<p>@Urantiel </p>
<p>You are right. I feel I took a dreadful RISK by applying only to RSI for this summer. :D</p>
<p>@UMTYMP student: You are right in that TASP would be far more valuable than RSI for a humanities student, and vice versa for a science student. However, there is obviously a scale (albeit qualitative) on which these programs fall. For example, while it might make more sense for a math student uninterested in research to go to Ross or SUMaC over RSI, there is no doubt that the prestige, connections, and experience provided by a program like RSI outweigh the benefits of going to another program. So yes, I agree that the âvalueâ of a program may vary from student to student, but your argument is analogous to saying that if a engineering student has the option of choosing UCSD or Yale, that they should opt for UCSD. In this case, disregarding financial considerations, it doesnât make much sense to choose UCSD, even though many may argue itâs a better âfit.â</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you have several options of roughly the same caliber, it would be shortsighted to go to the program you think looks the best; for example, if biology students had the choice of RSI or SIMR, they would do themselves a great disservice by not holding SIMR in the same light as RSI and instead conforming to the crowd-minded opinion of RSI.</p>
<p>Itâs one thing to say RSI > Ross as you can do math research at RSI and I agree that the prestige and connections gained from going to RSI are meaningful. That being said almost no summer programs have a meaningful amount of prestige outside their area so Iâm extremely skeptical TASP > Ross or some biology lab > Ross for a math student without interests in either of those fields which one of your posts basically implied. Not only will an aspiring mathematician learn more at a math camp among math people even a math camp that is considerably less prestigious overall than TASP or the bio research program will have more respect in the math community (they probably wonât have heard of the others). The connections you get at TASP wonât be very useful if you end up studying math at MIT either.</p>
<p>Also while colleges like Yale have well known brands and the associated prestige will help you find a job and various benefits throughout life what does the prestige of your summer program get you? Some (small) boost in college admissions? Anything else?</p>
<p>Toughman and CompSciStudent,
will you please post your stats and other application details so we get a better idea about the admission process?
Thanks in advance!!!</p>
<p>@UMTYMP student:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You probably shouldnât even be looking at summer programs if you feel that the only reason to attend a summer program is for âsome (small) boost in college admissions.â</p></li>
<li><p>I donât think you read Urantielâs posts in their entirety. Did he not concede that TASP would be much more valuable than RSI for a humanities student? You can extend that statement to mean that TASP < some math program for a math student. Itâs clear to me that Urantiel means that the differences on the prestige/value scale only come into the picture when comparing summer programs in the same general field, like MOSP or RSI vs Ross or SUMaC, or RSI vs GarciaâŠ</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So in conclusion stop arguing with Urantiel. He/she is right and you really havenât refuted Urantielâs statements</p>
<p>@jokolomo
- Perhaps you should reread my posts instead. I wrote âwhat does the prestige of your summer program get you? Some (small) boost in college admissions? Anything else?â (emphasis added). I donât think prestige is a good reason to go to summer programs. However, there are excellent educational reasons to go to summer programs. Also Iâm certainly not looking at high school summer programs anymore as Iâm in college. </p>
<ol>
<li>First of all Urientelâs posts #17 and #18 never mention any sort of field of study. Also TASP is roughly as prestigious as RSI so the comparison that a humanities should choose TASP over RSI doesnât imply a whole lot. Perhaps you want to provide some textual evidence for your claim that âItâs clear to me that Urantiel means that the differences on the prestige/value scale only come into the picture when comparing summer programs in the same general field,â as Urientelâs post #18 claims âLooking back at that list, the first 12 programs definitely stand out and are undoubtedly better than the others in terms of prestige, educational experience, and value for the future,â without any such caveats. Itâs possible that what Urientel meant is closer to your interpretation and was simply unclear (happens to all of us) but thatâs not what a close reading suggests.</li>
</ol>
<p>@math1234
