SIMR vs SHARP

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

<p>For those accepted to both SIMR and SHARP, here are some differences between the two. I did SHARP after junior year and SIMR after senior year. </p>

<p>For a more in-depth summary of each program (ie if you are applying to these programs), here are links:
SIMR:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1374940-simr-2013-stanford-inst-med-summer-research-program.html#post14711249%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1374940-simr-2013-stanford-inst-med-summer-research-program.html#post14711249&lt;/a>
SHARP:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1339709-bnni-sharp-program-uc-berkeley.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1339709-bnni-sharp-program-uc-berkeley.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Key differences:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Research areas.
SHARP is nanotechnology oriented, so there is an emphasis on the ‘hard sciences’ (engineering, optics, lasers, materials science, applied physics, with a few biology-related projects). If you want to be an engineer, SHARP’s research will be a better fit for you.
SIMR is medically-oriented: projects are either wet bench biology (think: pipettes), clinically-oriented (involving patients), or bioinformatics (using computers/programming to analyze large datasets). If you want to be a doctor, SIMR is a better fit.</p></li>
<li><p>Length.
SHARP is a brief 4 weeks: this is extremely short for doing research! Unless you’re very lucky, or stay and work after the program, you probably won’t get a lot of research results. However, you’ll still get immersed in scientific research, and learn a ton about your research topic. Plus, you’ll have more time during the summer to do other activities.
SIMR: 8 weeks. Research is very time consuming, and you won’t cure cancer or anything in 8 weeks, but you will have more time to work, get results, get lab exposure, and stay with a project for a longer period of time. If you want to enter in science fairs, SIMR gives you a better shot at doing well simply due to the program’s length. (Computer based projects on average go faster & give more results. You can also work from home, so it’s easy to stay after either program to get more data).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Other differences:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Lecture series. SIMR has a great lecture series by profs that are quite interesting. One by the program director is about “careers in science”, it is a must-see if you are potentially interested in going to grad/med school. Next year he should record it and put it on youtube-- it gives a long-term perspective on the journey to become a doctor/researcher/scientist, the pros/cons of these jobs, and is a reality check on the time/$$ you have to invest in training to be a doctor/scientist. On a side note, SIMR usually goes on a field trip to see Agilent, which is lots of fun and very interesting.</p></li>
<li><p>Social environment. Both programs have incredible people, and at both you can make a very close group of friends. However, SHARP definitely wins this category: SHARP has more built-in social structure and a more close-knit social environment. You will see each of the ~12 other interns every morning during ‘class’; most interns eat lunch together every day; there are fun field trips, labs, and games of frisbees planned on fridays; and you quickly get to know the other interns very well, and become very close. We’ve decided to meet for 3 reunions since the program ended last year. This social aspect of SHARP made it a ton of fun.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>At SIMR, you will get to know people, but it takes more work. Part of it is size. You will not meet most of the 60 interns during the program, and all 60 people will gather only a few times during the program. People are very spread out during lunch (no central location), in the beginning there are few events that force you to interact with other interns, and it takes some time to find a group of friends to hang out/eat lunch with. By the end you will get to know people (especially within your institute), but there is less structure for you to meet people than in SHARP, so socializing takes more time & effort.</p>

<p>NOT a significant difference: </p>

<p>Research quality. The ‘quality’ of the research you’re doing depends on the exact project you’re working on, and also on how good your mentor is at giving you a challenging but manageable project. While most mentors and projects are good at both programs (mine were outstanding), this is really luck of the draw no matter what research program you’re doing. </p>

<p>Also, I wouldn’t worry about ‘prestige’ or whatever. Colleges will see you’ve done research over the summer, you can write about either program in your essays, and to be accepted to either program it means you can already put together a strong application. Go for whichever has more interesting research so you enjoy the experience.</p>

<p>If you are applying to these programs, best of luck! If you are choosing between them, congratulations for getting in, there is no right/wrong program to choose.</p>

2

<p>Great info, MBb8T5! Having gone through the entire admissions process for SIMR, how do you think they weight each aspect of the application (Scores vs. Resume vs. GPA vs. Essays)?</p>

3

<p>SIMR is competitive enough that most people are very strong in all 4 categories. Idk exactly how they choose, and we interns never exactly sat in a circle and passed out our resumes. That being said, I would guess that…</p>

<p>–your resume can be extremely important, depending what’s on it. You definitely should have some demonstrated interest in science. This is an extreme case, but if you’ve been doing research for the past several summers, and were an intel semifinalist with your previous research project, then you’ve demonstrated that you have the skills to be a successful researcher. Even if you have imperfect stats they would love to have you participate. If your resume has more ‘average’ extracurriculars/science activities, ie it looks just like everyone else’s resume, then the resume is obviously a less defining factor, and then other parts of your application also have to be very strong for you to get in.</p>

<p>-- your essays are very important; you need to show that you have a passion for research. They also look for diversity, so if you have any unique life circumstances, or special reason why you really want to do biomedical research, that helps.</p>

<p>(That being said, if you claim to be incredibly passionate about research, but have never done anything science-related, have mediocre grades, and very low test scores, they will 1. doubt that you are really that passionate, 2. doubt that you are diligent enough to carry out extensive work on this supposed passion, and 3. doubt if you have the smarts to learn about very complicated research topics. To quote some book, “Good essays can heal the sick, but they do not raise the dead.” Even if your essays are amazing, the other parts of your application have to be there.)</p>

<p>–grades are very important. They show you’re smart and work hard. Why take B+/A- student when tons of others have (almost) all A’s?</p>

<p>–test scores are important. They are a common denominator between all applicants, they show a rough correlation with intelligence (or at least motivation to study for them), and 2400s always look better than 2100s.</p>

<p>^That all being said, I think the whole “what category is most important” thing is overrated. They look at applications holistically, and usually all these components of the application reinforce each other-- bright, motivated, accomplished kids who pursue science generally have good grades & test scores, have participated in science-related stuff, and can (in most cases) write well about their interest in science.</p>

4

<p>do simr kids basically get into stanford?</p>