Did not find a thread on this topic so wanted to get your views.
Does doing a summer program such as RSI or WTP when you are a rising senior increase your chances of getting into MIT? Does it carry any weight? How much of an impact (if any) will it have?
It is an academic EC, that is all. If the summer program is open enrolment it will not impress the adcoms.
Thanks Empower. How about selective summer programs such as RSI, WTP and YSPA (Yale)? I am really wondering how far such program will really move the needle in my favor?
“Remember that participation in summer programs will not give your application any advantage, so you should participate because of your enthusiasm for the program’s offerings and not for any perceived admissions boost.”
which comes from:
http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer
However, the admit rate for RSI is actually LOWER than that for freshman applicants to MIT so, yeah, I imagine that participating in RSI would be impressive to AOs. RSI participants often enter their research for the Siemens competition and are selected as semifinalists or finalists, which is also quite impressive.
Generally speaking, the less money that the program costs, the lower the admit rate, and the more highly regarded the program. RSI and TASP, which are free, are tops IMHO. SSP is also very impressive.
Thanks ‘whatisyourquest’. I kind of assumed that but wanted to get confirmation.
In fl, there is a selective Young Scholars Program, held at Fl State. I think it was maybe 30 students. Other than transportation, it is free. Like the former poster said, this kind of program helps
If you are doing this, or for that matter, anything solely to “move the needle”, it is unlikely to work. If you are doing something (maybe this, maybe something else) because you want to, it might.
@Jerseyshor:
Would your S/D be seeking such a summer program only to increase chances of being accepted to MIT?
What did he/she do last summer?
Don’t do anything solely to get into college - do it because you want to do it, and it may have the side effect of getting you into a good college. But if you do something just to put it on your college app, it will show through.
I did WTP, and I’m sure the recommendation letter they provide at the end of the month helped my case at least a little. However, only do these programs if you’re legitimately interested in them-- if you get in and complete the program just to “move the needle” in your favor when college apps roll around, it’s going to be really evident to the instructors. Plus, you won’t get anything out of it, which is just no fun 
For a very small sample size, of two, both boys I know from Colorado who got into RSI, got into MIT and attended MIT. .
RSI will allow a student to live on the MIT campus in the dorms,and work on research projects with MIT faculty. There is a lot of emphasis on learning the scientific method and presenting your results. In order to get into RSI a student must have done research at another university program or say the Hampshire Math program or other competitive academic program and also must have a minimumPSAT or SAT test score, stellar recommendations about the students potential, and a true interest in research, which I think most 16 year old students just do not have yet! Its hard to get into RSI but certainly a very good goal for a very mature student who spends his or her time thinking about and doing research work. Most kids are doing other things, so I would not dwell on RSI as the best or only way into MIT (its not ) but it certainly seems to be a way into MIT, from what I see in Colorado. Also RSI is FREE if you can get in! Nice.
MIT has some very competitive programs (like the one described above) that are offered free to those fortunate enough to have a winning application. There are other similar free very competitive programs that are awarded to very few outstanding students. Those programs are dissimilar to the pre-college programs offered at most colleges that are geared for average high school students (despite advertisements saying they are elite and despite sometimes being offered on elite prep school or college campuses), cost the student (or family) quite a lot, and that often promote themselves as helping students to develop competitive applications for college. In contrast to the one like RSI, there are a slew of colleges that offer high school students the experience of living on a college campus and taking college classes (and some offer special classes geared towards high school students, and that prep for the SATs, rather than true college classes with college students). These programs do not help students get admitted to colleges.
Some blog writers actually discourage students from attending them, claiming spending summers at those programs could actually hurt an applicant. They claim admissions counselors are not impressed by the program and they are a sure sign that the family has money and uses money to buy experiences (and tutoring) to look good on college applications. One of my kids was actually apologetic about not attending one of those programs do to cost. He, instead, enrolled in a college class at a local university in the summer while doing research with a faculty member, all of which he arranged himself. He did not realize that his experience would be viewed as more valuable than these programs that are very expensive and that have everything pre-arranged for the student who only has to pay for it. The experience of seeking out a class and lab experience on his own paved the way for him to feel competent to take risks and to go for what he wants. He does not need a connection to get an internship or a job. And, in the end he knows that whatever job he secures is do to his own efforts and his own qualifications.
