Thank you!
I took a precollege course at Adelphi in 2023. No fancy publishings or papers but I did pick up on some useful skills in culturing, pipetting, and microscope use that I mentioned. I also tried to start a research club in our school but ultimately it didnt go through cause of time/financial constraints, which I touched on briefly in an essay
oh okay. I am inferring that they may have chosen kids who don’t have much experience in research. In their website they write “SRI aims to democratize access to research opportunities for students across the world…”
In my application I wrote about the research experiences I had. Maybe that’s why I was rejected. Anyways, best of luck in your future endeavours!
Heres what I will tell you. By college confidential standards, im no einstein (did i even spell his name right???). I am flawed and ego-shaken. My dad has no college degree and my mom studied finance and graduated from a school I do not plan on applying to, sadly. I am not wealthy or poor. But I have grown a lot, I have made good connections, and I have cousins in highly-regarded and selective programs. Will I be like them? Only time will tell. But I can tell you I know a lot on how these things work.
They, as in colleges and college programs, want people. They want those who grow, who learn, who fail and who get up again. If you have nothing to say for yourself other than you “luv science and have tons of publications” then that probably wont work out well for you. Because what will you do when its not time to do science? How will you react to failure or setbacks? What do you contribute to the community?. Am I saying doing science (that was probably paid for and/or heavily supervised) is not valuable? Absolutely not. Im saying that people who have well rounded activities that help them achieve their passions usually do the best. After all, the best scientists and doctors are not just intelligent, but they are logical, collaborative, empathetic, etc.
Playing tennis made me collaborative and quick-thinking as well as helping me build physical and mental endurance. Teaching science courses and tutoring made me empathetic, understanding, and good at talking to people. Growing up in a multicultural family with different religious beliefs made me see things from multiple perspectives. Being a leader in my local community for biomed and community service gives me, well, leadership skills and organization. I grew. You don’t gain those things from sitting in your room and regurgitating quantum theory.
Sorry if my message seemed a little excessive. Your comment rubbed me the wrong way, you sorta implied the main reason I was waitlisted and not rejected was because they wanted inexperienced/under accomplished students, which I took mild offense to. Besides, I am predominantly white, mid-upper class, and attending a private school in the city- I have a decent amount of privilege.
That being said, I have no ill intentions and I wish the best for you and everyone else. I just wanted to clarify why I was (relatively) successful in this process as well as another extremely selective program I applied to.
@Avi.0 may find this helpful
Edited for grammar and extra details
Hey,
I am completely sorry that you were offended by my comment. I did not imply that you were waitlisted and not rejected because you are under accomplished at all.
From seeing your application I can clearly tell that there are parts in your application that truly shine, such as playing tennis and teaching science courses. These activities show that you have a life outside of science, which is something I have realized is very important when it comes to these internships.
It is through your message that I have come upon this realization. As a result, I would like to thank you for responding to me in this manner. I realized that colleges want people who shine in all aspects of life, not only when it comes to academics.
By no means do I think that you are under-accomplished or unqualified to become accepted to this program. I was under the false assumption that SRI gives opportunity to people who are willing to gain more experience in scientific research.
Again, am very sorry that you were offended by my comment. I truly wish the best of luck to you and hope that you get accepted into the program.
Edited for grammar and wording
Oops accidentally copy linked- do you get a notification for that?
My fault for misunderstanding! But I think we had a very good convo overall and I’m glad you gained something from it.
You seem like a very intelligent and motivated person. Once you are intelligent and motivated, the possibilities are endless. You’re only limited by your personal situation and things like fear of risk (which I personally struggle with a lot). The best thing I can tell you is that the things you will regret most are not taking opportunities/risks. Take what you love and run with it. If you like writing publications, make a blog for it and/or start a writing/science club in your school community. Worst case scenario it flops but at least you can say you tried. Something I’ve found very enriching has been the teaching/mentoring aspect of my science “career” though it took like a year to set up
You’re never gonna be perfect and you are bound to fail. But failing and getting up is so, so much more valuable than not trying at all. Not only in the eyes of Admissions Officers but in life in general
Feel free to DM for more advice! And since you are so well qualified (I sound sarcastic but I swear im not) I would love to see what you plan on doing for the summer. I could honestly use some ideas myself since the odds of me getting off the waitlist are presumably low.
I will be updating my admissions status in this forum in the days following. Results for WL are implied to come out then
Hey, ya i got some notification but idk what it’s for. Am new to this website and I don’t know what half of the notifications mean lol. Notification does not bother me tho its fine 
Thanks so much for your advice. Yes, it is very frustrating to fail but I do agree that failing is better than not trying at all. I love how you place an emphasis on being well-rounded not only in academics but in your extracurriculars as well. From having a convo with you I gained a lot about how you should face struggles/hardships, as well as taking risks and opportunities in life.
Sure, I do have some stuff planned for the summer that I am happy to share with you if you are interested. One thing I noticed about you is that you are very curious and eager to learn more about others. Your advice has truly made a difference in my mindset and the way I think when it comes to life. I am also interested in your upcoming plans for the summer. Feel free to DM me anything!
I’m a junior! I have a 3.95 and 35, but I didn’t include them on my app because it didn’t ask for them
Thank you!
I did, but I didn’t include my grades in my application
But didn’t they require a unweighted GPA and weighted GPA along with a transcript?
They did- im not sure how they couldn’t have shown grades
Omg my bad - I applied to too many programs before this and a lot of them didn’t require transcripts so I got them mixed up. Now that I think of it I did submit my grades but not my test score
Ur good dw
Just curious, would you mind sharing more about what you wrote in your essays and whether you filled out the optional question on research or not?
Im a rising junior and information about this program was posted in a club at my school. I added in that i had a 4.0 unweighted and 4.524 weighted GPA. I def put effort into my essays but I wrote them the last day in like 4 hours so I don’t think they were the best. For prior experience I said that I researched at WashU for the topic of genetic causes for cancer and that I previously worked with professors and presented my research. I overall thought my application was mid but I got in luckily.
Do any of you know how much knowledge we have to have about our topic before the program starts? I feel like I know a bit but I am not sure about research trials and what my research question is going to be about. I am nervous that I don’t know enough lol.
I wrote mostly about the topic I’m interested in and why (applications to real life, childhood experiences). I also mentioned some extracurriculars/hobbies I do and what I can make out of them (for example, learning something from a sport that you can apply to diff parts of your life). I did answer the optional question on research, but I only wrote about skills I have that are useful for research because I don’t really have research experience lol
Omg I’m kinda feeling the same way…I mean we’re def learning a lot in the program so ig we’re fine. I feel like the research question is going to be smth related to what research area you put in your application right?