How are students paired up with particular projects?
The student-project pairing process is in some ways similar to the NRMP residency match. Students are given their highest choice of projects as long as the project has not “filled”. However, unlike the residency match that ranks students because there are multiple positions, only one student can be assigned to a project. Therefore, a lottery system is used because there are not enough funds to support all students. Projects are assigned in a two-step process: Priority 1 projects will be assigned first followed by the other projects. The procedure is as follows: * A random lottery is conducted of all the registered and eligible students who submitted their project selection list by the deadline. Students are given a number from 1-x. * First, the Priority 1 projects (those funded by NIH-supported summer research grants) are checked to see if a student is designated. If so, and if that student picked it #1 on their selection list, then that pairing is made. (If more than one “designated”
