<p>Awesome! Research does seem helpful, but some students said they didn’t have much. Probably everyone had good stats. </p>
<p>Sounds like a good number are dorming.</p>
<p>Would anyone who did Simons in the past please share their experience with the program or dorming? </p>
<p>How many students are accepted each year? Is it mostly from the NY/NJ area?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I would also be interested to hear from someone who attended Simons in a previous year.</p>
<p>Most of the people seem to be from New York or California, but I am from a different state. Is anyone else coming to Simons from a state other than NY/CA?</p>
<p>Im coming from the land of cows :D</p>
<p>@2redpartyhats</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptance!!! That is awesome! </p>
<p>In what field is your research?</p>
<p>Also, where is the land of cows–Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa? I grew up in Ohio and people thought we tipped over cows for fun (NOT! so don’t worry PETA)</p>
<p>Simons seems to be attracting a good representation of talent from across America! Any internationals?</p>
<p>Have a great time!</p>
<p>@numbersense</p>
<p>Any news yet? I’m keeping good thoughts coming your way. I’ll try to PM you.</p>
<p>@account123</p>
<p>Are there any other students from your area who were accepted? </p>
<p>I know the selection process is very competitive. Do you have any advice for someone thinking of applying in the future. A friend of mine really wants to get into Simons next year! Thanx</p>
<p>I don’t know if anyone else is coming from my area. </p>
<p>I think the essays are one of the most important things for admission to this very competitive program.</p>
<p>Is anyone else attending from SoCal? Or are all of you other California people from the bay area?</p>
<p>Im in too. </p>
<p>Does anyone know what the daily schedule is like? As in how much time is actually spent in labs/ doing work? Anyone know how much work outside of labs we will have? </p>
<p>Also, what’s the policy about weekends? My guess is that since we don’t work in the labs on weekends there won’t be much to do. If this is the case can we go home or go into the city (I’m from manhattan but will probably be dorming because I’m about 2 hours from Stony Brook).</p>
<p>Any attendees from previous years care to enlighten us about the harsh realities of the program?</p>
<p>All students in Garcia/Simons/independent research dorm in the same building. When I was doing independent research two years ago, the rules were not strict at all - we could go home on the weekends using public transportation/by getting a ride from anyone and leave the dorms any time we wanted to as long as we signed out. However, the rules got really strict this past summer. They made everyone go to breakfast and dinner at the same time (which wasn’t such a bad thing), but they also had to escort us everywhere in groups…I kind of felt like the little kids at the Stony Brook day camp. They were also really hesitant about letting us taking public transportation home on the weekends (I don’t think they’re letting us do that this year). I mean, the rules are really annoying, but they don’t outweigh all the other great parts of dorming/summer research.</p>
<p>By the way, for all those who are still waiting for a response from the program, I got an email a couple days ago from the head (Karen Kernan) saying that she would email us with the list of all students accepted soon; she hasn’t emailed yet, so I’m guessing she’s still waiting for people to respond/perhaps choosing people off the wait list or making final decisions? According to the website, all decisions should be out by April 1st, which is tomorrow…good luck to everyone who’s waiting and congrats to everyone who already got accepted! It should be a great summer :)</p>
<p>Oh, and as for the time spent in the lab, it’s kind of in the hands of the student…the mentors don’t usually give you times you must be in the lab, they just tell you what you’re project will be, and it’s your responsibility to work on it. I know that there are also seminars we have to attend and some labs have lab meetings/literature reviews weekly. Towards the end of dorming, some people stay in the lab until 11 pm or 12 am trying to collect that extra data. But it really all depends.</p>
<p>Congratulations, Chitinluver!</p>
<p>What is your area of research?</p>
<p>Thanks, simonsSRP2013, for the info.</p>
<p>Are all decisions out by now? Anyone else accepted?</p>
<p>@simonsSRP2013
Do you know if the students in all the different groups (Simons/Garcia/indep.) hang out together on weekends and after research (ie. play basketball, tennis, etc.?). How is the campus? Is there a rec center or pool dorm residents can use in the summer?</p>
<p>Thanks foreveroptimist!
So @simonsSRP2013 you don’t think we’ll be able to leave on weekends?</p>
<p>I ask mostly because I was planning on trying to squeeze in a couple of college tours here and there on the weekends with my parents. Do you think they would be cool with it if my parents are picking me up and dropping me off?</p>
<p>Also, the way you described the lab makes it sound as though we are given an objective and we are responsible for any lab stuff we need to do on our own. I don’t know about you guys but, based off of the papers and publications by my mentor that I’ve read, there is a lot that I don’t understand about his research. Obviously I will review it and probably understand some stuff before this summer but how hard exactly is the research that we will be doing/what kind of guidance will we be receiving. You make it sound like we are virtually on our own.</p>
<p>Anyone want to make a fb group 
(or send me the link if there already is one?)</p>
<p>Yup all the students in the different programs definitely hang out with each other…some of my best friends from the past summers were actually in simons/garcia while I was doing independent research. There is a small gym in the dorm that you can go to at night, and there’s also a pool that they take us to sometimes. Every night, there’s at least one sport (usually ultimate frisbee or soccer)…sometimes they have other activities (like karaoke night). There’s a lounge in the dorm that everyone goes to at night to hang out in.</p>
<p>@chitinlover…not sure about the housing, maybe they just haven’t updated the website yet. Hopefully they do let us go home on weekends! And sorry if it came off that way; I meant more like it’s your choice as to how long you stay in the lab. Your mentor and other people in the lab are definitely going to guide you and help you understand what you’re doing :)</p>
<p>I was accepted a few weeks ago! Really excited to meet you all! I will be dorming also. The Simons website says there is “strict supervision” for minors but the 2013 information is not yet available. I’m sure the quality of research and the experience will outweigh any potentially annoying rules we have to abide by. And based on simonsSRP’s comment, it doesn’t sound like we’ll be bored. Also I second Urantiel’s comment - someone should make a fb group :)</p>