1. Bethesda, MD

2. NCI National Cancer Institute NCCAM National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine NCMHD National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparaties NCRR National Center for Research Resources NEI National Eye Institute NHLBI National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute NHGRI National Human Genome Research Institute NIA National Institute on Aging NIAAA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAID National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases NIAMS National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases NIBIB National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering NICHD National Institute of Child Health and Human Development NIDCD National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders NIDCR National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research NIDDK National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases NIDA National Institute on Drug Abuse NIEHS National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences NIGMS National Institute of General Medical Sciences NIMH National Institute of Mental Health NINDS National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke NINR National Institute of Nursing Research NLM National Library of Medicine

3. Independent Research Project designed with your Post Doc supervisor Weekly meetings with your Principal Investigator (PI) Writing an abstract/ award submission on an institute- to-institute basis End of session all-NIH Summer Poster Symposium Institute specific panels on where NIH summer students have gone from here (so many PhD/MDs and loan reimbursement, etc) Workshops for medical school (application process, free mcat prep), free GRE prep, how to get into to PhD programs, how to use stata/matlab/etc Free Stuff! Lab activities sponsored by PIs

5. Weekly timesheets, 40 hours a week, $14/hour, or based on experience No set time hours/ very flexible (I also took 4 community college courses online simultaneously) Make money doing experiments at other NIH labs in your spare time/lunch hour NIH pays for your transportation (free metro $!) and helps you find housing nearby

6. Get published- or have your work presented- mine was presented at Society for Neuroscience 2009 in Chicago The DC area is fantastic Great source of letters of rec for later! Network with other students, find lab positions, etc.

7. http://www.training.nih.gov/student/sip/ Fill out online application 2 letters of rec: submitted via email Blitz labs that you are interested in working for ASAP Deadline is March 1, but labs fill much more quickly than that.