sarnoff fellowship interviews?

[Superstarz34]

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[Reimat]

Anyone heard back about sarnoff interviews yet?

Heard back yesterday, very excited ! Anyone else coming to Boston in a few weeks?

 

[Superstarz34]

oh sweet congrats!

 

[Reimat]

oh sweet congrats!

Thanks!

 

[ellia08]

Hey all,

I'm a current Sarnoff Fellow. If you have any questions etc feel free to contact me. I look forward to seeing you both in Boston fri/sat.

--ellia08

 

[RxnMan]

Hey all,

I'm a current Sarnoff Fellow. If you have any questions etc feel free to contact me. I look forward to seeing you both in Boston fri/sat.

--ellia08

I wrote a series of questions for some of the other year-off programs. Would you be interested in participating? One day I'll put them all in the forum FAQ.

Where are you now in the program?

What was the the series of events that made up your application process? (or tell us the time line if you went MS2 -> Sarnoff)

How did you identify who to work with?

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile?

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far?

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot?

You may not be able to answer some of my questions, but thanks in advance.

 

[ellia08]

I wrote a series of questions for some of the other year-off programs. Would you be interested in participating? One day I'll put them all in the forum FAQ.

Where are you now in the program?

What was the the series of events that made up your application process? (or tell us the time line if you went MS2 -> Sarnoff)

How did you identify who to work with?

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile?

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far?

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot?

You may not be able to answer some of my questions, but thanks in advance.

Sure. I'll edit in longer answers this afternoon (I'm crunched for time this morning) but here's the quick response

Where are you now in the program? About 6mo into my first year. I am applying for a second-year (about 1/5 sarnoff fellows do out of interest).

What was the the series of events that made up your application process? (or tell us the time line if you went MS2 -> Sarnoff) M1. Research summer. M2. applied Sarnoff and Cloisters. Accepted into both. Sarnoff Research mentor appointed and contacted me. Took Sarnoff.

How did you identify who to work with? I THOUGHT that I had a general idea initially but in the interview I mentioned a crazy idea that I'd been working on. My interviewers said, "Hey, do you want to do that?" I said, "Are you kidding me!!? That would be incredible. I just thought no one could make that happen." After my official acceptance, my sarnoff research mentor and I had long conversations and exchanged numerous emails on possible labs and the state of the field. I also emailed members of the Sarnoff Scientific Committee (see the website http://http://www.sarnoffendowment.org/ for who these people are because it varies by year but they are always excellent cardiovascular researchers.) I took this advice together with some of my own ideas and made a shortlist of 10 labs from around the country. I spent 1 week on the east coast and 1 week on the west interviewing and checking out labs. I made my final selection, notified everyone else and moved to Boston.

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile? There are no clinical aspects to my work however, because the program is so flexible, other fellows are in the clinic as medical students... some up to 1-2 days a week. Others are doing clinical research so... they're always around the clinic but in a research oriented way. They all seem to really love it. I have a few standing offers for some clinic days which I think I will do, however in my sarnoff plan this is more of a fun free-time activity.

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far? YES. Yes, in every way, yes. I've already submitted my first paper. I hear it only gets better in the second year... which is hard to even imagine. I am so lucky to have done this. I would do it again in a heartbeat. (Sarnoff cardiovascular pun) So... thats an unqualified, yes it was worth it.

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot? Ha. This program is too individualized to make this an easy question to answer. I think that I was doing something interesting/different. I has a strong sense of generally where I wanted to be (if not specifically). Hm, this is tricky to describe. The best thing you can do is this: (1)find the field that interests you, (2)find its cutting edge where you are left saying "WHOA! thats the most ridiculously interesting thing I've ever heard", and (3) then decide, THATS what I want to do. No matter how nutty everyone else thinks you are for aspiring that high, I think that you will find a receptive audience here. Whether you're geeked out by imaging, or stem cells, or global health, or public health, or clinical research, or bioinformatics or cellular biology doesnt really matter. Sarnoff wants to give you the chance to do something you would never otherwise do. They'll send you anywhere and find a way to get you to the best people. They look to you for the vision.

