My Experience at LMU as an Amgen Scholar

    Hi everyone! 

    I am Zelal, a third-year psychology student at Middle East Technical University, in Turkey. I was one of the Amgen Scholars in 2022 summer at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. It was an intense and fruitful program with lots of outcomes, and it was definitely once in a lifetime experience. Thus, I wanted to share my experiences with other possible candidates who want to apply for this program. You are also welcome if you have questions about doing internships abroad, or being abroad alone for the first time. 

    First of all, what is Amgen Scholars Programme?

    "The Amgen Scholars Programme provides hundreds of selected undergraduate students with the opportunity to engage in a hands-on research experience at many of the world’s leading educational institutions [ETH Zürich, Institut Pasteur, Karolinska Institute, LMU Munich, the University of Cambridge]. The Programme seeks to increase learning and networking opportunities for students committed to pursuing science or engineering careers and to spark interest and broaden the perspective of students considering scientific careers. Ultimately, the Programme aims to increase the number of students pursuing advanced training and careers in the sciences." (Amgen Scholars Europe Program Website, FAQs)

   Every expense is covered and you get your stipend monthly while you gain research experience in one of the most prestigious universities. Additionally, every year, the Amgen Scholars Europe Symposium is organized at Cambridge University, where all the scholars from 5 host universities come together and present their project posters, and create a network with each other. Although I could not attend it because I could not get my visa on time, it seemed a really great experience for me even from the photos of my friends there. 

  Even though it is a highly competitive program (~7% acceptance rate), it should not discourage you, because I was not that hopeful about myself either.

    How was the Application and Selection Process?

    When I discovered this program, the application deadline was in 10 days. I wanted to give it a shot, and I started to look for referees. Then, I wrote motivation letters for the other 2 universities and filled out a different form for LMU. I couldn't apply for Cambridge because the acceptance letter from the lab professor was mandatory beforehand, and I didn't have that much time. My suggestion here would be to be on time for these kinds of programs. Thankfully, I was able to collect everything right on the deadline day. 

    The waiting part was so exciting. I didn't want to be thrilled about it since there was a possibility of not being accepted. Still, I could not help myself and started to dream about it. In March, I learned that I had been preselected for two labs at LMU. A couple of days after, I got my acceptance by Wachtler's Computational Neuroscience Lab. 

    Other universities have interviews before certainly accepting the candidates, but LMU doesn't have it. I was so insecure about my English, so I was relieved when I learned that I didn't have to experience any interviews.

    Paperworks

    Flight tickets, Schengen visa, details, and schedules about the program, all started to become clear over time. The paperwork is the most uncertain and anxious part of this experience, I would say. Especially if you are not an EU citizen.

    When I got my Schengen visa, I didn't have enough time to apply for a UK visa (for the Cambridge Symposium), so I decided to apply from Munich when I got there. Another suggestion, you should do all of the paperwork beforehand, so as not to be stressed about it. 

    As I mentioned before, I could not go to the symposium because I could not get my visa on time, although I waited 8 weeks for it. It wasn't only me, 4 other colleagues could not also go there because of the same reason. Nevertheless, we were represented by fluffy cute animals and attended the full symposium, which was a very nice and kind gesture from other scholars who thought about us.

    Landing in Munich & Insecurities about Speaking English 

    When I landed in Munich, I was clueless. I hadn't been abroad before, and my speaking practice in English was not enough. I felt so vulnerable and anxious. Anyway, I was not aware of one thing; my English was sufficient, and English was the second language for most people. I thought that everyone would be just perfect, but no one was, and could not be. So, if you feel anxious about your English, know that it will be better over time and you will learn from your mistakes over time. 

    Back to the story, I saw one of the scholars in the airport, I could recognize him because I had a look at the scholars' poster in which everyone has their names and photos. We went to the meeting point together. 

    Opening Retreat in Spitzingsee

    After we met in LMU's main building, we got on a bus to go to Spitzingsee, natural beauty 1.5 hours away from Munich. 

    The opening retreat was so cool in many ways. First of all, it created an opportunity to get to know each other. We played lots of ice-breaker games and hiked in green, with perfect views. Secondly, we had traditional foods for three days, and we had a good opportunity to know the Bavarian culture better. Moreover, we listened to great talks from valuable professors about the program and their studies, and we met with them.

   Unluckily, I and four more scholars were caught covid and we had to return to Munich back separately from the rest. Since we spent 5 days in quarantine, we could not go to our labs for the first week.  

   Workshops & Excursions

  This program was so fruitful in terms of workshops. There were scientific writing, networking, Python data analysis, poster design, and presentation skills workshops, which were so helpful for our projects, as well as our future works. 

  Additionally, we attended lots of extracurricular activities that we socialized and learned about the history of the city. We had a Munich city tour, a Neuschwanstein Castle tour, Nuremberg, and Deutsches Museum excursions. Here are some pictures from different activities.

                       

     Accommodation

    The accommodation was also covered by the program. For the first month, we stayed at Living Hotel Deutsches Museum. We stayed single in a room where we had our little kitchen, bathroom, study table, queen-sized bed, and kitchen stuff. It was so close to Marienplatz and to the subway station. Our rooms were cleaned every week and we had markets near.

