<p>So less than 2 weeks and we will know the decisions. I heard that they received 1400 applications this year and they only take 60 students. Has anyone heard the same ?</p>
<p>@quantumbyte, I haven’t heard anything about how many people applied this year, though I wouldn’t be too surprised if it really was that many. People are getting more obsessed with the idea that going to a good summer program automatically guarantees acceptance into X prestigious university and therefore success in life, blah blah… Though of course there are people who are genuinely interested in the programs themselves.
Anyway, where did you get those numbers? I think I read somewhere on CC that they usually accept at least 70-75 people, depending on funding. But not everyone who’s accepted actually goes.</p>
<p>How many students participate in the program? This year we are expecting about 70-75 students. from the program website. </p>
<p>I would expect they will send out around 90 acceptance letter because of the yield rate is not 100%.</p>
<p>^Well read what the alumini says… </p>
<p>The acceptance rate is still <10 %. Are you from the Bay area?</p>
<p>Does being in the bay area help ?</p>
<p>From the 1st posting, it says that more than a half are from Bay area. Therefore, being in Bay are is a definitely advantage!</p>
<p>Well I think I"ll get in…hopefully 
does anyone want to split living costs (out of state)? If accepted too</p>
<p>Are SIMR acceptances based on your fields of choice ? By this I mean, do they try to match the candidates and their fields of study to available mentors and their fields and place them accordingly ? Or they just place candidates based on what is available and in acceptance email they give them the topic ?</p>
<p>Is Bioinformatics and Bioengineering very popular ?</p>
<p>@Numbersense, I’m pretty sure the most popular ones are the Cancer/Neuro/Cardio ones</p>
<p>Bioinformaics I heard produces the fastest results though. I put BioEng 2nd pick.</p>
<p>Where are you from btw?</p>
<p>^ I put bioinformatics first pick.
I’m from the bay area. I don’t really consider it much of an advantage because there are a crap ton of people and everybody does so many amazing things. I don’t.</p>
<p>@quidditchcat, then what do you think matters for SIMR selection besides scores ?</p>
<p>Teacher recommendation and Essays…
Then ECs/Notable Awards such a science fair/Science Olympiad nationals etc</p>
<p>Yeah, scores, and even major accomplishments to a lesser extent, don’t matter as much as essays.</p>
<p>A good writer can in the 500 words/ 3,000 characters of an essay move someone so much more than can be done with the phrase “ISEF” or the like tacked somewhere in an application.</p>
<p>I think the essays are most important. Scores, extracurriculars and awards are more to show that you can work hard and you’re interested in science, but since so many people have great scores and science-y stuff, essays are what will really make someone stand out.</p>
<p>@mijiking: “From the 1st posting, it says that more than a half are from Bay area. Therefore, being in Bay are is a definitely advantage!” Not necessarily… probably just means that more people from the Bay Area apply.</p>
<p>Mm, to reiterate what archaic said, they really didn’t want you to delve into your extracurriculars with an additional resume if you felt that it was “absolutely” necessary.</p>
<p>@draconicSheep, are you saying that an additional resume is treated as a negative ? Not sure I understand.</p>
<p>Also, is it better to write the diversity essay? I know some folks who wrote the ec essay.</p>
<p>1 week left :))</p>
<p>I’m so nervous for decisions to come out! I’m actually from out of state, but hopefully they won’t see that as super negative. I actually chose genetics as my first choice, haha. Anyone else want to recommend living situations/split living costs if accepted? (hopefully I’m not jumping the gun here and getting my hopes up)</p>
<p>@alpha2014 let’s do it!</p>
<p>SIMR alum here. Honestly, I personally believe essays play a big factor in SIMR admissions. You’ll find that everyone is qualified numbers wise when you get there. </p>
<p>Honestly, no matter how they decide on the subjects, it is still hard to get in. None of them are particularly easier to get in with. In fact, you’ll find that the smaller/newer subjects like bioinformatics are just as hard because they are specific niches that require a certain skillset. Everyone in the bioinformatics group knew how to code/had prior research experience.</p>
<p>I’m from out of state as well, and if I’m accepted, I’d love to split living costs with some of you. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves… Is there an exact date for decisions? Or do they just come out sometime in early April?</p>