 

[tbo]

Sure. I'll edit in longer answers this afternoon (I'm crunched for time this morning) but here's the quick response

Where are you now in the program? About 6mo into my first year. I am applying for a second-year (about 1/5 sarnoff fellows do out of interest).

What was the the series of events that made up your application process? (or tell us the time line if you went MS2 -> Sarnoff) M1. Research summer. M2. applied Sarnoff and Cloisters. Accepted into both. Sarnoff Research mentor appointed and contacted me. Took Sarnoff.

How did you identify who to work with? I THOUGHT that I had a general idea initially but in the interview I mentioned a crazy idea that I'd been working on. My interviewers said, "Hey, do you want to do that?" I said, "Are you kidding me!!? That would be incredible. I just thought no one could make that happen." After my official acceptance, my sarnoff research mentor and I had long conversations and exchanged numerous emails on possible labs and the state of the field. I also emailed members of the Sarnoff Scientific Committee (see the website http://http://www.sarnoffendowment.org/ for who these people are because it varies by year but they are always excellent cardiovascular researchers.) I took this advice together with some of my own ideas and made a shortlist of 10 labs from around the country. I spent 1 week on the east coast and 1 week on the west interviewing and checking out labs. I made my final selection, notified everyone else and moved to Boston.

Are the clinical aspects of the program worthwhile? There are no clinical aspects to my work however, because the program is so flexible, other fellows are in the clinic as medical students... some up to 1-2 days a week. Others are doing clinical research so... they're always around the clinic but in a research oriented way. They all seem to really love it. I have a few standing offers for some clinic days which I think I will do, however in my sarnoff plan this is more of a fun free-time activity.

Did you think it is worth it? That is, what were your goals in participating in the program, and have you been able to achieve them so far? YES. Yes, in every way, yes. I've already submitted my first paper. I hear it only gets better in the second year... which is hard to even imagine. I am so lucky to have done this. I would do it again in a heartbeat. (Sarnoff cardiovascular pun) So... thats an unqualified, yes it was worth it.

What was it about your application and interview that you feel got you a spot? Ha. This program is too individualized to make this an easy question to answer. I think that I was doing something interesting/different. I has a strong sense of generally where I wanted to be (if not specifically). Hm, this is tricky to describe. The best thing you can do is this: (1)find the field that interests you, (2)find its cutting edge where you are left saying "WHOA! thats the most ridiculously interesting thing I've ever heard", and (3) then decide, THATS what I want to do. No matter how nutty everyone else thinks you are for aspiring that high, I think that you will find a receptive audience here. Whether you're geeked out by imaging, or stem cells, or global health, or public health, or clinical research, or bioinformatics or cellular biology doesnt really matter. Sarnoff wants to give you the chance to do something you would never otherwise do. They'll send you anywhere and find a way to get you to the best people. They look to you for the vision.

Elia, I know you posted this a few months ago, but was your M1-M2 summer research cardiovascular related? If not, do you think the program cares if your research experience was in their area?

 

[ellia08]

Elia, I know you posted this a few months ago, but was your M1-M2 summer research cardiovascular related? If not, do you think the program cares if your research experience was in their area?

Mine was cardiovascular research, basic science ... but it certainly doesnt have to be.

The gist is this-- any research experience is good. Just make sure that you enjoy it, understand it and can describe it in a concise way. If you can describe the motivation for your work and the ramifications of the experimental result (ie:why is it interesting) than you are good.

On the other hand, research experience is not a requirement. You can demonstrate your competency and potential in science in your 3 page proposal. If you have an interesting project idea, if you can motivate your work and if you can communicate the possible experimental results than you should apply.


So if you want to spend your summer in global outreach program, or in a clinical internship, or in a totally unrelated but interesting research field etc ... than do it. There is no reason that it couldnt feed into your research/personal interests in a compelling way. Just be sure that you use your proposal to ask a good scientific question and to lay out a solid experimental design.