<p>I think you can still put bio as your first choice and then chem as your second. Don't worry too much about mentors, esp. bio mentors. What topics of bio are you interested in? (j/w)</p>
<p>Yeah, field probably influences admission, but pretty subtley. I think the main difference comes in math. Bio and Chem probably has some change in admit rate, but not too much. If you're debating between those two (and are willing to work), write questions for both, and see which ones will make your application sound better. That's what I did.</p>
<p>Ah, I don't know about subfields yet. On one hand my freshman year course was heavily molecular-oriented and I definitely enjoyed stuff like biochemistry and molecular genetics. On the other hand, my AP bio course is more ecological and I'm really starting to appreciate how ecology really brings everything together. Eeeeek. Maybe I'll just apply under the same field as my science fair project (once I find a topic ahh).</p>
<p>I'm still not sure as the bio v. chem thing yet. For chemistry there may be fewer mentors, but there are also fewer students applying, so there may not be as many people competing for the same spots. For biology there may be more mentors but there'll be more people applying, which means more competition. But then again, there would probably be a higher concentration of USNCO (for example) national exam qualifyers than USABO semifinalists due to the disproportionate number of people applying in each field, so in that case bio would be easier...</p>
<p>I'll probably end up settling with bio after a few more weeks of deliberation.</p>
<p>EDIT: Thanks for the advice, zogoto. It sounds like a great idea. :P</p>
<p>The olympiads don't really do anything unless you are in math, again. In other subjects, research ability isn't really correlated to performance, since one could argue that the USABO is just a memorization/studying contest.</p>
<p>I would probably put the fields as your science fair project. You don't want your questions to the same, overused, general questions that anyone could make by just googling. When you do a project, you will likely do a huge literature review, and know a lot about one subject. Enjoy :)</p>
<p>geez vinayak, 1000+ posts.... god somebody really needs to get a life. </p>
<p>(sorry... but i sooo get to rib you now because you forgot who i was.)</p>
<p>OOhhhh... one more day for PSAT's... hahaha good luck everyone!! i screwed up on my PSATs in junior year, too bad that's when they actually counted. >_<</p>
<p>oh yeah, and don't overanalyze the process or try to strategize too much. that's part of what psses me off about CC and, as luyi said, why i am boycotting this joint... ummm well partially. cause they can tell when you're bullshtting, that's why we didn't get any lame people at RSI. just try to write from your heart about what truly is important to you... okay, as corny as that sounds. i didn't think too much about what i was doing, i just wrote about two things i was very passionate about, and your love for science and your love and respect for what you are doing will come out if you truly do love research, and the thrill of discovery, and the blood and sweat and tears of laboratory slave laboring, or if you're into math research, the broken pencil-point laboring involved there. honestly, this is how i wrote my essays... i stayed home from school one cold, rainy tuesday in january and typed up my application. fin.</p>
<p>whoa. i definitely used 'and' too much.</p>
<p>"I want to study this disease because my friend's dog suffers from it, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through it again."... that skit was priceless</p>
<p>"and my brother got a splinter in his finger the other day, and it was a really sad experience..."</p>
<p>hahaha, totally. :-)</p>
<p>Whoa whoa cxc! I've just been here for a long time, that's all haha.</p>
<p>Yeah and if you strategize too much you'll come off as artificial, and considering there are over 1200 US applicants, you probably won't stand out enough. </p>
<p>RSI looks for 3 things:</p>
<p>Eugenics
Username
Uniqueness</p>
<p>The best strategizing you can do is to change your name to help out the 2nd of those.</p>
<p>Changing your name may help with the last one, too. You don't want to be the one rejected because they already have a "Jingleheimer-Schmidt."</p>
<p>Yeah, true kim.</p>
<p>I suggest one of you change your names to Olvier Smith Hitt.</p>
<p>zogoto, you said that you were competing against someone. Just out of curiosity, were you higher than him in rank?</p>
<p>I was 1st, he was 5th, so yes.</p>
<p>RSI is..... people..... as well.</p>
<p>Yeah, though admissions is amazingly competitive, once you get to RSI, everything is so... relaxed. No one really tries to "beat" everyone else or anything, which is part of why RSI rocks.</p>
<p>here beginneth the insane ramblings of an '04er!</p>
<p>hello to all you CCer's out there, one or two of you might remember me from my input to that gargantuan RSI thread last year...but now I see the '05's got that totally covered! (I hope to see you all at the Christmas party too) =)</p>
<p>Anyway...like always, I can see that people are asking quite a bit about the application, for that I have one bit of advice,.....BE YOURSELF! Don't compare yourself to others or try to guess your chances at admissions based on a few random bits of data gleaned from admits. No one here can really say why they're admitted. If you want some happy news, I never did any research before RSI...and I didn't even take the SAT, let alone an SAT II. (I also used the word star-trekesque in my application). What does that really mean? Pretty much nothing.
