<p>I was wondering how much weight RSI carries at MIT?</p>
<p>I have decent scores, but not amazing (740 R 720 M 660 W). They're just below average for MIT. </p>
<p>Is RSI a big deal? Or do they just look at it and say "yeah, he went there. Nice."</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Anybody have any data?</p>
<p>You are a Rickoid? Congrats, the acceptance rate for RSI participants is usually very high. Those SAT scores are not that bad. Work as hard as you can on the actual application and good luck!</p>
<p>^ If he is a Rickoid, he knows the answer to his question :-). My guess is that he’s wondering about applying to RSI and if it is worth it.</p>
<p>Nope, I’m a rickoid (31st RSI, what’s up) </p>
<p>I know it’s very selective - I’m wondering if MIT takes that into account, or if it carries a lot of weight.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I know it’s supposed to carry some weight, I was just wondering if its enough to offset the below average test scores, provided the rest of the application is good.</p>
<p>It’ll definitely help, and I don’t think your test scores were something that needed to be offset by RSI in the first place. You’re fine, dude.</p>
<p>@Jonluca if you actually attended/will attend RSI wouldn’t you would know lots of people who have a much better idea about this than random people on a message board?</p>
<p>Also from Wikipedia RSI was founded in 1984 so the 31st RSI would be summer 2014 and certainly domestic admissions decisions for summer 2014 haven’t been released yet. That leaves the possibility that you are from some foreign nation which does RSI decisions some 5 months ahead of domestic decisions. In that case it is almost certainly the case that no one on this board knows any relevant information.</p>
<p>I’d say that RSI is a pretty big deal since it’s such a prestigious program. However, I’m hardly an expert on this.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty big deal, and I have heard that the admit rate for RSI people is close to 100%. Don’t quote me on that. And also, there is also an issue of association vs. causality; RSI is extremely competitive.</p>
<p>MIT says that scores above 700 are considered the same, so you don’t have to “make up for” your scores.</p>
<p>@UMTYMP student: I was in RSI this past summer - we were the 31st group, RSI 2013. I think maybe since RSI was founded in 84, the class of 84 was 1, 85 was 2, and so on. </p>
<p>At RSI we were told it helps, but we weren’t told to the degree. What @collegealum314 was saying is what I was worried about - it might not necessarily be that RSI is a huge deal, it’s just that the type of students that get into RSI are the type of students that get into MIT.</p>
<p>I was just looking for anyone that had any experience with summer programs and the such, and that actually knew the weight they carried. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>^It’s probably not appropriate for any of the people who actually know the answer to that question (i.e., admissions committee people) to answer it. </p>
<p>We are all familiar with the RSI program. My impression is that the only thing that is a bigger deal is to make MOSP or to get in the top 5 of the Intel research contest (although those results aren’t out until the end of senior year). Intel finalists tend to have very competitive profiles as well, but it seems like RSI has better results. I’ve heard some Intel finalists complaining they weren’t getting into their top choices.</p>
<p>Unlike other elite schools, MIT doesn’t really draw that much significance from SAT scores once they are above 700. It might be worth retaking the SAT for your other schools, though.</p>
<p>I wish we had such opportunities in India :(</p>
<p>@Jonluca I am a 2013 Rickoid and last summer was 30th RSI. İf you actually were a rickoid, you would know we had 30th RSI from our t-shirts AT LEAST. But the thing I am wondering is we had a Jonluca from Italy last summer. Also, you should have DEFİNİTELY known that RSI’s effect on MIT admissions. Now I am really really confused.</p>
<p>OH GOODNESS</p>
<p>@toughman - you’re so right. I messed up so bad haha I actually am 30th… Ugh this is embarassing</p>
<p>Sorry to any Rickoids reading this, this is embarassing. I think I did some mental math wrong? Oops…</p>
<p>anyways, proof it’s me: <a href=“http://i.imgur%5B/url%5D”>http://i.imgur</a> .com/Da3xOt9.jpg</p>
<p>What’s your first name, toughman?</p>
<p>And I don’t know the effect! I was writing before, correlation is not necessarily causation - it might be that RSI carries a lot of weight, or it might be that students that get into RSI are the type to get into MIT.</p>
<p>SORRY TOUGHMAN</p>
<p>It’s probably not good to give out a lot of identifying information, especially considering MIT adcom people read these blogs (though you haven’t said anything bad per se’.) This also applies to people who have usernames with their first and last names.</p>
<p>@collegealum314 do they really do that? And do they kinda match students with their real names? (I believe they do not do that as it would take a lot of time)</p>
<p>At least one MIT adcom usually reads these boards and responds to queries. They wouldn’t specifically try to match a person’s username to an application, but if your username is your first and last name, it’s kind of hard to forget. Also, even without your name, if you say you went to RSI and post your scores, it also may be hard to forget. For me, if I read an RSI application a year later with a 720 math score, I would make the connection. (MIT people remember numbers pretty well. Call it a curse.)</p>
<p>Just keep in mind that if you put too much identifying information, whatever you write may be remembered and may influence the application outcome. On this board you may be interacting with MIT itself.</p>
<p>Oh, that makes sense. And it sounds pretty scary :)) Anyways what I think about the “deal” of RSI is its people are very qualified and an admissions officer at MIT on a blog indicated that RSI selects students with very similar criteria, which is ultimately an extreme passion and talent. Also I read from an MIT admissions blog that Mit admissions play role in selecting students for the RSI. That is why they are not usually rejecting someone whom they have selected before. Plus, those students are generally coming back from RSI with great research experiences, and good recommendations from their mentors and CEE, which would further help admissions committee in their decisions for MIT admissions. I mean why would they reject someone whom they first recognized as talented, who has conducted research throughout the summer at their university (or sometimes at any other university), and whom has even further received good recommendations from mentors and CEE? Nothing would help an admissions committee more than the aforementioned process in getting a “complete picture” of the applicant. Someone plz correct me if I am wrong :-)</p>
<p>@collegealum314: Thanks for the info. I probably shouldn’t have made my username JonLuca. I get what you’re saying - if the connection is made, they can’t just “forget” that. </p>
<p>@toughman: What’s the link to that blog?</p>