From what I have heard from others, it is quite beneficial and can greatly increase your chances. @cougar123
@schoolisfun3 sorry for so many questions but would any professor from stony brook who would be willing to take me in if i get into simons be good enough? or does the letter of commitment only hold weight if its from a PI who has already been a part of the simons program?
honestly any professor should be sufficient- I only know that the really prestigious labs (i.e. Ojima for Chemistry) may hold a bit more weight but not much. @cougar123
Has anyone heard of any updates? From last year’s posts, some students received ‘likely letter’ on 2/16/15 stating that the professor look forward to working with them in the lab.
i dont think they do these likely letters every year @4beardolls
also, if they are doing these letters, i think that they applicant pool this year is probably larger and more competitive, so it may take ad coms longer to review enough apps to send these letters out
@cougar123, I hope you are right - we are getting anxious here!
Do you know the applicant poo is larger this year? Or is it a guess on your part?
Has everyone identified mentors?
@4beardolls yea i emailed and found a mentor (but won’t say name of mentor cause don’t wanna disclose my identity and stuff)
and yea haha complete speculation on my part, every year these programs get even more impossible, so I’m assuming this year will be the most difficult to get in
Good for you for finding a mentor.
thanks!!! 
definitely wasn’t easy 
@4beardolls
I got my mentor during the application process. Any speculation on when these likely letters may be coming out?
@mochilate1897 idk…
looking at previous threads, I’m pretty sure last year was the only year with likely letters
so it may be possible that likely letters won’t be send out this year
@mochilate1897, the likely letters were sent on 2/26 last year to some people. Not everyone who were later admitted got the letter though.
If last year was the only year they did it then we are still good.
I got a “likely”/follow up letter today. What does that mean?
Congratulations, @MintFresh28!
Was your likely letter from the program director/coordinator or the PI?
In the past years, posters stated that likely letters that went to some students resulted in acceptance letters.
What did the letter include?
So I looked through some past threads and saw that most likely letters were sent to confirm that a professor has confirmed interest in working with them over the summer, and that they look forward to the summer’s work. I haven’t received any such letter, however I already got a mentor several months ago and he already sent an email and talked with the admissions office to confirm his interest in working with me over the summer. Would this qualify why I didn’t receive a likely letter, or am I just out of the game
You’re probably in but you might wanna check
regardless you can still do research with him the same exact way, just that you won’t have the Simons title which a lot of students do
ps i was a simons fellow last year
@mochilate1897, I hope your assessment is correct.
@MintFresh28, please let us know what is in your likely letter.
@BasedBioGod, thanks for weighting in. How can we go about to check on (the lack of) likely letter?
@4beardolls it was just an email from the coordinator that asked me to confirm my interest in working with this professor, and it told me to contact him as soon as i can. But it just said that i was being considered. Idk
@MintFresh28, it seems very “likely”! Did you identify that professor when you apply? Or did they suggest the professor for you to contact?