UC Davis Young Scholars Program

lydia423 · 04-21-2006, 08:47 PM

I applied and got accepted to the UC Davis Young Scholars Program. It's a summer research program at UC Davis. The cost is $4500 so I'm not sure if I want to go yet.

Have any of you heard of this program? Is it hard to get into? Is it prestigious at all?

All opinions welcome.

suze · 04-21-2006, 09:19 PM

The prestigeous and hard to get into summer programs are free.

coureur · 04-21-2006, 10:04 PM

Despite it's price, YSP is selective. They have many more applicants than places. My daughter attended YSP a three summers ago and had a great experience. It was $3K then - perhaps the price increase may serve to cut down some of the selectivity - I don't know. D got to participate in some real scientific research, wrote a good paper, and had a lot of fun.

I'm not sure exactly how prestigious it is, but when we later mentioned it in conversation to an MIT adcom he perked up. He was definitely familiar with it. On her apps she featured it as her key science EC. I can only guess at how much it weighed in her favor, but the following spring she enjoyed a lot of success in her applications. She is currently a sophomore at Harvard majoring in physics. All her YSP friends got into good schools too.

I think it's a great opportunity for science-minded kids, particularly if Dr. Pomeroy is still running it. He's great and really cares about the kids and the program.

ellemenope · 04-21-2006, 10:33 PM

I also might add that the weekends are filled with fun activities, some of which are science minded, others are touristy. Downtown Davis is cute and is available by bike (D took hers) so you are not stuck in the dorms.

At the end of the program, the participants write a research paper on their work and present it to the group. D submitted that paper to those schools who were interested in seeing research (MIT, Stanford, come to mind). Other students use their papers as a Intel paper. Also, you should be able to impress your professor with your wit and wisdom--and he/she should be able to write an extra letter of rec for your college applications.

The program is not as "prestigious" as some--but is high caliber in content, known by pretty selective colleges and its participants got into some pretty quality schools. (D got into Harvard, Stanford and MIT among others; 2 others from her year are now attending Harvard; another kid that I know who went to the program got into Stanford and MIT and is now at MIT.)

All in all, it was a great program and I can recommend it.

The program was $3600 when D went--they mentioned that they were going to charge more for the program so as to be able to give some fin aid for those who couldn't pay the whole thing.

lydia423 · 04-22-2006, 10:09 PM

Thanks for the input! That was all very helpful information!

Do you have any idea of how many people apply to the program each year?

coureur · 04-23-2006, 12:07 AM

As I recall there were about three applicants for every slot. The number of slots varies somewhat year to year depending of how many professors agree to take students into their labs.

lydia423 · 04-23-2006, 03:00 PM

Do you know how this program compares to COSMOS? is it more/less selective? what about compared to the research program in UC Santa Barbara?

Do you guys think it's worth the money?

ellemenope · 04-23-2006, 08:13 PM

D never went through COSMOS or UCSB research program so I can't compare them to YSP.

All I can say is that there is ALOT of time spent in the lab in YSP. The first couple of weeks are morning lectures and afternoon lab work. After that, you are 100% in the lab. Compare that to the time you spend in the lab at your other programs.

Yes, I think it is worth the money.

coureur · 04-23-2006, 10:29 PM

I thought it was worth the money, but I don't know anything about those other programs, so I can't compare.

lydia423 · 04-27-2006, 11:01 PM

About 1 in 3 get in?

So I guess that means they don't assign all registration numbers from 6012 to 6390 inclusive? (the registration numbers of the people who got in and who are on the waiting list are on the program website: http://ysp.ucdavis.edu)

I was hoping that at least (6390 - 6012 + 1 = 379) 379 people applied...

Is 1 in 3 considered pretty selective?

mstee · 04-30-2006, 02:17 AM

Have you decided anything? My daughter applied to Cosmos this year and got in (at Davis--Yay), and I think she will be going, though I don't know that for sure.

hiker · 04-30-2006, 02:02 PM

Lydia,
Why is selectivity important to you? What is it that you really want to know about the program?

elka · 04-30-2006, 07:35 PM

My daughter applied and got accepted into both YSP at UC Davis and SAAST at U Penn this summer. Any suggestion which one she shall pick ?

mstee · 04-30-2006, 09:31 PM

elka--what is SAAST? Does your daughter have a preference? Is she perhaps thinking of applying to Penn or Davis, or possibly both? I ask that question because it can be very interesting to spend a summer on a campus if one is thinking of applying there--in addition to learning the stuff in the program, one becomes familiar with the campus and culture of the school--it can help in figuring out what one might be looking for in a college.

Are you from CA?

elka · 05-01-2006, 12:23 AM

SAAST is a U Penn offered summer program similar to YSP at Davis. (http://www.seas.upenn.edu/saast/).
SAAST is a about three week long vs 6 weeks at Davis. I am just wonderfing
which summer program (among these two) will help my daughter more in terms of her college application.
mstee, thanks for your reply. Yes I am from California.