    For the second month, we stayed in bungalows at Olympiapark. It was two stored and pretty small, with just a bed and table, and it was not that clean. They provided us some sheets and kitchen stuff but it was not sufficient in my opinion. I was a bit disappointed after that hotel, but of course, I was happy because the accommodation in Munich is so problematic in normal conditions. Olympiapark was further away from the center as well as Biocenter, where my lab was, but the park was so green and it had amazing hills where you can watch all the stars at night. 

    Socializing

    Socializing is one of the best parts of this program. In the opening retreat, you get to know others better and start to build friendships. You do not feel alone since others are also international students and they are passionate about similar topics, and after your lab work, you come together and spend great times in beer gardens. People also organize different trips to various cities and parks around Munich. Additionally, in my experience, everyone was so kind, warm, and funny. We had really great times together and collected lots of beautiful memories. Besides, our friendship does not end and we still communicate and try to arrange zoom meetings and even visits together.

    Lab Work

    Firstly, it is crucial to communicate with your professor/supervisor effectively before you get there. Probably you will not understand anything for the first couple of weeks (or like me and a few others, until the end of the program) if you are not familiar with the topic. Even if you are, you will realize that theoretical and practical knowledge differ.

    Lab work was so intense. For instance, for my lab, I was there every weekday for at least 7-8 hours + 2 hours of transportation. Honestly, it was pretty exhausting, but the things that I learned were so valuable for me in the end. 

  My project aimed to investigate how the effect of surrounding color on center color develops over time in humans. 

   Although I had perception courses before, I didn't know that much about psychophysics. Since our experiment was a psychophysics experiment, I had to learn lots of new terms, and also apply my theoretical knowledge to the practice. I did not code the experiment, it was already done by my supervisor, as well as some analysis codes.

    At first, we collected 3 participants for the experiment, and there were only 2 left. I thought that my project would be completed so easily and early. However, when we compare our data with previous experiments conducted with the same participants, we could not see consistency, which did not make any sense. Additionally, our data showed a strong masking effect, which influenced the results and made them incomprehensible, because the participants could not see stimuli properly or could not discriminate them. Then, we had to change our research design. Since this was my project, I had to do all the testing stages. I spent my hours and weeks looking at a very bright screen in a dark room. My supervisor also spent so much time for the sake of obtaining comparable data.  

   Finally, with our fifth design, we started to see the effect that we expected, without any problems. Honestly, I was exhausted and did not think that we could find a proper design after some point. Yet, we did find it and completed the data collection. It was not the only thing, of course, I had to participate in a couple of experiments in our lab, and we also tested some special conditions about our project to see if there were any unexpected results. Additionally, I had to prepare 10 minutes of project presentation and my project poster last week, and I had to code some analysis graphs in Python which was pretty challenging for me.

   I was able to obtain some meaningful results after the analysis part that I could put on my poster. Indeed, lots of colleagues had their results in the last week.

    (If you are interested in my research, you can visit my LinkedIn profile link from the end of this post and have a look at my poster, as well as the abstract of the project.)

    Feeling Insufficient 

     Although it feels smooth when you read above, my adventure of having my own project which I had to complete in 8 weeks was not that easy. To be honest, until the last week, I could not totally understand what we investigate, what the graphs are about, and what the benefit of those things are to me. Since I was so confused, I felt like I did not gain any knowledge or skills. Besides, I felt stupid so often, because I asked lots of questions and I repeated them on other days because I could not comprehend the answers. Thankfully, my supervisor was so helpful, patient, and kind, but I could not help myself to feel that way. You can see below how hard he tried to explain those concepts.

     I decided to share my feelings with my supervisor and he helped me to convince myself that I was capable and sufficient for this position. He also mentioned that, although I saw him as a brilliant and hard-working person, he feels the same way sometimes. I think this is because we try to discover something new, we try to think out of the box, which are not that easy processes. I made lots of mistakes in my internship, but he also did, and this was totally normal. Thus, if you feel insufficient and you have a great supervisor, feel free to contact them or try to see that you are dealing with really difficult problems, you try totally new things. In a nutshell, be gentle to yourself, because, in the end, even you will not believe how many things you have done!

    Skills Developed

    It was a huge opportunity for me to involve in an individual project. I learned how to conduct research, and how hard it is. I saw that in science nothing is smooth, you have some problems nearly every time. Yet, if you have a great supervisor who is also enthusiastic about the work, you have lots of things to learn and apply. I saw how theoretical information (i.e. visual perception) can be applied to participants by experimenting and becoming practical. 

    Furthermore, I learned how psychophysics experiments work, how to analyze and interpret the data, how to prepare a scientific poster and presentation, and many research steps. I also could live in a completely different country on my own, and make good friends, which eased my concerns about being a graduate student in another country.

          

                     

    Special Thanks

    I would like to thank Amgen Foundation for their generous organization, as well as Katrin Birner and Raluca Goron for being the best directors. Additionally, many thanks to Professor Thomas Wachtler for accepting me into his lab and being supportive and interested all the time, and to my supervisor Felix Schrader for being so involved in every process and sharing his valuable ideas and knowledge with me, despite he had lots of other responsibilities. 

    I also would like to thank all the other LMU Scholars for making my summer incredible.
I hope this blog helps you with your various concerns and curiosity about AMGEN Program and/or doing an internship abroad. 

You can always contact me and ask further questions. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zelal-eltas

Mail: zelal210701@gmail.com