Orims

Hello everyone. I've been lurking for quite a long time now and finally decided to sprout from the shadows. I am applying to Biology (Biochem, Mol. Bio. , Cell Bio. , etc...) programs this fall of 2013 and I was wondering how summer research programs in biology and PhD programs tend to compare when it comes to their acceptance rates. I understand that these two take into consideration different things, however, I was also told by some people that summer program applications tend to be some sort of "mini grad school" application and that many times faculty members/recruiters even start looking at potential students during the summer programs. I also heard that many summer programs tend to be extremely competitive to get into (when it comes to %'s), some even more than PhD programs. Is this true? Also, if it isn't too much to ask, would you guys consider that having a summer research program under your belt help you when it comes to grad school applications themselves? Thanks!

Hello rohangoel. I am and international student attending a medium sized (~25k students) state school and I have a question about the atmosphere for international students at Stanford, or any other "big" university out there (others can also answer this, please). Here at my university we have a lot of activities for international students, such as "Cultural Mentors" that help us on our first year, trips to the mountains and other places to discover what our state has to offer us, a weekly themed gathering for international students and everyone, and much more. All these activities have made me love my university and the people here and give me a feeling of homeliness. My question is if Stanford or any other "big" university out there have similar activities and programs for international students. Thank you. PS: I will be applying to grad school in one year.