Please don't try to make an application for what you think they want to see, because even if you succeed, RSI will suck for you. But I really doubt anyone here would do that. Just be yourself, study what you want to study, express who you are in the application. And don't stress!
(personally, getting away from CC for awhile can be good too....)</p>
<p>to end it all...RSI is a great experience...but it IS just a summer program, there are plenty of other (and even better) ways to spend a summer.</p>
<p>There's a better way to spend the summer? lol... sacrilege! ;)</p>
<p>a really belated reply to cawaiigirl and other intls living in the US: </p>
<p>RSI only takes in international students through their home countries. since you can't qual for USABO/IBO, I'm guessing that puts you as a non-PR/citizen, aka international. you should probably talk to ms. keri lowry about the international admissions process, but it will definitely be different from the US process and will be carried out through your home country (in this case Taiwan). Since RSI only takes international students from certain countries, I'm not sure if you'll be eligible to apply in the first place. =/ As a Singaporean in California, I understand how difficult your situation may be, but don't give up and think outside the box and you'll find your own ways to soar. </p>
<p>as for everyone else: RSI is people. =D whether it's extraordinary assurance, charisma, humor, stability or resilience, rickoids usually have some wonderful personality trait that sets them apart from the crowd (excepting bear candidates like me >.>). make sure that shines through your essays in some unconventional manner. good luck.</p>
<p>hi zogoto, I got your email, but for some reason either my or your email server keeps rejecting my reply. Could you send me an email directly? please-and-thankyou!
--the "Arizona Alternate" :-)</p>
<p>frankenchris, I don't think there's any better way to spend the summer!</p>
<p>And rippledance is right, you need to stand out, so do so by making your essays original and unforgetable.</p>
<p>yeah i dont think there are many better ways to spend the summer
i mean here was my typical friday schedule...</p>
<p>9:30 - wake up
9:32 - go back to sleep
11:30 - get up, take a shower, grab some breakfast
12:00 - catch the bus to the hospital
12:15 - get to my private room, log on to my insanely powerful computer
12:16 - get a call from shiv to get some lunch
12:18 - lunch break, meet up with anders in the food court
1:20 - back at the lab, go find my mentor and talk with him for a bit
2:00 - fall asleep in front of my computer (it was warm and comfortable in my room, i couldnt help it)
2:30 - my mentor walks in and wakes me up, "what the hell! its 230!! what are you doing! its friday, dont you have a life? get out of here!"
2:45 - take the bus back, stop at coldstone
3:30 - dump stuff in my room, take off the damn khakis i had to wear to work, go find out what greg and brett, math kids never do any work, are doing
3:45 - chill and do w/e till dinner
Dinner - grab some yummy food at Anna's with my UNLIMITED MEALCARD
After Dinner - chill some more, see what ian, greg and vinayak, the group nap crew, are up to
11:00 - Bedcheck
11:01 - Minas the greek yells, "I will destroy you!"
11:02 - Bedcheck is adjourned so i can whip his @$$ in ping pong, us americans know where its at
11:30 - ultimate frisbee with toan"forehand"tran-phu, xin"im just good"pan, pizer"look dump!"pizer, and arrak"coach"bhata-w/e, among others
1:10 - the lights go off on the field, **** you MIT!
2:00 - capture the flag in the infinite
4:00 everyone is bored of capture the flag cause some homos like to hump their flag so no one can touch it
5:00 - school vivek in pool until he cries and begs me not to tell anyone that hes a wuss
8:00 - crash, nothing ever happens in the mornings, mostly cause im not there...</p>
<p>all in all, a day well spent</p>