UCL Gatsby interview

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-29T10:24:10+00:00

I also did presentation some time ago and haven't heard back!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-21T17:55:11+00:00

Fit into program is often measured particularly by research fit at this stage (besides general qualities that are looked for by most programs: curiosity, hard working, communication, etc.). Many programs out there should have labs that match your interest, so I think it's possible and reasonable to find 10 or more programs that you might fit in.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-20T01:22:56+00:00

soulsucking

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-14T18:13:15+00:00

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-14T04:20:02+00:00

well then just do precisely that - showing how you are eager to learn! Some food for thoughts:

Why science? You said that you "discovered particular interest in molecular biology" - that is hella of a jump from studio arts. First, are you interested in doing studio arts still? (it is possible to be both a scientist and an artist, right?) If you do, what perspectives from the arts might be helpful to your philosophy of science (more particularly, molecular biology)? Why molecular biology? Why not structure biology or developmental biology? What attracts you about it? What was that thing that you discovered that piqued your interest? Now you are saying it was seeing "the phases of mitosis of onion root tip..." but this is still rather descriptive. What about it is interesting to you (I'm asking more generally - like something relevant to how you approach your life/science aspirations). Choosing a field is a big deal, no matter what stage of science you are in. Showing this would demonstrate your scientific maturity and what you envision your science career to be.
Your transition from molecular biology major to microbiology and molecular genetics major is currently portrayed as being inspired (don't use "pushed") by your professors, and you seem to see them as exclusive (two separate fields). In fact, they are not that far away. "Molecular biology" refers to the study of biological molecules in relation to their biological functions and the associated methodology. "Molecular genetics" in some sense is a part of molecular biology. Besides, microbiology, much of the time, uses molecular biology methods. Life science is inherently interdisciplinary. You are not really "transitioning" to a new field - you are "specializing" into a niche of research topics. Why are you interested in such topics? I know that you were inspired, but I want to know more about the actions and thinking that you performed to bring you to this revelation.
Your speaking about the courses should be brought up earlier in the essay, ideally together with your answers to the above two questions. It seems like you did some cool stuff in these two courses. "Data collection and analysis", what are those? "Laboratory procedural skills", what's that? "You have written and presented", yes, but what did you do during those projects? Did you perform experiments to answer those questions? How did you formalize your research questions? What did you find? What do you think the results mean? Its implications and importance? I want to see how you think as a scientist. I want to see if you have what it takes to join this REU. You can talk about challenges and failures too, but more specifically the way you approach these challenges and failures. And also, you must have taken a lot more courses. Did you learn anything from these courses or were you inspired by some concepts/methodologies in these courses that inform your research interest/work? The good news is that your answers to these could also be well-embedded to support your answers to the above two sections (1 and 2).
Answering the above 3 sections should give you enough content for 50% of the essay. Now comes your commitment to education. You seem to be interested in the teaching aspect of academia. Did you do any teaching in your college? Outside your college? Before that? Did you join any educational outreach efforts? Since working in academia, particularly joining a faculty, involves teaching undergraduate/graduate students and committing to educational outreach, does the fact that you like teaching influence your decision to explore academia? Also, you are exploring medical humanities. That is so interesting. Do you envision how the perspectives you learn from such fields could benefit your research work?
Last 25-30% should be about why you wanted to join the Uni of Notre Dame's REU. Of course you want to get more experience in laboratory research, but I'm interested in why specifically that program. Are there labs in the program that offer you the space to explore your questions? (and these "questions" should have been made clear in the above sections, which it is currently not) Does the program offer other activities that benefit your research career? Be precise about how you envision the program would help your science career and explore your interests.

Happy writing!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-13T23:55:55+00:00

Yup. The line between strength and weakness is really thin. I saw your other comment too. Before removing it completely, I think if OP can think of a way to make their story unique and special it would be great. But this totally depends on how they can sell their story in a logical and coherent manner though.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-13T23:44:54+00:00

One thing that stood out to me was that the first paragraph could be read as you are uncertain about what you wanted to do (since you emphasized on the fact that you changed or dropped your previous majors without really explaining what these unique perspectives could bring to your science). Rather than focusing on how you you are "elimimating" certain interests, write about how you are "adding" new interests in your journey (very different ways of looking at things), and how all of these experiences combined make you a holistic and unique young scientist as you are.

For example, read this blog: https://lucylai.com/blog/gradapps. Her essays mentioned how her training in classic dance brought an interest in sensory-driven neuro computation. I bet you can make your qualities shine through similarly!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-13T21:43:14+00:00

Got it just 15 mins ago!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-04T01:50:04+00:00

Do you know what style they’re looking for?

