High School Honors Science Program at Michigan State ( HSHSP )

<p>ooops. It says program <em>filled</em> by May 10 and that applicants should be notified by May 1. In that case I don’t feel bad sending them an e-mail.</p>

<p>One final post :)</p>

<p>Apparently they had a miscommunication on who was supposed to be sending out e-mails or something. I got a response back after I e-mailed them. Several weeks ago I was waitlisted. They’ve finished filling the program up (didn’t make it to my name), so now I’m rejected.</p>

<p>Hope everyone who got in has a wonderful time!</p>

<p>2013 WOO</p>

<p>Anybody applying? Apps haven’t opened up yet but I was looking up some backups for RSI and Clark Scholars, haha. Anyways, I’ve been going through the posts, and figured I’d try to ask some alums from last year because, you know, the most recent information is the best. How was it? What was the research like? Are there a lot of organized activities? I went to Iowa SSTP last year (I have a LOT of posts on that…) and was looking for a cheaper research experience. Opinions?</p>

<p>@WeIsCool yeah, I’m applying this year. And I thought applications already have opened up for HSHSP. You can access them on the website.</p>

<p>I was also planning on applying to Clark Scholars, City of Hope, and SIMR. I haven’t taken the SATs yet so I need to get on that. I’ll probably take them January 1. I’m pretty nervous about all these programs. My chances of getting in are very slim seeing as I probably don’t even come close to comparing to other applicants, haha.</p>

<p>To those who got in last year, could you post your stats please? Thank you!</p>

<p>^yes stats would be helpful! (: Want to see if I even have a slight chance of making it</p>

<p>I’m applying this year. Does anyone have any tips or examples on the essays? That’s the only part I’m really struggling with.</p>

<p>Also, do you think LOTR would be a feasible book for the second essay? Even though it’s fantasy, I love the themes of friendship and adventure.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any feedback on the program ? Is it very selective ? Any experiences?</p>

<p>numbersense, I think it’s highly selective; something like 10% of applicants are accepted. </p>

<p>On another note, is admissions rolling? The program says submit applications by march at the latest, but is there a benefit to submitting earlier?</p>

<p>Can the projects completed at HSHSP be submitted to science research competitions like Intel? And are the students allowed to specifically choose their research topic or must they just complete whatever project their mentor assigns? </p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T999 using CC</p>

<p>Am I crazy or did I really read it right that they only accept 24 applicants?!?</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be entirely surprised. They got ~230 applications last year, and I’m under the impression they take ~10%. Most research programs take less than 100 students a year (RSI takes ~50 US students; CoH took 62 last year; Clark takes about a dozen; JAX takes ~50).</p>

<p>^I think 24 is right. Don’t know if they increased it this year. None that I know of takes more than 80 students overall (RSI is the largest I know of)</p>

<p>Is it okay if I haven’t taken the SAT yet? I’ve done the PSAT and ACT. Also, do they place a lot of importance on how you do on science clubs in school, or do they care more about the essay?</p>

<p>^^ PSAT and ACT are fine, don’t worry about an SAT if you haven’t taken it. I believe both are important, but I would think the essay was more important. I’m not the admissions committee though</p>

<p>is it okay if i just have my PSAT scores?
and for the application form, what should i write for the question, “Is there anything else you would like me to know about you?” should i list my extracurriculars or anything like that?
edit: also, can we only include one of our areas of interest for research?</p>

<p>Is it OK if our essays go slightly over the limit?</p>

<p>i would suggest keeping the essays within word limit</p>

<p>does anyone know if we need to write anything for the question “Is there anything else you would like me to know about you?” like maybe other areas of research i would be okay with doing?</p>

<p>OK so I filled out the preliminary application form online and intended to download it and then email the file, but when I download it, all the stuff I filled out disappears. Does this mean I have to mail the thing in?</p>

<p>Hey guys, I did this program last year (current senior) and I am happy to answer any questions you all have.</p>

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<p>I recommend it without reservation. It offers all the benefits that, say, RSI does. You get to live independently in a tight-knit group of awesome people and work on incredible research. Everyone leaves feeling satisfied with their project. And if you are more results-oriented, plenty of people got Intel/Siemens recognition and acceptance to a great school (and this has just been the early round). It is selective with around a 10% acceptance rate and everyone at the program is VERY impressive. I have plenty of “experiences” obviously which I will be happy to detail if asked more specific questions.</p>

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<p>Admissions is rolling in the sense that Dr. Richmond sends out acceptance letters not all in one batch. However you gain no benefit by submitting earlier (I asked her this via email last year)</p>

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<p>Yes they can. This year we had 4 Siemens semifinalists, 6 Intel semifinalists, and 1 Intel finalist (!!). However Dr. Richmond stresses that this should NOT be the main goal of the program or you won’t really belong. It is semi-random who ends up with this recognition (In the sense that so many of the HSHSPers are deserving but necessarily only some get it.) Your goal first and foremost is a fulfilling research experience. I for one did not get results before either deadline so did not enter the competitions; however, I loved my research experience and it also payed dividends WRT college admissions. My mentor wrote me a very positive rec letter (according to my guidance counselor) that was probably one of the biggest factors in me getting into my first choice SCEA.</p>

<p>And the way topic assignment works is this: once everyone has enrolled in HSHSP for the summer, Dr. Richmond sends out a list of the professors, each of whom writes a paragraph describing what the student will do in their lab. You then prioritize this and everyone gets something they are interested in. So no you don’t conceive your project from scratch per se but you do get choice in the matter. How much you design your experiment depends on your PI but generally students have a lot of autonomy. Personally, I was the only person in the lab I was in (save the PI) that even knew what I was working on. When the PI left for a 2 week vacation in July I had to completely fend for myself-- a learning experience to be sure. I entered HSHSP with no experience in a legit university lab and exited feeling confident about my ability to do research anywhere.</p>

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<p>The enrollment of HSHSP is 24 or 26, but Dr. Richmond probably accepts more than that because the yield is likely not 100%. The acceptance rate is around or less than 10%.</p>

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<p>I can’t answer these questions but to say that I don’t remember even listing ECs on my application (I could be wrong though). So I think the essay is a pretty decent component.</p>

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<p>I didn’t put anything here</p>

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<p>I don’t know if the app is different this year. What I did last year was fill out the app online, then print the filled out form and mail that in with the essays and everything. I think the program announcement made it pretty clear what to do so I would check that.</p>

<p>Hope this helps someone. TL;DR apply to this program it is good. and ask away if you have further questions.</p>

<p>^Hey Nick!</p>

<p>I wouldn’t say it offers <em>all</em> the benefits that RSI does, but it’s certainly great. To expound on the results, I think we were on 4 Siemens semis, a Siemens finalist, 6 Intel semis, and an Intel finalist (I think, don’t quote me; I know one finalist of each though). We also had 2 Harvard, 1 Yale, 3 Stanford, and a host of other schools admitted early (Columbia, Brown, the like), and 2 YES-W kids.</p>

<p>Acceptance is below 10%; the 230 that are picked from I recall being quoted as “having already been weeded out for grades and test scores” and the like.</p>

<p>I can say without hesitation that it was, overall, the best 7 weeks of my life, and you should apply.</p>