<p>When the form asks for “courses and grades,” does it want numerical grades or letter grades?</p>
<p>Probably letter. A, A-, ect. You can always double-check with an email though.</p>
<p>Anyone else already finished their apps? I … kind of sent mine in really early. 
I liked my essays, and after one season of applying to summer research programs and one season of college apps, writing about my passion and curiosity came sort of easily. :P</p>
<p>I suppose it means I won’t be stressing over my app for the next few months, though it does mean I get to wait anxiously for both JAX and college decisions in late March. yaaay. Fun. ._.</p>
<p>The essays say 1,800 hundred characters max, and the other between 2,500 and 3,000.
When they mean characters, they mean each letter and each space right?
Or does this not include spaces?</p>
<p>Also, do you want to write about a specific researcher and propose an idea/research proposal, since he/she are the one that ultimately picks you to work with them? Or do you write about why the research interest is important to you? </p>
<p>One last thing. When you get there, what you pretty much do is research want you want to and your researcher/mentor is there to help guide you?</p>
<p>So much appreciation for your help on the thread btw!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they mean letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation all put together.</p>
<p>They ask you to write about your reasons for being interested in the three areas you put down, so I assume that they mean for us to write broadly about out interests rather than writing a research proposal aimed at a single research group.</p>
<p>Characters include spaces and punctuation.</p>
<p>You want to write about why the research interest is important to you. This is because each lab works one some specific project that you probably don’t know much about (although one lab may work with cancer, you don’t know specifically what they’re doing in that lab); you don’t propose your own. </p>
<p>And the research that you do is usually a project that your researcher either has currently going on, or has been set up for you. My project was a continuation of a grad student’s project. Some other people’s had research that contributed to a larger goal of the lab. Once accepted, you can always email your future PI and discuss your project with them! And your project will be challenging regardless of what you get, so no worries.</p>
<p>How do the recommendations work exactly? Do I submit the emails so that they receive a form or an outline, or are my recommenders supposed to write up their own recommendation and email it to JAX?</p>
<p>Hm. It says
Please ask your recommenders to:</p>
<p>Submit your recommendations via email to <a href="mailto:summerstudents@jax.org">summerstudents@jax.org</a> using their professional email address.
Use your full name as the subject of the email.</p>
<p>So I figure you just ask your recommenders to write their own form of a rec letter. If JAX automatically sends them a format to use, then they’ll know to use that one. But for now, I think you would ask them to just write their own.</p>
<p>Hi tawarren95! Thanks so much for all your input so far, it’s been really helpful.
I was wondering how many high schoolers vs college students there were? I know it’s really selective.</p>
<p>Hi stylishsmartie, thanks for the input. I’m glad I’m of help.
My breakdown on my first post states that there were about 5 incoming seniors, 5-10 incoming freshmen in college, and the rest were of various ages in college. So the selectivity really comes from the fact that one’s specific age group has only a certain amount of spots. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>How self-directed was your research? Did you have to come up with your own topic and establish the methodology, or were you more of an assistant to the mentor who was setting out specific tasks and goals? I guess I’m nervous about being self-directed; I am very interested in research (especially involving type 1 diabetes and stem cells) but haven’t the faintest idea about where to start or how to set my own goals and achieve them!</p>
<p>tawarren95, one application checklist item is: Your top three research area choices after consulting our faculty area for research information.
Would you please provide guidance on this? Does this mean the applicant has to contact the faculty members for research information in order to determine the top three research area?</p>
<p>Singergurl1125 I think it depends on your age; perhaps the more lab experience you have at a college level, the less likely you are to have a lot of mentorship. But no matter what, it’s your project and you’re contributing to the lab’s overall goal, but you’re not by any means an assistant to someone else’s project. </p>
<p>You are given a project and work on that project under the mentorship of someone. You’re not going to be thrown out into the water, trust me. But at the same time, even with a mentor who will help you along, it will still be very challenging research (at all age levels; your project will be just as challenging as a third-year undergrad’s who is also in the program). They know that some of you won’t have a lot or any research experience. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be guided well and your mentor will be in the lab with you, available for questions and assistance. And they will explain your project to you and guide you through. To be honest, your probably won’t fully understand your project until literally the last month or later. So you have plenty of guidance throughout, and can adjust the amount as you get familiar with what you’re doing. </p>
<p>And if you have your own project in mind, you might want to read up a lot on what certain labs are working on. Although one lab might work on cancer, they could be focused on one aspect, like investigating a gene or something, and your project may not fit in that lab’s goals. Don’t be afraid to accept the project they give you; it’ll probably be a great one.</p>
<p>4beardolls They want you to research the faculty listed on the website (aka the “faculty area”) and read through what they and their lab do. You wouldn’t email each PI (Principal Investigator) and say “Tell me about your research.” They want you to do that on your own so you can clearly express in the essay why you chose those options. If you need a link to what I’m talking about, let me know. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>tawarren95, I realized it after posting the question…It was too late at night and I wasn’t thinking straight. Thank you, anyway.</p>
<p>No problem! Goodluck with your app!</p>
<p>Does anyone have problem to log in to your accout? I have had no problem to modify my existing application until last night. Basically, the system does not recognize my e-mail anymore. Even I tried to reset my password, it couldn’t find my e-mail in the system which is very odd. I have sent an e-mail to the webmaster already. Meanwhile, I would like to see if it’s just my account, or the system error. Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>i just tried logging in, and it worked for me.</p>
<p>Couple questions on application…
Did you provide weighted or unweighted GPA?
Math and science courses and grade…for each course, did you provide two grades, one for each semester?</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that the application last year was different than this year’s application. I gave my weighted GPA (I think?) and I think I provided grades for that most current semester (so my first finished semester of my Junior year). One grade, one semester.</p>
<p>And I think anyone else is welcome to chime in on this, too?</p>