<p>I expressed a deep interest in comp sci for my RSI app, but comp sci isn't a laboratory science. Would this hurt my image as a prospective student?</p>
<p>1st: compsci theoreticl
2nd: compsci artificial intelligence</p>
<p>I really want to study compsci, but the other disciplines like chemistry or biology are such stereotypical lab sciences that I can't help but feel like an anomaly.</p>
<p>Luckily, my questions for the two fields are way different.</p>
<p>one last thing. I hear there's a great weight placed on the "essays." But I answered a series of questions for the app. Which questions are the "essays?"</p>
<p>i read an RSI essay in which the applicant (who eventually got in) told about how his/her long range goals were lofty things like nobel prize etc. </p>
<p>i ask, do you really think they'll buy that? seriously.</p>
<p>might as well tell them that you're the first in your family to attend high school, and you live in a cardboard box</p>
<p>If RSI used artificial intelligence as one of the examples for the field, they must have compsci people there.</p>
<p>RE: other summer progranms: HCSSiM is wonderful and costs a LOT less than MathCamp (and a little less than PROMYS). Great for math types!</p>
<p>poignant,</p>
<p>"you make it sound like summer programs that ask for some tuition are seeking profit when most competitive admission summer programs even the ones suggested by MIT ask for tuition not for profit but because not all summer programs have a CEE behind them. that doesn't make them lower than RSI"</p>
<p>free programs ARE better than costly ones. these free programs are backed by organizations that agressively seek funding, and through their exceptional efforts to provide programs students can attend regardless of financial status, they gain prestige. more people apply to free programs. less people get in. idk why you're attacking the cee. they're trying to give students the best opportunities they can, and they've certainly succeeded. those other programs are excellent, as well, but they're not as good as rsi. (i've attended promys, and i have many friends who've attended other programs on that list. rsi is better.) it's not the end of the world if you don't get into rsi, and don't bash it before you even know your decision. </p>
<p>"i read an RSI essay in which the applicant (who eventually got in) told about how his/her long range goals were lofty things like nobel prize etc. </p>
<p>i ask, do you really think they'll buy that? seriously.</p>
<p>might as well tell them that you're the first in your family to attend high school, and you live in a cardboard box"</p>
<p>first of all, that's rude. if a rickoid was nice enough to let you read his/her essay, you should at least keep these comments to yourself. i don't know much about the selection process, but this i'm sure of: an applicant who shows no significant goals (however lofty) has very little chance of getting in. it's common sense, not an admissions secret. why would rsi want to help you if you have no aspiration of becoming a leader?</p>
<p>oh for god's sake... somebody please.</p>
<p>who is attacking CEE? i was defending other decent programs like promys who don't have big government sponsors.</p>
<p>how am i bashing RSI? this is what's called stimulating discussion. get used to it.</p>
<p>that rickoid didnt let me read his/her essay. it was posted online for all to see.</p>
<p>and in response to your last paragraph corinao: all men are alike in their dreams; the difference is in what they do. (moliere)</p>
<p>i.e. its easy to say all that stuff and really mean it too but everyone can do it, some better than others, and if thats what gets them in, i quit.</p>
<p>The wait sucks...</p>
<p>My stats:
psh as if I'm gonna let you guys laugh at me</p>
<p>what's wrong with aspiring to win a Nobel prize? :)</p>
<p>i didn't put it in my essay, but I would really want to aspire to do that. which is seemingly impossible, as all the Nobel prize winners are like completely devoted to lab work 22 hours a day and continue this for like 20 years, and i want something outside of the lab. but i also want to make a difference ^__^ honestly, if you love something enough, anything is possible. (or what i like to think, at least :))</p>
<p>haha NJ public school peeps have to take HSPAs (including me). and there was a quote from the story...</p>
<p>"It's about knowing what you want"</p>
<p>yup :) just my 2 cents</p>
<p>haha i love how people post at like...12 am. XP</p>
