NIH Summer questions

[transform744]

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- I've received offers from 2 or 3 different PIs for the NIH summer internship. The thing is that I'm still waiting to hear from a few other options. Is it okay to respond asking for a few weeks before I let them know of my decision?

- A friend of mine would like to intern at the NIH as well but he didn't submit the application. Is it possible for him to email individual PIs asking if they would accept him as a volunteer research assistant for the summer? Is that commonly done? I.e. so they would basically be assisting on research just like someone in the official SIP but they wouldn't be getting paid.

- Is it at all feasible to live in Baltimore and commute to Bethesda daily for the summer? Whether by car or something else. 50 miles seems doable, the question is how bad is traffic, etc.

Thanks for your responses.

 

[shindotp]

Wtefff you got multiple offers? How!??!

I've been emailing around trying to get just one.

 

[Dango]

Go ahead and ask for a little time to weigh your options. I contacted about 15 different labs I was interested in and later narrowed down my choices.

A commute from Baltimore to Bethesda is not very realistic. It may only be 50 miles but the traffic is terrible on the beltway in the morning. I know a few people who do it but my idea of fun is not spending 1.5-2hrs stuck in traffic. You could take the MARC from Baltimore to Union station then take the Red Line to Medical center. However, it wouldn't be a quick commute.

 

[Naijaba]

Hi transform744,

I received an NIH summer research offer way back in January. Although I was thrilled about the opportunity when I was offered it (it's at the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center!!), I was still waiting to hear back from the Harvard-MIT Summer Bioinformatics research program. I emailed the PI and he gave me until the second week of February to make a decision. Since I knew that I wouldn't hear about the Harvard-MIT program until nearly the end of March, I went ahead and accepted the NIH offer.

In order to answer your question, it should be absolutely fine if you ask the PI's for time to make your decision. They should realize that you are a good applicant and may have more than one offer. With that said, the reason I was offered the position early was because I'm a software engineer and it was software engineering position...so in that sense I think they needed someone with the requisite skills and were willing to wait for my decision.

 

[iTool]

Wtefff you got multiple offers? How!??!

I've been emailing around trying to get just one.

Did you formally apply and get accepted to the SIP?

 

[orangespiral]

First question: Definitely ask the PIs if you can wait a couple weeks. But don't abuse their generosity! PIs have numerous SIP applications to look through and will definitely have people on their "waitlist" as well. So if you've talked to them and think it is an opportunity you won't get anywhere else, go for it.

To answer the question about your friend: I would recommend that he give it a shot; it won't do him any harm and he could get lucky, especially if he has any research background.

Commuting from Baltimore to Bethesda on a daily basis is pretty impractical. From my experience, the MARC train can take anywhere from 1.5-3 hours to go from Baltimore to Bethesda (including the time it takes to get to the station and the time it takes to go from the NIH entrance to the lab you'll be working at). It will be much easier for you if you stay in Bethesda or in one of the suburbs near by. Commuting from a place near the NIH will not be a problem because of the metro (which is definitely one of the better ones, IMO).