<p>hey can anyone who got into the CCIS program at Stanford tell me how they got in?
How hard is it to get in?</p>
<p>I'm a CCISer right now, so hopefully I'll be able to answer your questions at least somewhat well. :] If I don't though, feel free to ask me more or PM me.</p>
<p>There are currently 21 people in the program, though 23 were accepted this year. There were five alternates, but none of them were accepte. This is all coming from an applicant pool of around 250 students, so that's about a 9% acceptance rate. I'm led to believe that admissions into the program is slightly numbers-oriented since they mentioned that the average SAT score was over 2300. Still, P.J. Utz, who's in charge of the program, mentioned that they rejected some valedictorians and 2400-scorers.</p>
<p>The program is mainly targeted at people in the Bay Area, though people from elsewhere can get in. We have one person from Colorado this year, and there are a few from outside the Bay Area. The only bad part about the program is that housing isn't provided (it's not a residential program), but there is a $1500 stipend, so you could always use that to get an apartment. I know of four students who did that, two of which room together to defray the costs a bit. They're trying to expand the program in terms of locations (they're taping all our lectures and broadcasting them in various places in North America and Europe to institutions who have started their own versions of CCIS).</p>
<p>They've mentioned that they're keeping the number of acceptees into the program at around 21 people, so I would imagine that it's not going to get significantly easier or harder to get in. The accepted group of CCISers are amazing though. About half of them are seniors, and out of the seniors that we have right now, 3 are going to Harvard, 4 to Stanford, 1 to Berkeley, and 1 to Scripps. They're undoubtably some of the most amazing people that I've ever met.</p>
<p>As for how I "got in", lol, I can personally say that I spent a lot of time on my CCIS app. The only app that I spent more time on was my TASP app, a program to which I was accepted but declined in favor of CCIS. I rewrote my CCIS essay about 7 times, and spent an hour everyday for a week with my English teacher revamping my essay, though I believe the ones I wrote independently for TASP were better. Still, I was pretty happy with my CCIS essay. I don't know why I got in per se; I had good numbers in terms of SAT scores and GPA (you can find all my stats somewhere on CC). My ec's were okay; they've improved a lot since, so the stats that you'll find aren't very representative of the stats I had then. I did have a lot of ec's though, but I ranked them in order of importance and actually added lines to the app (though I still ended up leaving out some minor ec's). To do this, I met with my counselor, whom I just adore. My school is unranked, so I think a lot of what got me in also came from my AP Chem teacher, who wrote that I was essentially the best student in the school, including some Stanford acceptees. Also, it may have helped that I was from outside the typical area of applicants (the South Bay), though I know at least one other person applied from my school. They're very serious about the one-person-accepted-from-each-school, so good luck if you're applying from any schools in Cupertino/San Jose/Palo Alto! :]</p>
<p>I just realized how ridiculously long that post was, but it's just a reflection on how much I really really like the program. ;D</p>
<p>Oh, and I recommend that you come during the poster session and speak to other CCISers and P.J. Utz if you're serious about the program. I wish I had done so before applying. If you PM me, I can give you the date, time, location, etc.</p>
<p>You can also visit the website for more info: <a href="http://ccis.stanford.edu/intern_program.html%5B/url%5D">http://ccis.stanford.edu/intern_program.html</a></p>
<p>i want to bumper car this thread. :o</p>
<p>any more advice for someone who will die to go to this thing? :)</p>
<p>aww, anyone? :/</p>
<p>To me, the CCIS application seems much more straightforward; they ask you to keep it within one double-spaced page. Also, it seems pretty vague, because you just have to explain how attending the program would "help your long-term educational objectives." I'm not really sure what to say, because I'm mostly undecided on what major I want to be and what college I want to go to. In your experience, did CCIS seem to favor students whose extracurriculars showed a strong interest in science? I kind of need a gauge to see how exactly they evaluate applications, because numbers don't seem to be enough here.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight :)</p>
<p>I don't think that CCIS app process is number driven as from My D school not the top students have made it to the program every summer.
If you have done some research and shows a strong interest in science, you will have good chances.
Program is very competitive and % acceptance is low teens and on top they had never select more than 2 from any school.
So if you are good and not from south bay power house schools then you have a better shot at getting in.</p>
<p>does anyone have any idea how to tackle the essay? FDSHGFHGDHFA i really, REALLY want to go to this program this summer. i wrote my essay, but some poeple told me it should address a particular institue and how it will benefit you? </p>
<p>any ideas? 'cause i wrote about my love for science and that ALL of the institues interest me, because they in fact do. but when i told that to one of my friends he was like "that just makes it seems as if you have no interests."</p>
<p>SIGH CONFUSIONNNN :(</p>
<p>anybody? :) deadline is really soooooooooooooooon :/</p>
<p>If you have good scores and a great essay, you stand a good shot. Work a lot on the essay.</p>
<p>DUDE I TOTALLY RUSHED IT IN FOR MY SCHOOL'S OFFICE TODAY.</p>
<p>Ugh it was such a disaster :/</p>
<p>But I think January's SAT scores will help give it a shot.</p>