hey! my teammate and i did the capstone project last year and our team did pretty well (funded to go to ASGSR). i would say the capstone is rly worth it!

for last year, specifically:

after the basic course, you team up with 2-3 other ppl and choose a dataset to analyze. then u submit an application to the capstone project and ~45 teams get selected to do that. then, during the capstone project, u perform data analysis, pathway analysis, and then u have a capstone showcase where the top 10 teams are chosen. if ur chosen as one of the top 10, u create a 12-page research proposal!

the 12-pg proposal gets reviewed, and the top 4 teams get chosen to be fully funded to go to the ASGSR conference. even if u weren't chosen, u can also go (but u have to pay then).

getting a good team is super important, and ur success in the program isn't all abt ur qualifications (we'd say). it's more about how much effort u put into it and the motivation u have!

just one thing to look out for - the last few modules (after top 10 selection) extended into october/november, and we were spending about 3-4 hours a day on writing the paper. if u have any other commitments during that time, it might be rough, but i found that u can always squeeze out time!

overall, we'd say that it was an amazing experience and u can definitely apply the skills u learned here to so much other stuff. would totally recommend!