LuoSciOly wrote a great post on the 2013 thread about the stats of accepted applicants.</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1385402-rsi-2013-a-57.html[/url]â>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1385402-rsi-2013-a-57.html</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@math1234: Toughman is an international student. While the process may be competitive for internationals, be aware that they are not actually chosen by the CEE; rather, they are chosen by organizations designated to select one/two students for RSI from their respective countries. After an international from, say, Greece is chosen, he is simply approved by the CEE (a quality-assurance type thing). Therefore, there is no guarantee that their profiles, accomplishments, or essays accurately reflect those of domestic students, i.e., there is less homogeneity among internationals. While they are obviously qualified, they may or may not be âup to parâ with the others, so to speak. Of course, in many cases, their accomplishments may be even more impressive than those of some domestic students. Therefore, I suggest you contact domestic students if you want reliable advice on what the CEE seeks from domestic students. And of course, keep in mind that advice is just thatâitâs up to you to convince the readers, and trying to conform to a âprofileâ rather than just being yourself will typically do more harm than good.</p>
<p>@math1234 and many more</p>
<p>Jokolomo is 100% correct and awesome! Thanks a lot for summarizing my opinion. I have received lots of e-mails, messages from CC, Facebook etc. to write my stats, essays and/or extra-curriculars to inform people about RSI application and admission. However, the countries working with CEE have LAUGHABLY DIFFERENT criteria for RSI International Scholar selection. After I was selected for RSI in my country, CEE sent us some forms (which were the application essays for domestic students) just to approve us. I have heard that (but not sure) CEE rejected some selected international scholars because they wouldnât âfitâ into the program. </p>
<p>So I would actually LOVE TO HELP, but I suggest you contact domestic participants like LuoSciOly, atomicbaseball and kraxis before me to get more accurate information. </p>
<p>And remember that I will always be here to help :D</p>
<p>I STRONGLY recommend future applicants to check this up. </p>
<p>[Semioverachiever:</a> More on those RSI essays](<a href=âhttp://semioverachiever.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-on-those-rsi-essays.html]Semioverachiever:â>Semioverachiever: More on those RSI essays)</p>
<p>@CompSciStudent</p>
<p>I messaged you.</p>
<p>@sup210 </p>
<p>I replied :)</p>
<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>Iâm also planning on applying to RSI next year! Good luck to everyone who does!</p>
<p>I had a couple of questions. First, does RSI have anything for economics or humanities oriented students? A friend of mine attending RSI this year said that he has not seen a single economics student yet. I also went to the RSI website and combed it to find out anything about the humanities or economics. Nothing came up except for 2 professors in these fields.</p>
<p>Secondly, if a humanities student were applying, would past research be very important? As in, how would you do research in the humanities (There definitely isnât anything on experimental humanities, unlike experimental economics)? </p>
<p>Thanks guys!</p>
<p>@Ivyleague2019</p>
<p>Research Science Institute, as its name implies, has nothing to do with economics or humanities. The mentorships are all related to science, math or engineering. We, however, had 4 humanities lectures in the first week and some economics related evening lectures throughout the program (but these are not the focus of the research done at RSI).</p>
<p>Oh I see. Darn it! Anyways, good luck to everyone applying!</p>
<p>This has been bothering me for awhile and I finally decided to askâŠIâve been reading the 2013 forum and it seems like despite the focus on core subjects (bio, math, etc) there is a pretty big emphasis on programming. I have pretty much NO experience in programmingâŠ
I know that with programs like these, nothing is formulaic, but could anybody tell me if this is going to hurt me very badly? Thanks in advance</p>
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<p>Although knowing programming would help, I could hardly say that not knowing would hurt⊠But it is true that many people use programming for their RSI projects. I was doing bioengineering and used MATLAB A LOT. You can actually learn a specific programming language there or even before RSI, if your mentor contacts you in advance. I didnât know MATLAB before RSI.</p>
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<p>To answer concisely, I do not believe that lack of programming knowledge will hurt your application very badly.</p>
<p>There is one application essay question that asks you to describe your âpast experience with computer programming, modeling, simulation, and data analysis.â You can think very broadly about this question â it goes far beyond just programming. I had not programmed before and was still able to write a fair amount for this essay question.</p>
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<p>Hey guys, I was wondering what the specifications were for teacher recommendation letters? Which teachers do you approach? </p>
<p>I have in mind my guidance counselor, my physics teacher, and/or my English teacher.</p>