Most people have no idea what MIT RSI and WTP are, so unless they know what they are, I’d take their statements with a grain of salt. Both these programs are so competitive and you learn a huge amount over the summer that schools treat them with a lot more respect in the college app process than a typical summer school. My child attended WTP a few years ago, and it was reported by WTP itself that more than half the women from the program got into MIT and the ones who didn’t go there went to Stanford, Ivies or other top engineering programs. For these two programs, and possibly MITES, there is a clear connection between attending and getting into MIT. Whether it’s correlation or causation, who knows, but if one is good enough to get into WTP or RSI, I would recommend grabbing at the opportunity.
I truly believe that attending highly competitive summer program contributed to my child’s success during this admission season. She did not even apply to RSI knowing how competitive it was, but attended one tier down program. She did not get into WTP, but got into MIT anyway. Everyone from her summer program got into at least one of the top ten schools and many have multiple acceptances.
I disagree with @lostaccount In Colorado, students that go to Stanford, Cornell or Carnegie Mellon summer school, and get very good grades, often get into multiple great colleges! Note, students who do summer school are working hard, learning to study with others, completing difficult coding or problems sets and having an amazing summer!
Carnegie Mellon does look carefully at their summer school student’s records as part of the application review. Its true that MIT does not seem to value getting an outstanding grade at a hard college level course like data structures at Carnegie Mellon, but in fact its VERY VALUABLE for Colorado students to meet their competition from the east coast, and get challenged!
The introductory college courses at U of Colorado are way easier typically, than the courses offered at Cornell, Stanford or CMU summer school,where the high school student is mixed in with VERY accomplished high school students and college students at the respective college, and expected to step it up to a much more rapid pace of learning and much harder material, in these six week programs. They are worth every penny for Colorado students, as 1. they figure out IF they can compete, and should they even bother to apply to a top ten college? 2. meet a professor for the first time, get taught more complex material and the credits are transferable to say Georgia Tech. 3. they actually can now get into UIUC, a U of California campus, or Georgia Tech as an OOS applicant, because they have college credits on their application with good grades AND IT MATTERS to Flagship state schools, which are some of the best if one cannot get into MIT!
College credit means a lot for many schools like UIUC and Georgia Tech. MIT, no they don’t care so much but perhaps they are missing something important ? Students need a challenge and this is one way to get challenged.
Most 16 year olds can make little to NO contributions to “research”. Its a lot of BS when high school kids get to do “research” at a college. Its usually very mundane work, except for very unusual circumstances here at U of Colorado.
Note I am an MIT EC, and interview students at Fairview HS some years , where those research projects at U of Colorado are available to every top science student. Only a very exceptional student can put in enough hours over at U of Colorado, that it really helps them very much. Most are not able to dig in that much, not getting much help at U of Colorado, or really in way over their heads, because they are high school students, and they don’t have enough math or scientific background to understand whats going on the lab, but they certainly put in good effort!
Often taking college level classes would be better for that student and prepare them better for freshman year, the shock of the big step up in difficulty from IB to any freshman engineering program. But there is something to be said for “getting excited about science” by hanging in a lab.
Thanks everyone for your replies. Really good viewpoints. My D decided against going to a summer program as she looked at them and did not have an inclination to do them just to try and move the needle. She is a straight A student thru all her HS yrs, has done almost every possible AP (8) and honors (5) class she could get into, 2350 on SAT and 5 in all her AP exams. I am hoping this will qualify her for one of the top 10.
