<p>In writing our essays, should we just answer the questions and be done, or should we somehow incorporate some personality into our answers?</p>
<p>^I am wondering about the same thing too. Should the responses be essays or plain answers(bullets) ?</p>
<p>āshould we somehow incorporate some personality into our answers?ā</p>
<p><a href=āhttps://31.media.ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā /172b66bec7f526f9ea97fe7f70cc6d38/tumblr_myg6v3NUAd1smuy6uo1_1280.jpg[/url]ā>https://31.media.ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā /172b66bec7f526f9ea97fe7f70cc6d38/tumblr_myg6v3NUAd1smuy6uo1_1280.jpg</a></p>
![https://31.media.ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā /172b66bec7f526f9ea97fe7f70cc6d38/tumblr_myg6v3NUAd1smuy6uo1_1280.jpg[/url]](https://31.media.tumblr.com/172b66bec7f526f9ea97fe7f70cc6d38/tumblr_myg6v3NUAd1smuy6uo1_1280.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>(essays. think of it as an opportunity to let the admissions committee know as much relevant info about you as possible, part of which would be personality)</p>
<p>@SJSF01 and LuoSciOly</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your kind advice - Iām currently working on the essays (just need moreā¦ motivationā¦) and of course Iām going to apply no matter what because hey, more experience in essay writing! Itās not like the end of the world or anything if I donāt get inā¦ take life the way it is :)</p>
<p>I typed in the RSI application form, but I couldnāt save what I typed. Does anyone know how to fix this problem?</p>
<p>Does anyone have Microsoft Word file version of the application form?</p>
<p>@fritan</p>
<p>You should be able to download the form as a pdf if you hover over the bottom right of the page and click the āsaveā icon.</p>
<p>I can download the form as a pdf file, but I couldnāt save data typed into the form.</p>
<p>In fact, I clicked the littile thing to the left of āPrint Formā and the message showed up:</p>
<p>āPlease fill out the following form. You cannot save data typed into this form. Please print your completed form if you would like a copy for your records.ā</p>
<p>I really want a Microsoft Word file version of Part III: Teacher Recommendation so that it would be convenient for the teachers to write their recommendation.</p>
<p>I think for these forms, you just have to fill it out and print it all in one go.</p>
<p>Question: For the research questions/problems that we find interesting, do those have to be solvable within the 4 weeks at RSI? Obviously, I wonāt be putting down the millenium problems, but 4 weeks is a pretty damn short amount of time.</p>
<p>The camp is June 22 to August 2ā¦which is like 6 or 7 weeks. Still (and correct me if Iām wrong) I think weāre just supposed to address things related to the desired subject to how that you know this subject, you didnāt must choose something off a random drop-down list, and youāre eager to learn more.</p>
<p>You could advise your teacher to type up the letter in a different doc and then copy and paste when ready to print.</p>
<p>No, the problems you write about donāt have to be solvable within the 4 weeks. (The program is 6 weeks, but only ~4 go to actual research, though people do continue to work on their projects after the program ends.)</p>
<p>science2015 is right. The exact project that you end up working on will not necessarily be something youāve heard of before, given that itāll be of a size meant to yield some results for a high school student in four weeks. Showing interest and enthusiasm in your essay is more important than showing that you know a specific question very well and intend to solve it in four weeks, since the question you write about in your essay isnāt necessarily what your project will be.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I had a couple of questions.</p>
<p>1) Can a university research professor - the head of the lab, not a grad student supervisor - write a rec?</p>
<p>2) Can I put scores from 2 different test dates on the application form so long as I send official score reports from both dates? My PSAT reading wasnāt great this year, but last yearās was a little better. So, under āTest Dateā, can I list the 2012 date for CR while sticking with the 2013 date for my M and W scores? I still pass the 220 mark in any case, but I just thought that it might look a little better.</p>
<p>Happy Holidays</p>
<p>Quick question about the research itself: is the research mentor really involved in your work, or do you work more with a grad student or by yourself? Also, later when you write your report, does the mentor hands-on help you a lot or is it more āI give you tips you figure it outā type of help?</p>
<p>Sorry if that didnāt quite make senseā¦
Thanks :)</p>
<p>Hey guys. I am an international student and I had a doubt: do the RSI people give you a list of research topics to choose from? For example, if you choose Math and then āDifferential Geometry,ā do they give you a list of topics in Diff. Geometry (for eg: āProperties of XYZ fields and ABC Spacesā) or something?
