Hi Fatih :) First of all, that's a great page, thank you for making it. I am a 3rd year METU MB&G student, and am starting to think about applications for summer internship. I would like to come to US, but it is so expensive to come and stay here :( I researched Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship online, but almost all of them are for US citizens or perm. residents (including the CalTech SURF program). Not being a US citizen, is there any way of getting financial support for the summer internship? Or maybe some labs can help cover at least travel expenses for students? How can I find out this information? Thank you in advance,
Answer:
Thank you for your email. They may say the program for US citizens or perm. residents, but this is not true. I was not US citizen or residant, but I sent email to investigator about for a summer researh in their lab. One of them accepted from Caltech, and I did my research in SURF program and my PI did not pay anything from her grant. Dont bother if they say they dont accept foreing students in their web site, dont give up, send email to PIs as much as possible. Me and one of my friend in MB&G were doing research and there were at least 30-40 people from around world like us in Caltech SURF program.
Some programs have summer programs and they are supporting students from these programs rather than grants of PIs. However, it is always possible to get support from grant of a PI. As I know most of the grants for researh allows to hire a undergrad student for a short term study.
They will give you enough money for your study, this will probaly be covering travel expenses. For example, Caltech SURF program paid 5000 dolars for 10 week-long work. This money is certainly enough for 3 months, and to compensate travel expenses. Some other programs may pay less, lets say 4000$, this is still enough for 3 months of work.
I would suggest to try sending more\ and more email to professors in different areas and universities to increase your chance and be quick before they accept other students.
Good luck,
have a nice day,
P.S: A few universities are not welcome to undergrads to be sponsor for visa application like UT sourhwestern, thus it may increase time of application and getting visa process.