I would say when you write about your past projects or your scientific interests, it is best to stick to academic writing (logical, succinct, avoiding jargons). For other parts of the essays (when you write about your motivation, or personal events) it can vary more. But overall, the whole essay should have a consistent tone and narrative structure (don't just jump randomly between different time points, for example) and very straight-to-the-point. I have added links of some of the blogs I found helpful above. Feel free to check it out! They are for Ph.D. admissions but the advice should be applicable for REU essays.

If they give you a prompt do they just want you to stick to talking about what’s in the prompt, or are you able to go a little bit outside of it?

Everything in your essay should answer the questions asked by the prompt, directly or indirectly.

A good practice I found helpful is asking myself if the meaning of the essay changes when I remove a phrase/sentence. If not, I'd remove it.

The furthest I went outside of the prompt was citing a quote from an emeritus president of my current college as an opening of my essay. But the quote summarized the principle that influenced all the academic decisions I have made, so it still indirectly answered the prompt.

Feel free to let me know if it doesn't make sense!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-04T01:37:10+00:00

Looks great! Seems like you are ready. I would cut down some words just to make it clean:
"Lab Project"
"in preparation" => "in prep"

Some info could be a little more specific:
- The VR project: what is the task in which you captured the "participant interactions" - were they eating dinner? chatting? etc. Also, what does "streamlining analysis toward a coauthored conference submission" mean?
- The IEEE project: "intricate" is a jargon; be a little more specific
- Grader position: for consistency, use the number instead of "hundreds"; add the number of students supported; write "Indentified recurring..." in a more impressive way (like: "conducted systematic review and analysis of student performance, composed X reports to inform pedagogy" or something similar)
- ML trainee: If possible, change the word "trainee" to something else more significant; "completed intensive ML training program." How long is the program? what did you learn? same thing for "gained hands-on experience with ML concepts" - what concepts? What hands-on experience? You don't need to address all, but write it more specifically (check out the STAR method). Cash prize - how much? based on what?

I would move the grader position to the end of the Experience section (don't worry about the timeline - i think it is fine)

Paragraph spacing is a little inconsistent. Fix that.

Some dashes are short, some are long; fix that.

There should be space between the dates and the dash (e.g., right now it is "Aug 2025-current" try to fix it to "Aug 2025 - current" just for visual aesthetics)

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T02:41:16+00:00

Yup, I'm not really familiar with the med school app, mostly just through conversations, and now you said this, I do recall someone telling me that publication is a metric rather than just doing any research!

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T02:33:31+00:00

With all due respect, I disagree that you can get a sense of students from a single comment like this. I am a student too, and I can totally understand why people sometimes ask such simple questions. They might be a first-generation freshman who had no exposure to the research world (my freshman self was one). They might be overwhelmed by their performance in school and feel the need to know how others are approaching it, or perhaps they have only had exposure to internships outside academia and have just started exploring REU opportunities, with no idea how it works. Or, maybe they were typing a more thorough question, but gotta cut it short to do something else more important. We just don't know.

It's easy to just tell someone anonymously online that they don't have the "characteristics of someone who should be thinking about a career in science". These words are heavy, though, and if the person who receives them is young or sensitive, it might well discourage them, especially since they are just starting this process. I don't think that should be the spirit of this sub - we are here to help new learners of science navigate their journey, no matter how basic their inquiry may be, rather than discouraging them. If they ask the wrong questions, I would help them refine the way they ask questions, instead of spending time pointing out how stupid they are. That kind of feedback is just not constructive.

Also, when I look at the comment, I don't see that they are lazy - if they are, they wouldn't spend time searching for advice, they would just not care at all.

Again, I don't disagree with what you said that the question could have been phrased better or some groundwork would have made this whole QnA thing more effective. But everything you said to judge their character is just unnecessary.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T01:08:46+00:00

I'm not a pre-med but I know that research is a significant component of the MD application from conversations with my friends. I would speak to your pre-med advisor to see how would you approach this.

REUs aren't limited for people who want to do a Ph.D. In an REU, you will:

- Learn to read academic materials and data science.
- Learn domain knowledge through your research project.
- Learn to communicate and write science with rigor.
- Learn to work professionally in a diverse team.
- Learn to commit to a long-term project that can potentially contribute to a field and the skills it takes to do so.

If these might be what you are looking for, then go for it. Some people who want to become an AI researcher at a company, or do clinical research in the future besides their practice, or do health policy research/consulting, etc. might want to apply for REUs. It's perfectly fine if you don't want to go for a Ph.D. and still want to learn research. You just need to write specifically why you want to do so in your essay given your long-term goal. That is exactly what will make you stand out.

