NIH Summer Internship Program *2015-2016*

@Nightlark yeah you’re a bit late. The ideal time would be December or early January. However, I’ve seen several people on CC who started emailing around now and still got offers, so there definitely hope. I would just email as many as you can at this point.

Should I send a follow-up email if the PI replied a few weeks earlier that now would be the time they are choosing a student? He said that he’ll add my name to the list and I want to reaffirm my interest, but I’m afraid that may come off as annoying…

My son is currently doing a school year internship through his local high school. He could potential work in his current lab or a similar lab, but he has to wait to see if funding comes through. He also has to decide if he wants a different research experience - does he want to stay in a wet lab, for instance. He has had a tour of another lab, but he hasn’t made any commitments yet. He wants to reach out to 3-5 additional PIs that are more involved in a field of interest that he wants to explore. So, he has connections, but he is still looking. I don’t think it is too late, but I’ve been urging him to focus hard now. He had reached out to at least 10 PIs before he secured his current internship - only two responded to him, and they all had previously worked with students from his school. He had one other interview which made him really disheartened, as they told him he could work on extracting DNA from rat tails or follow the movements of flies. He came home so depressed after that interview! Please consider what you are and are not willing to settle for. Are you OK working with rodents? Do you want to crunch data?

I would recommend going through the NIH Summer Research Program Poster Day from last year and looking at the topics and PIs involved last year.

Don’t apply to clinical research - anything involving people takes a long vetting process, so it is very unlikely that they would be involved in SIP.

For housing, I would highly recommend American University. They have a shuttle to the Tenleytown Metro on the red line and it is only 3 stops to Medical Center.

You will have a ton of paperwork to do - it could take two months to process. So, I would think the selection process should end by April.

When you write emails, I would recommend saying something like “if I don’t hear from you within a week, I will follow up,” and then do so. The PIs are really busy people and they might even say that they’ll look into it, and then forget. Some get inundated with emails and they don’t look at them.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Hi - A PI from NIEHS in RTP, NC selected me to be her summer intern. I am a High School Junior from FL.

Has anybody else heard back recently?

I emailed PI’s back in December and got a position with one researcher. Now, the researcher has just told me that he no longer has space on his team and therefore must cancel our arrangement. I am devastated because it’s so late now. Do you guys think I should try emailing more PI’s?

Hi, my daughter hot accepted for internship at NIST & NIH. Which is a more prestigious internship? Any ideas and advice on which should she choose?

@tryptophanoverload - did you already do all the paperwork? If yes, try emailing the PC at the IC and see if they can help hook you up with a different PI in the same IC.

@Dalmation - I think depends on your daughter’s interest and which of the two PIs’ research areas she is interested in.

@Dalmation Congrats on your daughter’s acceptances! Just for future reference, what is the NIST internship?

@MedSciBud, sorry, but what do PC and IC stand for?

One PI just told me that all PI’s are supposed to choose student interns by March 1st. Is this true?

Program Coordinator PC and Institute or Center PC.

And I don’t think there is any rule that all PIs choose by March 1st.

Has anyone got any positions recently? All the PIs I have emailed have said they are full. I’m really nervous because I truly would like to intern at the NIH this summer.

@MedSciBud thanks. Unfortunately It seems that pretty much all intern positions are full.

If anyone who got a position with a PI decides to cancel it because of other summer plans (another camp, travel, etc), I’d be really grateful if you could pm me the name of your PI so I can try filling that spot.

Anyone else going to NIEHS at RTP?

I got an offer by directly contacting a PI. Originally they said the lab was full but then they emailed back saying they had space. They had a quick chat with me on skype and later that day they said they would be happy to have me and would forward my stuff to the SIP office. So I was a bit fortunate because most labs are full and this one almost was, but I am super pumped!

Now, does anyone know what to do about housing?

Congrats @schakrab. Did you get accepted to NIH Bethesda?

I haven’t received official confirmation but my mentor’s lab is in Bethesda

What did you guys talk about with your PI’s on Skype? I have a Skype talk later this week and I don’t really know what to expect.

They just asked me about my prior research and my skills, why I wanted to work in their lab. And they told me a lot about their work. It’s all pretty chill, not like a formal job interview or anything. Probably even more informal than a college interview.