<p>I've heard that things like RSI or USAMO almost certainly guarunteed acceptance into MIT, provided that you also have acceptable stats (in other words, you didn't guess on evey AMC and AMIE question and got a perfect score). Is this true? If so, are there any other hooks like this?</p>
<p>No. A friend is an USAMO qualifier (from CA) with good grades and scores. He was rejected RD, after being deffered EA.</p>
<p>MOSP and RSI mean you're pretty much a shoo-in, there's only 1 RSI-er who has ever been rejected. USAMO qualification without IMO/MOSP doesn't mean all that much.</p>
<p>there was one MOSPer on CC who was waitlisted from MIT this year, but as tetrahedr0n pointed out to me, he attended when MOSP was running low on funds. Still, I was very surprised, considering the rest of his stats were equally stellar.</p>
<p>really, only one RSI person has been rejected? how many have been waitlisted?</p>
<p>how much does the USAMO count for? i know MIT has a section for the AMC and AMIE on the app...</p>
<p>RSI is basically an automatic thing. (MIT admits people to RSI, and it's far harder to get into RSI than to get into MIT). In the (1 or 2) cases that a rickoid was rejected, it's because they did something like get into a fistfight with the director of admissions while at RSI. So I don't believe that anybody's been waitlisted.</p>
<p>USAMO will help a lot, but you will still need to show leadership, passion in the essays, and have good recommendations. USAMO + everything else more than solid is probably a 'likely admit', where likely means 60-70%.</p>
<p>How hard is it to get into RSI?</p>
<p>Very hard. Why not read some of the 10^6 other posts already created about RSI and its acceptance rates?</p>
<p>If you want to go to RSI, you need to have very high PSAT scores (235 or higher I would say) and show a lot of passion. You will almost certainly need either previous research experience or high level national accolades. Look up their application. It is for rising Seniors.</p>
<p>If you are trying to get into RSI in order to get the hook into MIT, remember that MIT is much easier to get into than RSI. But if you think you have a chance, then definitely apply. And there are any number of similar research programs which are less prestigious but will still give you the opportunity to do a research project and get a Siemens/Intel entry out of it. I highly recommend applying to some others of these as well, and attending one of them in case you get rejected by RSI.</p>
<p>I would agree, but a high PSAT score is not "necessary" and 235 + is pretty ridiculous. I would agree that having a high score would help.</p>
<p>From the admissions page:
It is recommended that PSAT math scores be at least 75, and combined math and verbal PSAT scores be at least 140.</p>
<p>So, that's less than what I said. But I could swear that when I applied a couple years ago it recommended 230/235. Either way, I know many people who went to RSI and as I recall, none of them were under 235.</p>
<p>I know several, and none of them had over 230. In any case, staticsoliloquy's frequent posts have stated that not even those recommendations are necessary.</p>
<p>How necessary is previous research for RSI?</p>
<p>quoting a bunch of triangles folded in three dimensions
"I know several, and none of them had over 230. In any case, staticsoliloquy's frequent posts have stated that not even those recommendations are necessary."</p>
<p>That's cool. You know what else is cool? Liquid nitrogen. You want a glass?</p>
<p>oh look i was quoted.</p>
<p>liquid nitrogen <em>is</em> cool... :D</p>
<p>Can any of you tell me how necessary previous research experience is?</p>
<p>liquid helium is cooler!</p>
<p>Thanks River Phoenix. I would love a glass.</p>
<p>Actually it is very cheap to buy, you could buy an enormous quantity for very, very little.</p>
<p>does anyone know why that one rsi guy was rejected from mit? i read about it on the old thread, but nobody ever said why, just that there was a very unique reason or something</p>