cas1234 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Hi everyone, I have been reading the forum and it seems like a lot of people have done NSERC. What kind of positions did you get? Because I am not sure if mine is good for medical school since it is on Environmental Biology and Ecology. Thank you in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 you can technically do any research as they all sound fine (altho i suppose 'cure cancer' would sound better than watched bugs). You should do what you think you'ld find interesting. I did genetics based on availability and interests. I'm not sure of other people's experience but my prof pretty much gave me my own project and now i'm writing up a paper for journal submission and a presentation at PUBS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hp18 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 What is PUBS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 I did one in math, and another in computer science. It doesn't matter what area you do research in, although if it's something very different from medicine you'll probably be asked in your interviews to reconcile your interests in these areas with your interest in medicine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 some prarie conference where undergrads and grad students can present any research or information they are working on. Its not a really big deal but it doesn't look bad on a CV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 I did one in organic chemistry. Often certain departments will usually have several nserc students per summer and already have projects set up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 I guess I was lucky. I went into a drosophila lab and ended up studying maternal adversities, seasonal depression and familial cardiomyopathies, all medical. Do an NSERC, gives you something to talk about, its relatively prestigious, teaches you lots of good skills, and can be that little thing that sets you apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 can be that little thing that sets you apart.Imho, NSERC is highly unlikely to "set you apart" from anybody else. A huge proportion of premeds do NSERC summer research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Sorry, you are right. What I meant was that in the case of two people, superficially similar (research/academics/volunteering), one with the NSERC might be more appealing than the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahmanblah Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 It's actually fairly difficult to get a NSERC. Departmental preference for their own, plus preference for third years. Some departments having maybe only 1 or 2 awards. Highly unlikely to go to a first or a second year. This being at the University of Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 It's actually fairly difficult to get a NSERC. Departmental preference for their own, plus preference for third years. Some departments having maybe only 1 or 2 awards. Highly unlikely to go to a first or a second year. This being at the University of Toronto. I think its easier for second years to get NSERCs at the University of Toronto. The sheer number of spots means that it is more likely. Also, many labs like mine state that they prefer second years, because they wish to keep them until they graduate. That way, they don't have to retrain people all the time, and the students get lot more research than normal. I think if a particular department has 1-2 then its ultra difficult for a second year to get one. If you don't get one in the summer after second year, you can always volunteer in a lab. This gives you more opportunity to balance it with other things (other volunteering + writing MCAT for example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avinash Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Can we apply for NSERCs with professors at a University that we don't attend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Yes you can. Its a little more work with transcripts (you have to order and ship them). You also have to find a prof willing to take you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyMax Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Hey, Wouldn't the NSERC award itself (and hence the funding) have to be won from the internal competition of your home school? Once you have secured the award, I'm sure that you can take it wherever you want and work with whomever you want, but I don't think that you can apply to another school's internal competition if you don't go there to begin with. Or maybe you can. I don't know for certain. Anyone who can clarify? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireDragoonX Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 removed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahmanblah Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Nope... http://www.research.utoronto.ca/funding/fa_ai_nse.html Eligible: * Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or foreign student with valid student visa for the full summer work term. * Registered (at the time of application) as a full-time student in a bachelor's degree program (and not holding higher degrees in natural sciences or engineering) at the University of Toronto. * Must have obtained a cumulative average of "B+" or higher. For students in higher years, this average can be applied to the best two years of study. * Already holds a bachelor's degree and is studying towards a second bachelor's degree in the natural sciences or engineering (NSE). * Is registered full-time throughout his/her program, except for the final session, during which he/she was only required to register part-time in order to complete his/her degree. The award must be held in the session immediately following his/her final session. http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/fellowships/undergrad/nserc-usra/ Not at Mcgill though. Mcgill looks like it allows other students. University of Toronto does not. Maybe it's possible to steal NSERC money from another institution to work at another university. NSERC scholarships are allocated to universities. Universities decide the policies. So you could still in theory work at the University of Toronto, if for some odd reason another university allowed you to take their NSERC money to work with another supervisor at a completely different university. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Someone in my lab came from another university. So its doable. Perhaps under only certain conditions, like the prof really wants you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahmanblah Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 That's probably not a NSERC:USRA though. NSERC: USRA is different than just getting paid through your professor for doing research (which works just fine, but is different on the level of prestige, given that there are only 65 NSERC awards for the entire University of Toronto, if you take a look at the link above) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 21, 2007 Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Or maybe you can. I don't know for certain. Anyone who can clarify?The rules are different at every university; they get an allotment from NSERC and then they can assign however they wish. There are definitely some schools that encourage students from other universities to apply, and definitely other schools that only give them out internally. There are also tons of other undergraduate summer research scholarships out there. In terms of medical school applications, it really makes no difference where your funding comes from. What matters is what you get out of the experience and how you present it on your application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 The rules are different at every university; they get an allotment from NSERC and then they can assign however they wish. There are definitely some schools that encourage students from other universities to apply, and definitely other schools that only give them out internally. There are also tons of other undergraduate summer research scholarships out there. In terms of medical school applications, it really makes no difference where your funding comes from. What matters is what you get out of the experience and how you present it on your application. Are you sure there's NO difference at all? I'm sure the experience matters, but there are a lot of students doing summer research and getting an award like NSERC or something national is a lot better than just being paid by your prof. I agree that the experience is important, but I bet people do look at objective factors too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degoo_ Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 That award is the UTEA, limited to only UofT students. I think it differs from the USRA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Are you sure there's NO difference at all? I'm sure the experience matters, but there are a lot of students doing summer research and getting an award like NSERC or something national is a lot better than just being paid by your prof.This, like every posting, is my opinion not a fact. I do not have inside information about the various schools' application processes. Also, I was thinking of NSERC vs other funding opportunities, since most summer research students get external funding from somewhere, whether that's NSERC or a hospital research program or whatever. I still don't think it matters significantly. What does matters quite a lot, though, is what you put into the research, what you get out of it, what kind of reference letter you earn, how you are able to talk and write about it, etc. I really can't imagine that one person would get an interview over another simply because they had an NSERC vs another funding source. I agree that the experience is important, but I bet people do look at objective factors too.Imho, getting an NSERC is not at all a useful objective factor. At most schools, it reflects your grades. Your grades are already a significant component of the evaluation process. What use is it to factor them in again in the form of an NSERC award? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinknoodle Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Imho, getting an NSERC is not at all a useful objective factor. At most schools, it reflects your grades. Your grades are already a significant component of the evaluation process. What use is it to factor them in again in the form of an NSERC award? If you get an NSERC, that's great.. include it in your application. But equally, if you never get an NSERC (like myself, because my program was not eligible for summer awards), don't sweat it. However, getting an NSERC may help you get a research position more easily since you are funded. I doubt that getting an NSERC makes much of a difference for medical school admissions, to those that know how it is administered. Just like paying $80 to join Golden Key is not much of an accomplishment, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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