<p>How important is being able to attend summer programs outside of my college? Is only doing research at my college being a big disadvantage in my grad school application?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>10char.</p>
<p>It depends.</p>
<p>If you are going to a big university with well-respected faculty in your field and a substantial number of majors on going to graduate school, doing research at your own school will serve you well.</p>
<p>If there’s a reason why references from your own university wouldn’t be the most credible, having an external reference might help you tremendously. (My own undergraduate professors explained to me once that letters of recommendation from small college professors could only get me so far. The story went that graduate programs really want to know how an applicant compares to other high-achieving graduate school-bound students. External letters of recommendation can provide that additional data point when your own professors cannot make a meaningful comparison.)</p>
<p>I am attending a small liberal arts school and the program that I just got it is at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine. The profile of the mentor I was matched up looks very impressive so I hope if I can show him my ability, I will be able to get a pretty good letter. The only problem is that I have to leave school early (my school is on trimester and I have to leave school 2 weeks early if I choose to attend the program). Therefore, I am just trying to figure out whether it is worth it?</p>
<p>Can you leave school two weeks early and still finish your coursework/finals?</p>
<p>Yeah, I have mentioned this opportunity to my professors and they are willing to work with me. It is just the matter whether it is actually worth it to attend such a program given that if I do not attend the program, I still do research in my current lab over the summer (trying to finish a couple projects before publishing a paper later this year).</p>
<p>Would it be possible for you to start the program late and stay an extra two weeks (or even just start it one week late and stay one week late)? I’ve had summer students do that in my lab a few times when they had conflicting school schedules (we’re on the quarter system).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they said the orientation on the 28th was mandatory so I would have to show up by then</p>
<p>If your professors are willing to work with you like that, I’d say the summer program is definitely worth pursuing. It can only help your application to have diverse research experience.</p>
<p>I was told about mandatory things, but often times those rules are made to be broken. If the program admin is giving you a ton of push back on it, try to talk to the person you’d be working for and see if they can appeal on your behalf.</p>
<p>In the acceptance email, the person told me not to contact the advisor before I accept to join the program so I have not done that yet.</p>
<p>I am just hesitating because I don’t know if it will be a big advantage for me to participate in the summer program at Penn State. I can still do research at my own college where I plan to finish some projects over the summer to publish a paper later this year. Besides all the complication of getting out of school early, as an international student, I have to apply for paperwork, which is expensive and lengthy. In addition, I will have to say no to the opportunity of becoming a TA for a molecular bio class, which is a very good teaching experience. I am just not sure if deciding not to participating in this program will backfire against me next year when I apply for graduate schools.</p>
<p>Do you trust any of your professors enough to ask them for advice? Experienced faculty members will be able to tell you how to position yourself ideally for graduate admissions.</p>
<p>As an aside: through the years I noticed that one professor in my department sent students to top 5 graduate programs each year, while the other professors in the department couldn’t even get their best students into a top 10 program. In my senior year I learned why. This particular professor was an extremely strong advocate for his favorite students. He knew which phone calls to make, what to write in a letter of recommendation, and what external qualifications a student needed to get noticed by a top program in my field. I probably wouldn’t be at Stanford today without him. </p>
<p>Find out which professors in your department have a track record of sending students to the graduate programs that you’d like to attend, and then seek their advice.</p>
<p>
Unless you are applying to teaching programs, this will be irrelevant for your graduate applications. Though I understand that there might be financial motives for the TA job.</p>
<p>Thanks alot. My advisor has already told me to go. I will try talk to another couple professors before I make the decision. I was given so little time to arrange everything so it’s a bit hectic for me.</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, I just think the TA is a good training ground if I ever become a TA plus I really enjoy teaching.</p>
<p>If the TAing takes away from your studies or research opportunities then don’t do it. This is coming from someone that’s TAed six different classes now as a grad student.</p>
<p>Haha, definitely. I have talked to 3 professors and they all told me to go.</p>
<p>Also, do you guys think that admission to these summer programs is an indication of graduate school admission?</p>
<p>Well, I got into hardly any programs for summer stuff, but I still got into a number of top 10 grad schools.</p>
<p>No, they’re not. They use different criteria for the programs, although it may be a bonus for you if you’ve done research there and then want to return to the same lab for grad school.</p>