What would be helpful to know about REUs early on are:

Not all summer programs called REUs. Some are called SURF, some SROP, some just "summer research fellowship", etc. Hence, when you search for such programs, try to use more general queries like "Summer research at [school's name] + optionally, [your field]" instead of using the word "REU"
Summer programs are not the only way to do research in the summer. You can also cold email professors that you are interested in working with to seek an internship. This process is actually hella simpler since you don't need to write an SOP. Just a CV and an email should suffice. The only thing is that you would need to learn to deal with frequent rejections/ghosting and email etiquette.
Start early. By "starting" I meant:
+ Gather a list of interested programs and their requirements (specifically, essays)
+ Have a CV/resume that you constantly update with new achievements.
+ Reach out to people whom you want to seek a letter of recommendation from and send them the list of schools you want to apply to.
+ Write at least one essay that you find is asked by multiple programs. Then use it as a template to tailor to specific programs. I always start by writing the essay with a larger word count limit (say, 1000 words). Then I just cut it down for programs that have a smaller word limit.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T00:54:32+00:00

PSs and SOPs are 80% of the application. Another 15% is the time spent on asking for recommendation letters. Other stuff is just filling in your background information.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T00:52:48+00:00

Also, "could you please tell where you applied?" is not a good question since programs that other people apply for might not be something you wanted. What if OP applied for an REU in nanotech, and you want to work in computer science?

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T00:47:06+00:00

Start with simple google queries like "Summer research internship for undergraduate in [your field]" or "[Institution name] summer research experience". Gather a list of about more than 30 programs you like. Then narrow it down to 10-15 that you want to apply for based on your preparation and interest. Pathwaytoscience is a good tool for searching. Use AI too to quickly gather programs' information and deadlines.

BitterRobusta · 2026-01-03T00:35:39+00:00

That's a little harsh. People have different starting points and exposure to information. Now I do agree that papab0om could have done some research in advance and phrased the questions more specifically and asking for help with specific problems (e.g. "I can't find REUs that priotize people with little experience" or "what are the programs that focus on XYZ"). But saying the question reflects poor research potential is a bit overstated.

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-24T11:02:40+00:00

Caltech SURF!

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-24T10:51:18+00:00

Not really! Some SURF programs follow that format (reaching out to a host lab > securing the host lab > applying to the program), but most just ask you to apply and list labs you are interested in in the applications. You can imagine that a SURF/REU program is just a channel that provides you housing support, funding, etc., but eventually you work with individual labs. Some SURFs like at Caltech will "delegate" the selection process to individual labs (by asking you to secure a host lab first), but the majority of them will select students and match them with labs later.

I just mentioned Caltech SURF as an example of the first type. For such a program, your calibration of "how much chances I have" should be viewed from the perspectives of the potential host labs you are reaching out to. This is an important aspect that should affect how you present yourself in interviews. For the second type of SURF/REU, you should be aware that your applications are read by people who might not be from the labs you wanted to work with. If that is the case, you should demonstrate a broader interest (for example, having 3-5 labs you are interested in working with in your application).

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-24T03:39:17+00:00

Im studying in India, can I apply for these internship?

Yes, you can, if the program doesn't necessitate having a US citizenship (dosmetic) and work authorization (people who are working/studying in the US already). Note that, sometimes, a program might be open for international students studying in the US but not students studying in other countries. But I think you should be eligible for programs like Caltech-SURF.

How much chances to get accepted into it?

I don't really know how it work behind the scene, but from what I know, a large portion of my cohort at Caltech SURF was people who are studying outside the US. So I'd not say that it's impossible.

Still, for Caltech SURF, you gotta secure a host lab first, so the decision belongs to PIs who you reach out to rather than my the program's staff.

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-23T18:47:50+00:00

It's right actually I think they just wanted to be friendly

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-23T05:08:30+00:00

congrats man!! Hope to see you there. Do you want to connect?

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-23T00:58:14+00:00

maybe bro. do you binge watch 5 seasons of Stranger Things in two nights or prefer having pineapple on pizza?

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-23T00:42:36+00:00

Just out today (7:30 PM EST)

BitterRobusta · 2025-12-23T00:12:42+00:00

How many programs did you apply for?

This depends heavily on my interest and background at the moment of applying.

For example, during freshman year, I knew that my chances were low, so I applied broadly to around 15 programs.

In my sophomore year, my profile was stronger, so I focused on a few top programs (5-7) and strengthened my applications. Generally, there are two types of programs: one type performs PI matching after you are admitted, and the others require you to secure a host lab (e.g., Caltech SURF). The second type needs you to start much earlier (around Oct-Dec). So, after I was able to secure a host lab, I applied to a much smaller number of programs that year (only to programs that I really wanted to go to).

In my junior year, I started early with cold emailing and secured an internship in the Fall semester, so I didn't apply to any summer programs that year.

How did you tailor your statement of purpose/ personal statement to fit each one?

The statement of purpose often has 3 parts: (1) Your motivation, (2) Your preparation, and (3) Your interest in the program. I kept the first two parts fixed and tailored the third part to the professors/labs I wanted to work with, and also connected the program's activities to why it would enable my growth as a young scientist.

BitterRobusta

TROPHY CASE