@GoBears2023 , I emailed 3 professors from local colleges near me, but none of them have responded yet. Should I move on, and email other professors?
Hi!
First, waow it’s really nice of you to spend so much time helping all of us plebeians. Thanks!
Second, what programs would you recommend for me? I’m in 9th grade. and I really want to get some kind of hands-on laboratory experience.
STATS
PAST
- 5 AP exams with 5s on all of them (AP Calc BC, AP Biology, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, and AP Psychology)
- 800 on SAT Subject Tests for Math Level 2 and Biology M
- French 1 and 2 in middle school
PROSPECTIVE
- AP Calc BC and APWH with an accredited online high school
- French 3 and Chemistry Honors w/ Lab at an accredited online high school
- English 9 Honors at my public certified charter school
- Self Studying AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1,2, C Mechanics and Electro mag, AP Statistics, and AP Comp Sci A.
EXTRACURRICULAR
- Science Bowl since 6th grade (went to Nationals last year and got 6th place yeee)
- Choir since 1st grade
- Newspaper starting 5th grade
- Hopefully starting Key Club at my school this year!
^^ sorry if this all sounds aggressively pretentious and potatoey rip 
At the moment, I’m thinking about COSMOS and (if they let me apply) UCSB RMP. Any other suggestions or feedback?
THANKSSSSS! srsly tho its vv nice of you to do this for all of us confused ppl. like ty
gotta love that guy who worked at Mac D
Impressive resume. You have 5s on APs commonly done junior/senior year. I would say that you are almost for sure going to get into COSMOS as long as your essays are solid. I would also recommend maybe trying a technical internship in your field of interest. This can be done at a company or a university. Best of luck 
@GoBears2023
TYSM for the feedback! My main interest is biology, but I heard the biotech clusters at COSMOS are REALLY competitive. Do you think I should go for biotech or try something else?
No problem! Bio anything is super competitive for COSMOS, since thats where all the pre med kids go. If you really, really want to go to COSMOS, you can apply for maybe a less competitive cluster at a less competitive site. Its up to you. However, I think you stand a good chance at getting into any cluster.
Hey @GoBears2023 looking at all the programs that you got accepted to you must have applied to a bunch at the same time. How did you manage all those applications at the same time and keep everything organized?
Also I’m interested in SIMR but do no have any medical related experiences. I have attended COSMOS for machine learning, would that be a good relevant experience?
Hey @GoBears2023 Im applying to a few summer programs and was wondering if you could chance me at them and see how I would do. Can I DM you?
@CoolMasterM,
My son emailed 72 professors in 4 colleges/universities. He got one acceptance. You better start that hustle and hopefully it comes easier for you!
What stats do you think helped you get into these programs?
Hi @GoBears2023 ! Thank you so much for the info and replying to all these comments, which I’ve been reading through! I’m not applying for any of the summer programs you mentioned, but I am applying for a very similar one on the same tier as these (Biological research). Though I don’t have very strong STEM Extracurriculars, my courseload is very science focused (by next summer, my science courses will include bio, chem, physics, AP Bio, and AP Chem). Do you have any tips for writing essays about this? The prompts ask what academic achievement am I most proud of, and why I chose the program.
As a current sophomore, I can’t apply to numerous STEM programs. For chemistry research, what can I apply to (I already know of SSP for biochemistry, COSMOS, and that about it)?
@ultraphoenix
You can reuse a lot of essays for those applications. Machine lEarning cluster is super helpful for medical research. Talk about data mining and prediction models 
@Ivylege
Most of these programs are honestly toss ups. Really hard to know how I got in. I would say essays and my research done with professors.
@avocadofries
Hmmm, without ECs its going to be really tough because kids who aren’t STEM focused also end up taking those courses. Maybe right about an unique anecdote that relates to what you want to do in the future.
@Math Mastermind
That’s all I have too unfortunately. Maybe pick up an internship at your nearby university
For COSMOS, are other state students even selected?
From my experience and from what I’ve heard from other people, maybe 1 or 2 per site are from out of state. For the most part, they only accept Cali kids because the program is meant to get kids interested in the UC System. Also Californian tax payer money goes into funding the programs so it makes sense to restrict out of state kids. Hopefully this helps!
Thank you , that makes sense! Looking to apply for COSMOS maybe this freshman year or next year. I do not believe they have any good AI offerings yet, do they?
Thank you for honest answer!
Do you know of any good programs, not the ones you pay to get in, for graduating seniors?
@GoBears2023 I’m applying to some summer programs, and I was wondering if you would have the time to help me with my essays. I would love to expand on some of my ideas, and I’d really appreciate any help I can get!
Will not having research experience prevent me from getting into prestigious STEM summer programs?