<p>definitely be specific about your interests. everyone else is going to put "cure AIDS and cancer" so doing unique stuff I think will be good. Don't expect them to give you that project--but it helps to stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>and the rule about working at MIT if under 18 is definitely not true. you probably just have to sign some paperwork. I worked at BU Medical Center and they made us attend this safety seminar--except it was halfway through the four-week mentorship, so we'd already been two weeks in with no official training. Plus I slept through half the thing, as Kathy can attest to =)</p>
<p>I think abstracts are probably a good idea, although you could always e-mail Maite at CEE if you want to be sure.</p>
<p>"Is it ok to be ultra-specific with your research ideas/ topics and subtopics? I kind of have an eccentric (not morbid or anything crazy like that) interest. It's just not very mainstream and might require some explaining. I cant really change my interest because then, uh, it wouldnt be my interest. Did anyone else have this problem?""</p>
<p>YES, you should be as specific as you necessary. I probably shows them how much you actually understand your research ideas, and it will only help you get in (as long as you're not writing a load of BS). I rembmer I wrote really detailed essays for the question about research interests, and I beat out a kid I know who had perfect SAT scores across the board. </p>
<p>and yeah, I sent an abstract, partly because my interest was also not very mainstream, basically my mentor suggested something thats been used like one time before..so I guess it helped to explain my research interests</p>
<p>the one and only staticsoliloquy is back to reign on the RSI thread. </p>
<p>dude. why is it in the high school life forum? I go to the Summer Programs and TASP is on there and my heart broke. A little bit.</p>
<p>RSI 2004 @ MIT. </p>
<p>Oh, P.S. If you're a rickoid, you're more likely to be a Howard Hughes Medical Institute scholar, and then you apply to be a Goldwater Scholar, and then next thing you know...you might have a chance at Rhodes. It opens doors.</p>
<p>by "long, detailed, specific" answers, (number 2 in particular), you just mean, about the area of research in general right? i mean, you're not going to talk about the exact method you want to use to solve differential equations, etc. to show, in theoretical quantum chromodynamics, about the hadron spectrum and lattice guage theory. You're not going to detail your procedure right there, rather you would just talk about quantum chromodynamics, etc in general, why it's important, etc right?</p>
<p>Yes, I meant detail in the topic of research, not in the procedures. Did you do your research on theoretical quantum chromodynamics? Do you mind if I ask what some of you guys did for your RSI research?</p>
<p>Coolphreak, you could include any ideas you have in terms of procedures. wtrbear, whoa whoa there's a very slim chance you'll get something this tailored to your interests. I did work under the very general field of applied math: mathematical modeling of drug interactions, later turned into a statistical model of experimental design. </p>
<p>I actually agree with zogoto, this thread is pretty lame. It was unusually crazy last year, everyone wanted to get into RSI.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your help. I don't necessarily expect a specially tailored project; I was just wondering if I should exemplify my background in a specific field in my essays (especially my research interest). That's all.</p>
<p>wtrbear, you should make the app as unique to you and your interests as you possibly and comfortably can. beware, though, writing about an esoteric topic will not impress the adcoms. make sure there's a connection to your topic and yourself. i say this because theoretical quantum chromodynamics is not necessarily what a 16-year-old thinks is extremely cool and will change the world, but if you do, explain.</p>
<p>Coolphreak, the 3-page limit, i believe, ensures you will not detail too much. Detailing shows passion and understanding (esp. if it's not just copied out of a book or something). Don't worry, just write waht comes naturally, even if it ends up being too detailed</p>
<p>Haha, I was one of the kids who posted absurd volumes of garbage on the thread last year. Needless to say, I was rejected.</p>
<p>I do however, want to take this time to encourage everyone (though somehow I can hear the cricket's chirping, this thread is slow as hell) to look a little harder for many other wonderful research programs out there! (And by this I do not mean SSP or MITES or such, those already get enough publicity). Joining a local lab now might be a good idea, and if you get into RSI, you can go and sort of continue your work (not sure how exactly RSI works)! </p>
<p>Just whatever you do, I really hope you guys don't take the perspective that I took when I did the application, that RSI was going to be my ticket into MIT, because it's not (or at least that's not how you should think about it, even though it basically is one :) ). Also be forewarned not to expect super star research no matter where you go or do this summer; when I spoke w/ Dmitry in NY he told me that the majority of his work worked out because he had known a lot of the math beforehand and his father discussed algebraic topology (NO MATH AT THE DINNER TABLE!) with him sometimes (not saying he's not crazy smart though, and his poetry that he recited to me on the bus is ... special [it was something about snow in Russia... there's a lot of it there]).</p>
<p>I'm at NCSSM this year. Next year I'll be attending MIT. (Class of 2011!!!)</p>
<p>I don't remember you... were you at ISEF last year? Speaking of which, [)<em>)#</em>)@4] from ISEF '06 was upset at siemens natoinals dinner because none of us remembered her, though she remembered all of us! (lol, the best part was when Viscardi just stuttered, and was like, no, i don't remember ever talking to you [)<em>)#</em>)@4!]).</p>
<p>[)<em>)#</em>&@4] = person who won ISEF Young Scientist Award last year</p>
<p>For question #2 (about research topics), would about 5/6 sentences per question/problem detailing the specifics and explaining why it is interesting to you be too short (5/6 lines Times New Roman 11)?</p>
<p>As staticsoliloquy asked in the MIT Forum, why isn't this thread in the Summer</a> Programs Forum? Last year there wasn't a separate forum for summer programs, but this year there is, and there are some other RSI threads there. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone in your applications.</p>