I would say your chances are 1/4 to 1/2 for each (+/-). Best of luck. Feel free to email me with more specific questions.
-PB
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2003
- Messages
- 404
- Reaction score
- 1
trudub said:
I was one of the finalists who got shafted. At the info session, they said just over 50% of the finalist get it. I don't remember the precise breakdown but it's something like 160+ apply --> 80 finalists are flown in for interviews --> ~50 get it.
I settled for the consolation prize and went with a predoctoral IRTA fellowship at NIH. Same research experience although I'm not sure how to compare prestige factors although I was successful in getting one of the PI's at NIH to accept me over a HHMI-Cloisters winner who was interested in the same lab
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2005
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 0
Wow that's excellent. Both sound like great programs. Do you know anything about the Clinical Research Training Program at the NIH? I have been in lab forever, and would love to get serious experience doing clinical research becausethat's probably what I would do as a physician. I was thinking about doing a year out for research between 3rd and 4th years. I noticed you're doing it between 2nd and 3rd. What do you think about that?
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2003
- Messages
- 404
- Reaction score
- 1
Houseness said:
A few folks from my school have been successful in getting into the clinical research program. I've heard good and excellent things about it but nothing bad. Most people elect to do it between M3/M4 year since they have some clinical exposure after a year of rotations which helps tremendously in terms of understanding what going on in clinical research. Some folks have done the clinical research program between M2/M3 because we have SOME clinical exposure during M1 year and ~2 months of exposure during M2.
I want to establish a base in basic science and I feel that I will be at my basic science "peak" after I take step 1 which is why I'm opting to take my year off between M2/M3 instead of M3/M4. Once I start rotations, I want to get invovled in away-rotations/international clerkships ASAP and I don't want to interrupt it with research.
In terms of M2/M3 vs. M3/M4, it really depends on the type of research you want to do and to some extent, how burned out you're going to be after step 1.
