<p>...save the rsi adcom some time and don't list it</p>
<p>Hi. I'm a high school junior (female) in a very competitive state, at a very good suburban public school. I'm in the top 10 in my school (class size ~400) but haven't gotten my boards back for this year. As a sophomore I scored 204 on the PSAT. I am enrolled in an honors precalculus course, AP Physics B, and AP Computer Science--haven't decided whether I'm taking A or AB in compsci. I have no previous research background.... I'm mostly interested in biochemistry but I really am not sure yet. What would I need to set me apart?</p>
<p>Please try to not tell people what to or what not to put on their applications. I would also like to persuade those asking for advice on what should be on the application or what activities to participate in to stop because it will probably prove self-destructive. When you do an application, you are suppose to create an image of yourself on paper. You are suppose to show the adcoms your dreams, desires, likes, dislikes, emotions, intelligence, cleverness, inventiveness, passions, etc. One stands out based on what he or she has done in his or her life with respects to an individual goal, longing, desire, or passion for learning and research. What is put on an application should be based solely on what the applicant's personal judgment says is worthy. In other words, be one's self. Do not follow a course of action just because an adcom could possibly view it as impressive if the heart and soul is not with it. Its very easy to tell what someone has done just to look good and what one has done because it makes them feel good. What one has done because of shear inquisitive and the "feel good" is so much more important and commendable. </p>
<p>--Just my two cents</p>
<p>I can't believe it....Canada isn't a participating nation! ...I emailed them and that's what they said....*BAWLING</p>
<p>igrok: you'd either need something like national recognition or research experience to differentiate yourself from others. Do you do any sort of competition? </p>
<p>Rick04: great advice. Who are you by the way? The poster sounds a lot like lynwood. My intentions were to be helpful. To try and point them in the right direction. I'm sorry if I overdid it by "telling them what to put or not to put in their application." I feel like I owe CollegeConfidential BIG TIME for RSI. Without it, I couldn't have applied because I wouldn't've known what RSI is! So I'm just here trying to do what past rickoids have done.</p>
<p>staticsoliloquy: There was a regional math competition--I wrote an original research paper (made up a problem and figured out formulas for all of it) and I won a gold medal... it was only Level 2 though. I believe there's 4 levels... it's by math level. So if I were in calculus last year I'd have been in Level 4.</p>
<p>Yea, It is me. I was just doing a google search on college stuff and, of course, collegeconfidential is the first thing to pop up. (That gets quite annoying btw)</p>
<p>Well, this post came up and I ended up reading the last page and saw this discussion and could not resist adding my two cents because this CC attitude of doing things things solely to get into college or a program pains my heart. I just think everyone would enjoy high school and life a lot more if what is done is out of pure passion, rather than as part of some scheme to gain the favor of an adcom. Once again, its not about a score or the right mix of activities. Its finding what one loves, pursuing it with all one's heart, and, with respects to the apps, displaying this brilliantly on paper. No tricks, no gimics, no accolades for the sake of having accolades. </p>
<p>Now I will retreat back into the black abyss until collegeconfidential annoyingly pops up in my google search once again. </p>
<p>Take care</p>
<p>PS- I know what you are doing and most of the time its commendable. You are trying to help and that is a good thing. Just make sure that you don't help to the point where 5-10 CC-apps start looking an awful lot like your app. Though you are definitely a very unique individual and no one could ever match you in your own particular brilliance, these CC-peeps could risk losing their own uniqueness if their apps are based on your judgments, values, and dreams. One of the most important things is to stand out. I actually still joke that I may not have gotten into RSI if I didn't put my app on legal paper to avoid going over the page number limit since that definitely made my app standout; everyone notices too-big paper in very very small font. </p>
<p>So yea, everything wasn't to attack what you are doing...Just my personal quest to save uniqueness in America. (After-all, my quest to get bush out of the White House failed ::cries::)</p>
<p>lyn, first off, none of them will have the same app as I did because none of them got a grant.</p>
<p>Hey, I'm very interested in RSI after looking at it and seem to have the <em>average</em> qualifications for it. (Won bunch of assorted regional math/science competitions, 80 PSAT math, research at proteomics lab, Brown summer program, etc.)</p>
