<p>It's that time of year for priori of the Research Science Institute to start thinking about applying! </p>
<p>For those of you who don't know, RSI is a highly prestigious summer research camp held at MIT. Students are paired one-on-one (mostly) with mentors at Harvard, MIT, Boston College, or BU, and conduct some pretty intense research. Other than the research, however, RSI is a VERY amazing experience, and definitely was the best 6 weeks of my life.</p>
<p>There are quite a few rickoids on this board include myself that should be able to answer any questions you guys may have about RSI, its participants, applying,etc. Please confine your questions to this thread so that we don't get questions and threads all over the place. Good luck applying everyone!</p>
<p>Wow... it seems like just yesterday that I was "obsessing" over RSI. These threads just start earlier and earlier, don't they? The app doesn't even come out for quite some time.</p>
<p>If I weren't so unsure about SHARP's financial situation, I would be plugging it all over the place. =)</p>
<p>No hard feelings. Congrats on post 1000, zogoto!</p>
<p>They look at your transcript and PSAT scores. I dunno if SAT counts so much (it's not required on the application, but I guess good scores would help you). Only juniors officially, unless you're a crazy sophomore, in which case they (CEE) have made exceptions in the past.</p>
<p>Caltech was remodeling the dorms last year, but I think they don't want to house the rickoids anymore. The host school has to pay half of the program cost (the other half is covered by sponsors), and its gets expensive to support RSI. SAT scores help, but they definitely look at them a lot less than colleges do. </p>
<p>And yeah, barely any sophomores have ever made it. Closest we had to a sophomore was someone who just finished sophomore year but had intentions of dropping out (almost same as early graduation without an english credit or something) and had to get something signed saying she was by her principal. She's really smart though (not like a typical HS dropout), and taking Math 55, hardest freshman math class in the country, at Harvard this year (her junior/senior year). The only real sophomore (i.e. they finished high school and still got into RSI after 10th) I can think of is Boris Alexeev, who's intelligence would make your head spin.</p>
<p>Just out of curiousity, are you forced to submit SAT scores if you've taken them? </p>
<p>I'm not applying this year, but I got a 1440 in 7th grade (decent for my age I guess). And I'm considering retaking before applying, but I'm afraid I'll get a lower/bad score heh.</p>
<p>Ooh RSI going to be incredibly hard to get into this year since there's no SHARP program anymore. On another note, do you think having prior lab experience at MIT and being ranked 1/367 will increase my chances at all?</p>
<p><em>raises hand</em> No "real" research experience, no awards > school level, no olympiads. Not amazing eugenics/username potential, either :) And there are lots of others in the same boat (well, regarding research experience anyways) - fewer high school juniors than you think have serious research experience.</p>
<p>regarding scores: You're supposed to give your PSAT scores, because it's assumed that as a junior you won't have taken SATs. However, the real requirement (as listed on the CEE website) is "PSAT math and verbal scores (or equivalent SAT or ACT test results)." So it doesn't really matter what you submit.</p>
<p>theblumuffin: flying planes? That's awesome. Of course it'll leave an impression, but it's impossible to predict exactly what effect it'll have (besides, probably, good). Unless you happen to know the rock-paper-scissors strategies of the admissions people ;)</p>