<p>Anyone here got into RSI? How was it? Was it so hard to get in? What is the admittance rate? What EC's did you have?</p>
<p>OK-rsi is insane insane insane to get into. They rejected 1/2 of all applicants with 240 PSATs, and they're overall admit rate was something like 50/2500= like a 2% admit rate. i didn't get in, but i know a kid who did, and he, like myself had a 240, and we also did the same summer research program, so i guess there is an element of randomness. But i think the main reason why i didn't get in was becasue i did my whole app the day of and overnighted it-was just too busy with other things and didn't realize the prestige until much later. Good learning lesson for college apps-so i'm glad i made it. And also, hte applicant pool to something like RSI is prbly even more competitive than say to a top college, because you have to have an interest in science and math and have some research background to really know about it and write a reasonable application. there's even a thread for rsi rejects who got into MIT, and there are numerous people in it. rsi=every college you want, almost no matter what. no rsi=no big deal. it's impossible for colleges to expect it or look unfavorably on not having it.</p>
<p>RSI's overall admit rate is not 2% :)</p>
<p>IIRC, 75 students or so are admitted, and not all of them go (surprisingly). It's probably between 5-10%, more on the 5% side.</p>
<p>But it's the most intense summer science program in the country, very hard to get into (still, there's no reason <em>not</em> to apply), and it's very much respected by top science programs. There are probably a bunch of RSI kids here at caltech, although I only know a few. There should be a gigantic RSI questions thread each year in the High School Life thread, becoming at least a hundred pages long by March and started by some former rickoid...at least, that seems to be a tradition. :shrug: Those guys can probably answer your questions better, unless one of the Techers who frequent this board was also RSI...</p>
<p>it's around 75, but this year it was on the lower side. i actually emailed the rsi admissions officer, who was very happy to answer my questions, because she had horror stories about people storming into her office screaming about why they were rejected and i was merely searching for some constructive criticism. from what i heard from her, the rate was close to 2%. additionally, it's almost impossible even if the rate is 5%, because they are committed to geographic balance, and will often try to admit people from every state-i believe only one state wasn't represented this year. they took only 2 from all of NJ, so i guess if you are good at research and are not from nj or ca, then maybe you have a better chance. and of course, i wasn't trying to deter you from applying, just make sure you have a summer back up. mine was nj gov school in science.</p>
<p>RSI takes 50 US applicants and up to 25 international applicants. The exact number seems to depend on how much funding they receive. We are not aware of any movement off the alternate list (consisting of 15 kids) this year. We were told by RSI senior staff that generally they will take one or two kids off the list, and they tend to replace kids who made Int'l Olympiad teams and whose competitions will conflict with RSI. While there are not geographic quotas per state, they do they to keep things regionally balanced, and the alternates they take will maintain that diversity. The alternate list is NOT ranked. The numbers we are aware of indicate that the applicant pool is around 1200 kids for the 50 US spots.</p>
<p>Just our experience...</p>
<p>And if you're a Chinese citizen, you can't apply...</p>
<p>
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And if you're a Chinese citizen, you can't apply...
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</p>
<p>Oh? Whoops :)</p>
<p>(US permanent residents <em>can</em> apply)</p>
<p>lol if i have no research experience am i basically out of the running?</p>
<p>@zoogies, did you get in? I emailed them and asked. It doesn't matter if you're a permanent resident or not, you can't apply if you're a Chinese citizen. Or maybe they changed their rules just recently?</p>
<p>I didn't get in. But I ... applied. Hm, that's interesting.</p>
<p>PKswmr76-sorry but yea. most kids who get rejected have it as well-but I suggest nj gov school in science-i just got here and i can already tell it's going to be awesome (you're from nj right?) that was my backup. but make sure u pwn psats because that will help for both programs.</p>
<p>niceIlike-
You're perfect PSAT stat has me very excited...like I just ordered the study book off Amazon.
What is your source for that stat?</p>
<p>no source-psat is just easier than sat-i took the practice test in the booklet u can get from your guidance counselor the night before, that's about it. i should have probably used a source for SAT though b/c it's harder, but o well, i have better things to do than to prepare for what should be an iq test-i did well enough though and i'm glad i didn't waste time. it's really luck, like if u miss more than one math on psat/sat ur score plunges. pretty ridiculous. you could study for hours and hours and if u make one dumb mistake, one little brain freeze and its a waste. so just take a couple of practice tests would be my advice.</p>
<p>Nice-</p>
<p>I think I was unclear in my question; I meant to ask where you heard that half of people w/ perfect PSAT's get accepted into RSI?</p>
<p>That probably just means about 100 who applied had perfect PSATs...</p>
<p>@ niceilike</p>
<p>lol nj gov school was your BACKUP? lol wow...i guess i'm going to have to keep trying to find a place to do research. where did you do research?</p>
<p>@PKswmr76
I did this thing called the waksman student scholars program at rutgers- the summer after frosh year, and also did an internship at the Maize genome project at Rutgers that summer. Summer after soph year i wanted to try something different so i worked at a tennis camp, and this year i'm doing my own project with my own lab technician. so if u don't get prof, i would suggest that if one of your parents is a scientist you see if you can either work with one of their coworkers, or if you could just go off independently with one of their research ideas-it's the research that counts-basically everyone at rsi is given the topic. for a high school kid, unless you talk to someone earlier in the year, it's tough to get summer research with a professor outside of some program. and gov school's not that tough to get into imo, but it's only the first day and it's frickin awesome. </p>
<p>@DmRenrel
i just emailed the person who directs it-maite ballestro sort of to find out what they were looking for-because at the time i had no idea it was really about how prestigious the program was so my rejection came as a shock-but after she gave me that stat i was more than ok with it-u have to basically be a pro at everything there is to do to get in-and i'm not a pro at everything so it's cool</p>
<p>Doesn't YESS conduct research? <em>correct me if im wrong</em></p>