<p>I looked on the website and it does give some general ideas of what you will do there, but could you, staticsoliloquy, or another ex-RSI person give me your own summary of what you did there, especially during the time you were not actually researching or working (if there was much time for anything else). </p>
<p>Also, the application just has a blank space to put your preferred area of research so I assume I can do pretty much anything I want, but how much can you actually get done during the 8 weeks. Enough to put together something for a science competition?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>omg...lol i don't want to ramble on for HOURS about what we did when we're not at the lab. Basically...imagine the MOST PURE FUN you ever have, and multiply that by pi to get what i had at RSI.</p>
<p>it's you + rickoids + boston + cambridge! Eating out, frisbee, pool, movies, shopping, etc. The best thing is just to chill at a drink place and just enjoy each other's company and eccentric comments.</p>
<p>and trust me, you can get A LOT done in <em>correction</em> 5 weeks. That's the most fascinating thing about RSI. This yr rickoid Po-Ling did her project at RSI and won 2nd in Siemens Westinghouse. Math project. Same with Linda Westrick last yr! The caliber of the project accomplished in such a short time is mind-boggling!</p>
<p>The program, of course, is wonderful, but the people and the environment is indescribable. Everyone here motivates you to do your best without really pushing you and they understand why we read math and science books, why we love what we love. At home I get dubious, "you'resoweird" looks, while here people understand and get excited at the same things I get excited by.</p>
<p>And also here we have the perfect balance of fun and work. We do research, of course, but also shop in Boston, eat out, visit Harvard (so BEAUTIFUL), watch movies at midnight, wander aimlessly around, etc...
We have complete freedom here. no curfew.
basically two rules:
1. don't end up dead
2. don't get MIT/RSI sued</p>
<p>sleepovers, getting caught by the police on the roof, sitting on top of Building 7 DORM at 2 AM in the morning admiring boston skyline, getting kicked out of the lounge in w20 after we slept there that night, Simmons and its weird layout, lobdell, getting harassed at 2 am in the morning by my assassin and his accomplice (a game we play), dances, the computer clusters, the piles of food that was found in w20 the night before our papers were due, even though technically no food is allowed in the clusters, running through the sprinklers at 5 am in the morning, running in the rain, watching the sunrise on harvard bridge, staking out our spot beside the Charles River since midnight on July 4th, the trips to Chinatown, getting ripped off on our duck, the wall of pictures, flipping pictures over, Rickoid tour of Harvard, having ice cream with Matt(assistant director of MIT admission) and then having Thai food with Lorelle(director of recruitment) and Mitra(MIT student), all our resty trips, Pu Pu Hot Pot that doesnt serve hot pot, shopping for slutty clothing for Rocky Horror, posing as playboy bunnies, swinging on the swings while watching the sunrise, playing Mafia at the wee hours of the morning, Tummy Ha Ha on the bridge while watching the sunrise, the attempted sleepover, Rocky Horror, throwing rice in each others shirts, the fireworks, gossiping, Ping Ping Chai, the all nighter, White Mountains, swimming in the freezing water late at night while attempting to play Frisbee, watching Clueless, the reek of 7c lounge, the water balloons, Toscaninis, The Wrap, latex, walking around campus in formal clothing, falling asleep during the final presentations, the free red bull from red bull promoters, the double shots we bought causing La Verdes to run out, and the many more </p>
<p>So, the new applications are available!</p>
<p>How many applying online vs. applying on paper?</p>
<p>Hm, I don't know if it's worth it for me to apply to RSI. I have previous research exp. (researched the effect of uv-b on the wbc count of m.musculus, showing a sample of what may happen to humans if the stratosphere depletes), and in my summer program last year, I was a science teacher to eager young middle schoolers. Little did I know that teaching a group of hyper preteens physics could be so fun....</p>
<p>Anyway, I have a pretty low PSAT combined verbal/math score (133). The recommended score is 140, but heh, I kinda missed that. I do have a passion, a dream, and experience, but I don't have the test scores. Would it be useless for me to apply?</p>
<p>APPLY APPLY APPLY. my PSAT scores suck too!</p>
<p>If you say so. You sure that I would stand a chance?</p>
<p>You never know. I reiterate, APPLY, APPLY, APPLY!!</p>
<p>After all, what have you got to lose?</p>
<p>Why is there no RSI at Caltech this year?</p>
<p>What is meant in the RSI brochure by 'please remove the [last two] pages to form the RSI application'? Are those two papers to be included in the application? If so, how?</p>
<p>it did not say anything about "Removing the pgs" in the rsi brochure.</p>