Disclaimer: I’m MIT2020 and I’ve never done any summer programs at any Ivies (or MIT) (though I am international)
However, I see many benefits in attending a program you are interested in in an university you are interested in.
First of all, you get to experience the campus and the culture, familiarizing yourself with it and helping you decide whether or not you’d enjoy it there. For example, if you’ve always lived in a city or a small town, the transition from one to another can be really drastic and possibly unbearable for you. I personally know people who didn’t enjoy the culture and atmosphere of their university and became depressed and started to fail academically. However, after they switched to another university, they excelled and were very happy.
Second, having experienced life there, you’d be more able to convey your love for it (cough Why -this university-? questions. cough). Saying “I love the energy and the enthusiasm of everyone there; it really motivates me to do my best work and inspires breakthroughs for me” is a whole lot more powerful than “I heard its a super energetic and innovative place so I think it’ll fit me and I’ll like it there”.
Third, meeting with the profs and getting reference letters from them can’t hurt. They’ll probably put more stock in what their own professors say, especially if he/she is important/popular in the school. Plus, they can probably visit the prof and talk to them about you if they’re really on the fence. However, it’s not like I’m on the admissions committee so all of this third point is conjecture, but the main point is that it might help and it can’t hurt.
BUT: DON’T ATTEND A PROGRAM YOU AREN’T INTERESTED IN, even if you are interested in the university, because you’ll be miserable there, so you won’t do well, you’ll get a bad impression of the university, and the profs will get a bad impression of you, and all around you’d just be shooting yourself in your foot.
There are lots of other things you can do, during which you’d enjoy, learn, and beef up your application.
Going hand in hand with my warning there, my best advice is to never do things just for your app, because honestly it would make you miserable and there are more enjoyable (and probably productive, given that you’d actually be wanting to do it) things you could be doing. Though I’ve sometimes considered how something something would look on my app, it has only every pushed me to do things I wanted to do anyways but was being lazy about doing. I’ve never done anything I didn’t want to do just for an app (except write those bloody essays essays are evil), and I got in just fine.
Good luck! Have fun!
I agree with @AthenasMIght. Summer programs are the ticket for many students to distinguish themselves.
One added note, though for MIT RSI or any summer program, professors are not always willing to write recommendations for high school students. At Carnegie Mellon’s summer program, one CS professor, really a very good teacher and mentor, was not willing to write recommendations for the best students in his class last summer, as a policy. (After six weeks, did he really know any individual student well enough,may be the reasoning on his part, I do not know. And, did he want to write 30 recommendations every summer? probably not ).
Still students can write about their campus experiences, and have genuine voice in that essay.
Admissions officers are examining what the student submits and do not have time to talk to individual professors about individual students They are reading hundreds to thousands of applications , in depth and multiple reads, by more than one admissions officer, for MIT and the Ivys.
Even athletic coaches who recruit an MIT student to MIT may not have as much influence with admissions officers as athletes believe.
MIT Admissions decisions reside with admissions, not MIT coaches or MIT professors. Certainly written recommendations are taken into consideration. The strength of any recommendation depends on how well a coach or professor knows you. Thus high school teachers and mentors, remain the best people to ask, ones who know you very well.
With that, another reason to do a summer program is because MIT and all elite schools expect students to do interesting things over the summer. And write about them. Its essay material, whatever a student experiences over summers.
Writing about taking a family vacation is not going to distinguish an applicant to MIT. . Writing about designing code over the summer, or a significant independent travel experience, or a job and how it affected a student, or an academic summer program that inspires the student to a new passion, or math club or a music performance well done (at Carnegie Hall preferably!!! ) , might be what gets today’s students into MIT.
It is harder to get into RSI than MIT. Most RSI graduates do end up in top schools.
On the other hand, RSI tends to accept students with major accomplishments. So the fact that someone went to RSI did not get them into schools but the fact the they had the accomplishments to get in also added to the college app.
I would expect that correlation does not imply causation, but that there is significant correlation because both MIT and programs like RSI are looking for similar things.