Hey y’all,
I’m just trying to gauge the possibility of getting accepted into a REU/Amgen Scholars/other research-based program at a university for the summer of 2017 to see which/how many I should apply to in the next months. So here’s some stuff about me so hopefully some people can throw some advice my way on whether or not I’m competitive for research positions:
-I’m a sophomore at Saint Louis University majoring in biomedical engineering and minoring in French with a 3.82 GPA.
-I’m involved in Biomedical Engineering Society, Engineering Health Collaborative (EHC), and a service and faith group on campus called Micah.
-For 3 summers I worked for a company testing a device that purified blood components which was approved by the FDA. It was only a dry lab, though.
-I should be able to get solid LORs from my Computing, Mechanics, and maybe Calc III professors.
-This and last semesters I’ve been working in preliminary lab work on a new research project through EHC aimed at synthesizing an antimicrobial pattern through electrospinning. We will be at the bench for the first time next week.
Unfortunately, I’m not currently performing any research under a professor this semester because I decided to abroad to Madrid next semester, which is why I’m thinking about all this now. Worrying about LORs and sending transcripts when I’m in Europe doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. Let me know if there’s anything else I should include to get a better idea of how qualified I might be for an REU or Amgen program position. I’m especially interested in the Amgen Scholars programs at Wash U, Columbia, and UC Berkeley, the Duke REU program, SUIP at UPenn, and BioMedRap at Wash U, Thanks guys!