<p>I hope this is the appropriate place for this.</p>
<p>Anyone here familiar with the AMGEN summer scholars program? With AMGEN?</p>
<p>My d was just offered this at Columbia, and she is beyond thrilled. I am just interested in learning more about it...</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>This is on the Columbia website...</p>
<p>Thanks, Elleneast, for responding! That much I do know, and have looked at AMGEN's site as well. I was just wondering if anyone else had a kid who had been offered this (I believe this is the first year, though) or who had direct knowledge of AMGEN as a company...</p>
<p>In terms of biotech research, there is no better place than Amgen or Genentech. I assume your daughter is premed or wishes to go into research, if so, it sounds like a great program ($4000 + housing are fairly generous terms for summer research programs).</p>
<p>She does plan to go into research...probably not into medical school. At least that is what she is thinking now.</p>
<p>She had applied for the SURF program and we were just going to try and make it work for her to spend most of the stipend (if she got it) on housing and us to help with food and such. With her tuition during the year, it was going to be a huge stretch for our family (we also have her brother's wedding this summer!). So getting this was a great and unanticipated blessing.</p>
<p>Glad to hear your assessment of Amgen. We are pretty excited about this opportunity for her, though we are definitely trying to get used to the idea of our dancing daughter spending the summer in a lab. This time last year she had just been cast in a show...</p>
<p>How they do surprise us!</p>
<p>Congratulations, Churchmusicmom. My one observation/comment is on the amount of money she will be getting. Last summer my son did an internship at a biotech company in San Jose, Ca., earned around $8000.00 for 10 weeks, with free housing in a new gorgeous apt and daily maid service and lots of other perks. He realized he wanted to go to med school instead of his previous major after this. Amgen is a great company, but that is not much money for a Columbia student. She can get the same experience and a lot more money. I am also familiar with Amgen in another state and they have some very rigid work rules that are annoying. It is late in the season to be looking but I'd expect more money. Otherwise, I hope she enjoys it!</p>
<p>Are you sure that wasn't an i-banking internship lol</p>
<p>If you can get paid approx. $20/hr for research, TAKE IT. I don't think I've ever seen more than $4000 offered for a 8-10 week internship, but then again I mostly looked for non-industry research internships.</p>
<p>norcalguy - my son has had several friends who have had i-banking internships. One in NY (I think with G-S paid 25k for the summer and expenses). Ones on the West Coast pay about 10K. However, these internships are 80hr wks. My son only worked 40hr/wks.</p>
<p>This particular deal is offered through Columbia/Barnard's SURF (summer undergrad research fellowship) program: You apply to SURF and are automatically considered for the Amgen scholarship. Since my d has only dicovered her avid interest in neuroscience since going to Barnard (she is finishing her second year), she felt that getting accepted for SURF was even a "reach" for her...that there would be many more experienced people out there.
She never dreamed she'd be offered the Amgen thing. And when she got the e-mail saying she was one of 13 selected out of over 600 appplicants, she actually cried, she was so excited.</p>
<p>Actually, she will not be doing the actual research at or through Amgen. She will be working in a lab at the Columbia med center. They are just paying for it (stipend and room) and also they will send her to a symposium in California, which she is absolutely thrilled about. I imagine the much higher $$$ that was mentioned by the above poster would be available through a commercial lab setting and perhaps not in an academic environment such as this.</p>
<p>So, yes she will be doing this!</p>