If yes, can anybody provide me with that list? In short, I want the list of research topics that they have. Thanks!</p>
<p>How are you guys asking teachers for recs? Are they just filling out the PDF or are they handwritten?</p>
<p>@SJSF01: In response to your first question, sure, I see no reason why not. Iām not really in a position to give an authoritative answer on your second question, but I doubt that a few points either way in a single section on the PSAT will affect the outcome of your application regardless.</p>
<p>@science2015: The relationship between student and mentor completely depends on your mentor and project. If youāre working in the lab of a high-powered or very prominent professor, itās more likely that youāll interact primarily with graduate students or postdocs. Other students will work more directly with professors. Personally, I worked most closely day-to-day with a postdoc, but I also met with the professor approximately once a week to discuss my progress, goals, and planned procedures. The writing of the research report is entirely the responsibility of the student, but you will receive extensive feedback and suggested edits from the (amazing) RSI academic staff and perhaps your mentor.</p>
<p>@mathjj: CEE does a great job of matching students to mentors based on the studentsā application essays and indicated research fields. Your mentor will ostensibly have the framework for your project already in mind; students generally donāt get much choice as to what specific project they work on. Math people (and occasionally a few others) are contacted by their mentors in April/May to begin assigned readings and some preliminary groundwork for the project. However, the majority of people donāt find out their mentor or research topic until the end of the first week of RSI at Meet Your Mentor Night.</p>
<p>@starchow: I doubt CEE is very picky about the format of the recommendation letters. I gave each of my recommenders the printed form and an envelope, but Iām pretty sure they just typed the letters on regular printer paper. As long as you follow any directions that are explicitly stated on the application, I donāt think that formatting is something to be too worried about.</p>
<p>@LuoSciOly, so for RSI people, you donāt really have that thing of going around searching for topics and discovering something new and going like ādamn, I just found that <result>. This can make for a great paperā and then making it?
And plus how is it that all students succeed in their research? Is it more of just reading rather than inventing/discovering new stuff?</result></p>
<p>@mathjj: Even if you mentor gives you the topic for the project, i.e., directs you to study X chemical pathway or proving Y theorem or building a better Z product, you are still the one largely responsible for figuring out how to do that (coming up with an experimental design) and then actually doing the work and formulating conclusions. So RSI students donāt have to spend time searching for a topic per se, but they do spend considerable time reading background literature to figure out how to perform the experiments they need to perform or figure out how to build whatever they need to build or figure out how to prove whatever they need to prove. If youāre creative and/or lucky in the work you do and the experiments you perform, of course you can discover/create something new. A significant number of RSI students do discover/create something interesting during their time at RSI ā and by āinterestingā I donāt necessarily mean world-changing, but hey, moving incrementally is the nature of scientific research. It isnāt true that all students succeed in their research ā I donāt know where you got that idea, and I donāt know where that could be true in any area of science. Regardless of the success of your work, though, youāre still able to write a research report about what you did, and Iāve read phenomenal research reports from students whose experiments didnāt go as well as planned.</p>
<p>A quick question: </p>
<p>When viewing the application, I couldnāt access any drop-down menu of Topics and Subtopics, is there any other place where that might be available/ any way someone can post that list? OR Did they get rid of the drop-down menu altogether in this yearās application?</p>
<p>@LuoSciOly: Thanks for your inputs! So, the mentors already know the results/expected results before students sit to write their papers? For example, if itās Math, do the mentors prove Theorem X before hand and then ask the student to prove it?</p>