Applying to OSRI: From Application to Presentation

By Olivia Hood ‘27

Oberlin Summer Research Institute (OSRI) is an exciting, fulfilling way to begin or continue one’s research journey. Although the application process and competitive nature of the program may be daunting, this article breaks down the application process into a few simple steps and chronicles my application to OSRI and experiences throughout the program. 

Step 0: Selecting a Mentor and Letters of Recommendation

After the OSRI application opens, usually in November, you should begin thinking about your research interests and finding a mentor who can support and guide you in your research.Finding a mentor can be a tricky, often tedious process. Your mentor should be someone who you know from an academic or professional background. Mentors can be particularly helpful if they know you as well as you know them. For me, I knew I wanted to do a media studies project focused on Latin America. Intersectional projects like this propose a particular problem when applying for OSRI, being that you will usually only find one or two professors who overlap with your research niche. However, I found out that my professor for Introduction to Cinema had a research background in Latin American cinema.

Good ways to get your professor to notice you is to participate in class frequently, attend events for your major like Professor Beers, panels, or talks, and to go to their  office hours. Taking a little bit of time out of your week to demonstrate your interest in the field and your professor’s class will set you apart from your peers and communicate independent qualities that make you an ideal candidate for research. Ideally, this should be something you do in your Fall semester at the latest so you and your mentor have a few months to plan your project before the deadline.

This is also the ideal time to ask letters of recommendation from professors and professional references. Especially if this is your first semester at Oberlin, recommendation writers need ample time to write you letters of recommendation. Like finding a mentor, it's recommended that you select someone who knows you well enough to vouch for your potential to succeed in an independent research project. 

Step 1: Project Planning and Application

OSRI is eight weeks, meaning you should have a project that fits within this amount of time. Although OSRI fellows are able and often encouraged to extend their research into the academic year, it is still imperative that your project has something you can deliver at the end of OSRI. Although your deliverable is something you decide once you’ve started your project at the beginning of the summer, having an idea of how you want to conclude your project will make planning your project easier. Discussing the scope of your project with your mentor, other professors in your department, and Research Ambassadors will help you develop a project fit for OSRI.

Being that OSRI is open to all majors and disciplines, the type of project varies wildly. Some students take on lab, experiment based research, while others are using the library and archives as their main sources. Projects led by a professor will have completely different needs and time investment than an individual student project. Past OSRI projects have included topics like the colonial legacies in the Pacific Islands, the nuances of drinking water quality, video games in museums, and much, much more. Once again, open communication with those in your department, your potential mentor, or peers in your lab will help you understand what those needs will be. As your project takes form, putting your ideas to paper will be easier to explain in the application.

OSRI’s application also gives prospective researchers a look into how most internships and fellowships will format their application. Its core components are letters of recommendation, a research plan a mentoring plan, and personal statement. These areas are where you should be putting the most effort and time. 

My application process was somewhat nontraditional. When I was applying to OSRI, I applied to the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship being that the deadline was earlier and it had a Humanities focus. I highly recommend eligible humanities scholars to apply to MMUF before OSRI, especially if you aim to expand your research beyond the eight-week timeframe of OSRI. At the point that you submit your application to MMUF, you can submit an eight week proposal for OSRI consideration if you are not accepted to MMUF. Although this  shortened the research plans I originally had in mind, it also taught me a valuable lesson in applying to OSRI as well as any sort of other research program: concision and the ability to pivot. 

Step 2: Summer in Oberlin

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted into OSRI! What now? Applicants hear back around on March 27th, 2026 and applicants must accept or decline the offer by March 30th, 2026. After receiving this acceptance, I met with my mentor to discuss scope and potential directions for my project to scaffold what I would eventually work on during the summer.

In the same way the diversity of OSRI projects means differing needs for each project, the summer experience in OSRI will be different for each fellow. My mentor had a somewhat hands-off approach and our weekly meetings primarily focused on me reporting what I read or watched for my project as well as directions to go in for the next week. The first four to five weeks of OSRI are research heavy and most days were filled with long hours in the library or in Slow Train gathering information on my topic. As the date of the Oberlin Summer Research Institute Symposium approached, I shifted gears, converting the mountain of readings, films, and other items found throughout my journey into a presentation for a wider audience. 

It’s important to remember that your mentors are there to guide you. Asking for help or advice when feeling overwhelmed or burnt out during your research journey is the best way to move forward when stuck. OSRI’s structure with community excursions, weekly workshops, lightning talks, peer mentor groups, and other events makes it so you frequently have opportunities to check in with others and yourself.

Conclusion

Throughout my application process and OSRI’s program, one thing has remained the same: being concise. It’s almost always better to follow a simple, small idea than to have an ambitious, comprehensive goal. Research is a journey with winding, branching paths and you won’t have the map to that journey when you begin. Although I’ve presented clear steps on applying and getting the most out of OSRI, one must always understand research and the applications for research as unpredictable, changing, and fluid. If you have questions or want guidance with your application, make an appointment with a Research Ambassador on WC Online!