<p>I am interested in hearing from anyone who went through the program and can speak to the short and longer term benefits.</p>
<p>First of all, Congratulations!</p>
<p>I am a junior biochemistry major planning on going to grad school for a PhD when I graduate and I participated in SSBBR prior to my freshman year. It was one of the best experiences of my life. The SSBBR program is basically 6 weeks of full-time research plus a week of lab training. There are also weekly seminars from experts in their fields and field trips to different parts of St. Louis.</p>
<p>Despite all of the programming, the program is really chill and you basically live as an independent college student before officially starting classes. This also means that when classes start in the fall, you already know where everything is and have a solid group of friends.</p>
<p>On the academic side of things, I learned so much more through research than any science class in high school and it definitely helps in learning how to think like a scientist. During the program, you also take a short gen chem prep course which is really helpful for the first exam in the class.</p>
<p>With the regards to long-term benefits, during the program you establish a connection with a professor which is very important in terms of recommendations and other benefits of having a close faculty contact. I continued working in my SSBBR lab and have ended up gaining many opportunities and experiences that I otherwise never would have had access to.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions and congratulations again!</p>
<p>P.S. The coordinator, Amy, is a wonderful person and really helps the students get adjusted to college life. Also, she is in charge of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at WUSTL which is an awesome research experience for later during your undergrad education.</p>
<p>Thank you MusicalScientist! (It is for my D) The program sounds wonderful and seems too good to pass up for any other school. </p>
<p>She visits in April for the first time - and I am secretly keeping my fingers crossed that she loves it at WUSTL!</p>