<p>surfinsofa: its been said alot but research experience is not necessary, especially if you arent from a competitive region</p>
<p>as far as sat IIs go, they arent at all necessary either
if you can take them, you might as well send the score, but you dont have to
i didnt have any sat IIs and it didnt seem to hurt me</p>
<p>stefan (banned as stefo30385)</p>
<p>lol oh bad bad bad stefan!</p>
<p>just out of curiousity, what are some of the other science/engineering summer programs out there?</p>
<p>surfinsofa - here's a list:
<a href="http://www.ams.org/employment/mathcamps.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ams.org/employment/mathcamps.html</a></p>
<p>Alright so a few questions.</p>
<p>Are the 8 questions on the app. supposed to be answered in paragraph form? It says to list things, so does that mean just "I did this, and this, and that, and that"?</p>
<p>Also, do they care if you send in more recs that just 2. I'll prolly have my 2 teacher ones, then one professor and one from my lab mentor (also kind of like a teacher).</p>
<p>And also, for this and in general, do all the extra letters of rec need to be in sealed envelopes (I mean in general as in for college apps are things like this)?</p>
<p>sorry i'm not feeling really well these days. i'm trying to recollect myself</p>
<p>other rickoids should get back to you soon</p>
<p>I answered in paragraph form for all except the question(s) that asked for SAT/AP scores. But there are probably different ways you can answer the questions; you might want to get another alum's opinion.</p>
<p>You can send more than 2 recs...I sent 4. :)</p>
<p>As for the sealed envelopes, I know that sometimes it is requested that recs be sent in sealed envelopes so that the applicant cannot read them. That is how mine were sent for RSI, but for college, my teachers gave the recs to my guidance counselor (so I could not read them), who put them in my file to be sent to colleges. I doubt that they were sent in sealed envelopes; I don't think that colleges usually require that.</p>
<p>Has anyone here participated in the "National Youth Leadership Forum: Technology"?
If so, what's it like?</p>
<p>Site: <a href="http://www.nylf.org/tech/%5B/url%5D">http://www.nylf.org/tech/</a></p>
<p>don't do it, not worth it.</p>
<p>Its fun but too much money. My friend is going for free through her dad's company though, so if you get something like that then go for it.</p>
<p>What exactly do they do?</p>
<p>My son went to the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference, a slightly different program, but I think all of these programs are basically the same. He has always been a math/science person and wanted a different experience.</p>
<ul>
<li>It's expensive.<br></li>
<li> It certainly won't guarantee your college admission, and may not be particularly helpful. It depends on what you put into it and get out of it. (Some say programs such as these just make you look like a rich kid.)<br></li>
<li>My son really enjoyed it, got to meet a lot of people (he's still in contact our State Representative, and the rep nominated him for a state-wide honor).</li>
<li>Because of this program he developed an interest in government/politics.<br></li>
<li>He joined our Model UN team and won some very nice awards, which certainly didn't hurt his college apps.</li>
<li>He wrote in some of his essays about how he developed his interest in this area, and how his initial interest has grown into other areas.<br></li>
<li>He is now at MIT majoring in CS, but seriously considering a minor in political science.</li>
</ul>
<p>You might want to do a search here as there have been serveral threads about these programs. Most of the people (not all) who have attended have had a good experience. (There are threads in the old forum too.) </p>
<p>Investigate this program thorougly before you commit your time and money, and then make up your own mind about whether it's worth it to you. I see on their site that they have an online community where you can talk to students who have participated. Also, ask your principal or counselor if any students from your school have attended and you could get their personal perspective. My son is glad he went.</p>
<p>by the way, for the RSI app, if new developments come in like Jan 22nd SAT scores or ne thing that may be of help to you, is it possible to call the RSI adcom? Thanks.</p>
<p>just send them an email</p>
<p>Just curious staticsoliloquy, but what is a 'rickoid?'</p>
<p>rickoid: someone that went to RSI, derived from Admiral Rickover's name, the founder of the program</p>
<p>How do you choose field and subfield? Does a list with all the possibilities exist somewhere? Or do you just list what you're interested in?</p>
<p>list whatever it is your little heart desires!</p>
<p>here is what i put in my app just to give you an idea:</p>
<p>biochemistry: enzyme & proteins (telomeres, telomerase) (histone regulation of apoptosis) (Salmonella invasion protein SIP A)</p>
<p>developmental biology: stem cell (reversine) (cell dedifferentiation)</p>
<p>The comments on competitive regions are a little upsetting. The idea of RSI accepting based on geography is speculation to begin with. Furthermore, its not fair, to rickoids as a whole, to distinguish certain regions as more competitive than others because it implies that some applicants deserve to be at RSI more than others. Lets not make anyone believe that some rickoids were only at RSI because their region sucked (The creme of the crap). No matter how non-competitive a certain region happens to be, RSI will never accept a kid who is not as brilliant as all other rickoids. So, in closing, all perspective rickoids please do not rely on a poor region for acceptance because that just wont do. Make sure that your application is as strong as possible and good luck.</p>