<p>So I'm going to be a freshman at the Yale next year and while I've been offered a research position for next summer, it's not the most attractive deal in the world (low pay after taxes, rent, food, etc.), and Yale's astrophysics (my field of choice), while nice, just doesn't have a lot of options. A matter of sheer size, unfortunately. SURF, however, seems very attractive--I mean, a summer in sunny Pasadena working with world-class astronomers, what could be better? So I have a couple of questions: first, how and when does a student from another school go about getting a SURF, and how difficult is it (especially as a freshman)? Second, what does SURF provide that is not taken away from the $5k (it's $5k, right?) stipend? Food, board, etc.?</p>
<p>There is an application process for outside students (and Techers, too!) You contact a professor and make arrangements for a project, and write a proposal. Outside SURFs, especially for frosh, stand the highest chance of approval if the professor/lab can fund them out of their research money, so talk about that. If the prof is willing to pay, approval is almost guaranteed. Otherwise, it is pretty dicey.</p>
<p>The stipend is $5k, and will eventually be bumped up to keep pace with inflation (but no concrete plans). You pay for housing and food while here. Figure about $2000 for the summer for those things. The rest is yours to keep.</p>
<p>GuitarMan: If you're interested in astronomy or astrophysics, you can't overlook the fact that Palomar isn't at all far from Tech! <em>googly-eyes</em> hehe</p>
<p>If I understood the SURF presentation correctly, you don't have to SURF in Pasadena. SURFs can be done anywhere. The students merely need to find a Caltech professor who will agree to be the link between the outside professor and Caltech.</p>
<p>Well, if you were going to do the SURF away from Caltech, with a group away from Caltech, coming from a college other than Caltech, what's the benefit (to you?) of involving the SURF program at all? Presumably you could get whatever funding you were going to get independently of the SURF office. Maybe I am missing something, though.</p>
<p>frozen-tears, not guaranteed but pretty likely. If the lab you're working with can pay for you, then why would the SURF office object? So yes, being funded is good. Obviously you'd still work out a proposal and plan for the project with the prof before the application process. So the main point is, ask around early so that there's plenty of time to secure funding and plan the project.</p>
<p>Very good question. I think some professors prefer the structure of it and so would encourage you to apply. But you could probably talk about just working as a research associate for them over the summer... there is probably complicated funding bureaucracy behind this that I don't understand.</p>
<p>I should add that a lot of these questions might be better addressed to the office that awards SURFs. We're pretty familiar with the SURF process for Caltech students, but everything we know about the process for non-techers is going to be second-hand at best.</p>
<p>I'd bet that the office will only award off-campus SURFs to Caltech students.</p>
<p>haha!! Check the e-mail I just sent you, Kim, you'll see why I'm laughing.</p>
<p>P.S. If you'd like a list of things I overlooked in my decision, feel free to ask, but it'll most likely end up in me calling you a...wait, are we still on a public forum?</p>
<p><em>laughs</em> Fine, fine, invade my room.</p>
<p>I think you've already called me a slut on a public forum... 'sokay. (A fruit-making slut, anyway, before you had any justification.) But you had that information before making your decision and still turned me down. I mean, the school.</p>