congrats @StillThinking42
I was told that they are looking for mentors for me
@Dfalcon123 The RISE mentors don’t have to be professors at BU; my kid didn’t have a BU mentor. You can be in RISE but have a mentor at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BC, etc.
I would suggest that you look at the websites for the departments that you are interested in at any of these universities and contact professors working in an area that you like. Familiarize yourself with the professor’s research so that you can craft an email that shows that you are knowledgable and not just sending out a generic email blast.
There is no guarantee that this approach will work, but it did for my kid, and now s/he is a cross admit at MIT & Caltech. Again, I emphasize the you may be rejected for RISE even if you are eminently qualified academically, but the RISE organizers are unable to find a suitable mentor.
@whatisyourquest Once you contact the professors and potentially receive a positive response from them, how would you let the RISE committee know??
@whatisyourquest And if you were to find mentors that aren’t from BU, and from other neighboring universities like you said, what would transit to and from the different campuses be like for the duration of the program??
^ If you have independently found a mentor, call the RISE organizers and let them know. They will take care of the paperwork from there. RISE wants to place applicants, so you are helping them out by finding a suitable mentor on your own.
Boston has good mass transit. RISE expects that, if you have a mentor off of the BU campus, you let them know about your whereabouts at all times (text messages, etc.) Of course, you have to sign off on liability issues, but it turned out that, at least for my kid, it really wasn’t a big deal at all to do research within RISE, but off of the BU campus.
ohh, awesome. Thanks so much for your help!! 
@whatisyourquest
got rejected today looooool, but waitlisted at Practicum and accepted at High School Honors
congratulations to all who got in!
Thank you for the information that you are offering. My son has not been accepted or rejected yet. Yesterday he received an email basically describing they would like to keep him as a candidate yet are still looking for a mentor. They will update in a while. I see the information you are posting about finding your own mentor. This seems so overwhelming to me. Could you help me understand how to get started? Did you begin by looking online at the professors’ descriptions to try to find a good match? Then how did you approach the professor? Seems like they wouldn’t want to be bothered by an independent person contacting him looking for a mentor? At this point my son’s first choice college is MIT. So should I look at that school? Would having a professor at MIT help his chances for acceptance? If you have time, would appreciate any help you may offer. Thank you.@whatisyourquest
@mkerdk It helps to have a prior connection. If you know a friend, neighbor, relative, etc. that is a professor in the Boston/Cambridge area, then I’d contact that person asap. My kid didn’t have any of those kinds of connections but had met a professor during a campus visit.
When RISE had difficulty finding a mentor, my kid reached out to the professor, and the professor said yes. RISE gladly accepted the mentor, and transit wasn’t a problem. There was double the paperwork (liability waivers at both BU and the other university) but everything worked out better than expected.
Finding a mentor on your own for summer programs can be difficult, if you don’t have a prior relationship. It’s akin to cold calling. Nevertheless, this is how many kids find professors to conduct research outside of formal programs. I would suggest reaching out via email to as many professors as possible - improve your odds. Also, it’s better if your son does this on his own and if the email shows that your son has done homework and knows what the professor is currently working on.
As I mentioned earlier, RISE is unusual because the other summer research programs that I am familiar with know, in advance, how many mentors that they’ll have and only admit a matching number of kids. One for one. It’s a shame that a kid can be highly qualified, but RISE can’t find a mentor, such that the kid is effectively rejected.
My kid is a cross admit for MIT and Caltech. S/he was at MIT last week for Campus Preview Weekend and ran into (something like) seven colleagues from RISE. MIT cites RISE as a worthy summer program but, of course, there are never any guarantees for holistic admission at highly-selective universities:
http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer
I know that it’s a tough path, and may not prove successful – but then again it just might. Anyway, good luck to your son!
How likely is it to get accepted off the waiting list for practicum?
so I did get accepted into Practicum
@Cornbread1999 how long did it take for you to get accepted off the waiting list?
2 days on the waitlist
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but for the accepted students, is it mandatory to wear full sleeved shirts in the labs? On the website, it says that the program is generally casual with the exception of the dance and presentation. But in the program guidelines packet, it said that short sleeves were not allowed in labs. I assumed that the program would provide aprons or coats to protect our clothes. Lol, I’m asking because I don’t want to have to buy new shirts for no reason.
@Cornbread1999 would you say that the Practicum is less selective/easier to get into then? I’m looking into mainly chemistry, but molecular biology seems interesting too!