<p>who said there was something wrong with aspring to win a nobel?</p>
<p>NOBODY! its just common sense not to write that kind of ... dreamy not down-to-earth stuff</p>
<p>i like your attitude laishronx2</p>
<p><em>wink</em></p>
<p>nothing wrong with aspiring to win a Nobel Prize. However, you don't do research in order to win the prize. You do research in order to do research.</p>
<p>yea ... about that ... </p>
<p>excerpt from my essay:</p>
<p>"...I would love to some day attain a high honor in such a field such as a Nobel Prize in Physics, a Fields Medal, Abel Prize, MacArthur Fellowship, or Turing Award (most of which have the added bonus that they would help fund further research) and believe I am capable of someday attaining such an honor; this is obviously difficult for anyone and as long as I manage to do something useful to help humanity as a whole I will feel accomplished, whether or not it gains me recognition..." </p>
<p>so .. umm .. yea .. <em>looks bashful</em>
(also .. ahh .. complete lack of two needed commas!! shoot! I hope that (between that and the other >20 exhaustion induced minor errors) I don't look too stupid (and since I have my 790 SAT writing score, I also look crazy))</p>
<p>About the whole Nobel Prize deal (finally we have some sort of discussion going)</p>
<p>I agree with poignant that it is unrealistic to have winning the Nobel Prize as a goal.
1) People are usually recognized after the research has been proven useful or "ground breaking," so like 20 years after the research have been completed.
2) I don't know the exact wording of the essay, but setting the goal as winning the Nobel Prize is not right. A genuine researcher would set making an important discovery as the goal and the prize as a side benefit.</p>
<p>Since it's so uncommon to want to win a Nobel Prize, writing about it might be considered in the admissions office.</p>
<p>but it seems like RSI bought it, so it works for them. </p>
<p>Poignant: Cardboard houses seem to be prominent these days. Someone should make an uber awesome house out of cardboards that beats anything else and brag about it. and I don't think ur bashing RSI. cuz RSI is just un-bashable.</p>
<p>Donalguy: I had a line similar to your "this is obviously difficult for anyone and as long as I manage to do something useful to help humanity as a whole I will feel accomplished." But my dad made me change it... for some reason.</p>
<p>Did the nobel prize essay get in? Or is this gonna turn out to be a dumb question......</p>
<p>Dum question. I read over parenthetical (who eventually got in)</p>
<p>laishronx2: I totally burst out laughing when I saw that. That reading prompt was so confusing, I have no idea what they were asking for. I mean, seriously, dreams? aliens? Ah.. I hated the writing sections, I totally didn't realize we would have two picture prompts. I hate picture promts, even though the last picture with the guy and the hose was pretty funny. I'm so glad that I'll NEVER have to take another in-school standardized test EVER again!</p>
<p>I remember writing about my goals. That was actually my favorite part of the apps. I didn't have something about Nobel Prize, but I did mention that I wanted to contribute to our scientific knowledge, become a professor at a great school, and pass down what I do to the next generation of curious young researchers. And the fact that if I become as rich as Bill Gates one day by some miraculous means, I want to create my own Leukemia Foundation for poor children who can't afford to be treated. Oh, and that I wanted to build Minas Tirith on New Zealand :)</p>
<p>I don't think RSI will fault you for what you write at all, because honestly, those are you goals, and you can't overreach. Having big dreams is the first step in actually achieving them, and no dream is too big. If it means Nobel Prize, then go for it. Lying about wanting to win the nobel prize is lying to yourself, and honestly, people who do that probably won't make the cut anyway. What goes around comes around, and lying to get into RSI isn't the best way to feel good about what you want to do in the future.</p>
<p>Mine were awfully realistic. I was like I wanna study compsci and apply my knowledges in a broad scope. Then I went about highlighting how applicable computers were to any scientific discipline and then ended saying I wanted to use computers to solve a variety of practical problems. </p>
<p>Would that work>?</p>
<p>lol.... this board is great...</p>