<p>How does UCD Young Scholars Program compare with U of Iowa Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP)? Is anyone who has been to either of these programs willing to share any thoughts, experiences, anecdotes?</p>
<p>I'd like to do some science research this summer, but I'm not sure which program is more worth it. Both are similar in terms of program length and cost.</p>
<p>Any additional information on research project quality/depth and the programs in general is welcomed! Thanks!</p>
<p>Ask the same</p>
<p>Just got accepted into SSTP at UI, anyone got into this program as well ?
Other programs don’t notify until April.
Not sure what SSTP does besides research, anyone knows what kind of research ??</p>
<p>Thanks in advance !</p>
<p>I was accepted as well.
Go to the new SSTP 2012 thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1299919-iowa-sstp-2012-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1299919-iowa-sstp-2012-a.html</a></p>
<p>I went to SSTP but not YSP. I guess I’ll just talk about the main things:</p>
<p>“Student Life” - Most people will be in a double, though there were one or two triples. Pretty standard rooms. The WiFi is a little iffy but it’s sufficient. Bring your laptop if you want. (My year, a lot of the guys played Warcraft, League of Legends, etc.) Food is OK, not particularly interesting. You can wander around in the general area, so you can buy stuff or eat at a restaurant at the local shopping center, and you can also make use of athletic facilities. (I’m not an active guy, so I’m not the one to ask about this. :P) Our RAs (counselors) occasionally take us all out to eat ice cream/froyo, go shopping, or other sorts of entertainment.</p>
<p>Research - There’s a list of research areas on the website somewhere. An email will come asking you to fill out your top three research areas at some point. I don’t think a lot of us knew much about our research topics beforehand, so don’t be afraid to choose a field you’re interested in, regardless of your background. (I made the mistake of choosing Physics/Astronomy as my first choice when I actually wanted to do Computer Science, because I had a lot more experience in physics than in CS.)</p>
<p>The professor already has a project in mind for you. The professor and assistants (usually grad students, though one of my main advisers was an undergrad) who work with you will guide you as necessary so that you can complete the project. You work on an abstract and poster which summarize the motivation for the project, your procedure, and your analysis of the results. On the last day, you and the other students participate in a poster session where you stand in front of your poster and explain/present your project to whoever asks. Faculty and TAs/grad students (as well as the students’ parents, of course) are invited to come, and they’re usually fairly interested in the projects.</p>
<p>My lab partner and I didn’t write a research paper; I’m not sure about other people. My project ended up showing that our method for the problem we were attacking didn’t work, so it wasn’t really something I could submit to Intel/Siemens.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, ask away (though I can’t guarantee I’ll remember to check this thread :P).</p>
<p>One more question for you… So what are you doing this summer ?? Are you applying to anything interesting ?? Will you go back to SSTP for another summer ??
Thanks</p>
<p>Did anyone apply to other programs and what is the program ?? How many people applied to this SSTP this year ??
Seems like all the choices are biological science or medical related…</p>
<p>I’m not sure what I’m doing this summer, but it’ll involve earning money, hopefully through a CS-related internship. I’m a current senior, so I won’t be applying to SSTP again.</p>
<p>Where are you in CA ?? Just curious about the SSTP program, were you HAPPY with the program, and what about the other 27 participants ? Did you get to use cool equipment and learn a lot ?? Will this experience help you with college application ?
What was your GPA when you apply ? Did you apply to UCD Young Scholars and Stanford SIMR as well ? Thanks and good luck to you… If you don’t mind, where did you apply for college ?</p>
<p>Let’s stick to one thread so energize doesn’t have to answer the same questions several times… 
(I posted a million questions of the SSTP 2012 thread… hehe… energize, thank you so much for your help!)</p>
<p>Energize, Thank you so much ! Good luck to you where ever you go for college… All the colleges looks good, hope you get in. Keep us posted. </p>
<p>BTW, I live in the peninsula. So food must be not as good as the Bay Area, I imagine lots of potatoes and corn in IOWA LOL</p>
<p>For the UI SSTP accepted interns,
Just wanted to find out what other programs did you apply this summer ?
Thanks</p>
<p>I can answer bbcarol’s questions. Some of this appears in the really long post I made in the other thread.</p>
<p>I’m in the East Bay. I was pretty happy with the program because I was able to be directly involved in advancing science using high-quality equipment and I learned a lot about how research works. I wrote a bit about this in my college applications:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This isn’t my best writing, but I think it gets my point across.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to SIMR or YSP because I have little interest in biology or medicine. My GPA was something like 3.97 unweighted when I applied - a single B+ in honors chemistry. I applied to MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley/LA/SD/Irvine, and U of Illinois.</p>
<p>Just checked with the other programs - one of them said they have thousands of application and don’t even have man power to process the applications…
We should call ourselves lucky that we got into SSTP.<br>
Anyone request “medical related” research ?? </p>
<p>Did anyone in the past attended medical related research and how was the experience ?
Thanks guys !</p>
<p>energize, good luck with colleges! Those are all really good schools! I hope you get into your first choice :)</p>
<p>bbcarol, what program is that?
I doubt SSTP has thousands of apps, since it’s only for HS soph/jrs and it’s in the Midwest… and since they extended the deadline, I wonder if not enough people applied…?</p>
<p>UCD YSP is in California, and it’s mainly Biological Science, examples are environmental science, earth science, etc… If you are doing engineering or Biomed, this SSTP is a better option. If you don’t know what you want to do, and all you want to do is “Science”, then YSP is a better choice. I talked to the program admin at YSP, and they already have over 500 applications in, and they take 30-40, so chances are very slim.
I agree, midwest is kinda far… Did anyone decide on whether you are going to accept the offer or not ?? But I do think this is a great opportunity, especially this is orginal research and it’s not like they give you something that they have done in the past and you contribute nothing to research at all. This program was recommended by MIT as a good alternative to their program, and saw a link that a SSTP actually turned into PhD.
So that’s a good sign. Sometimes advertising don’t mean a whole lot, especially when they ask for application fees upfront like some program, and SSTP didn’t ask for any money upfront.
I think extending the deadline doesn’t mean they don’t get enough people, it’s just they are picky on who they get, overall, seemed like the ones they picked are all 4.0GPA +.
I don’t think we should worry about whether it will look good on our resumes, we should concentrate on what we can learn out of this, and whether we like what they assign to us.
Do what you like and the money will follow !
Archaic - So what’s your first choice ?? Did you apply to other programs ?</p>
<p>Does YSP really have over 500 applicants? o.o ■■■…</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Yes ! Here is part of an email from the program director at YSP.</p>
<ol>
<li>At this time, over 500 people have begun applications for the program this year. We will not know the total number of applicants until the application date closes on March 31st. </li>
</ol>
<p>Good Luck, I am going to SSTP.</p>
<p>Oh… that sucks
i should have applied to SSTP</p>
<p>Yeah, I think UCD YSP is known for being pretty selective. But at least you can be happy that not all 500 people who started applications are actually going to submit a completed one…</p>