RSI 2015 Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Currently a rising Junior (class of 2016), I'd like advice on my chances on getting into RSI 2015. My biggest concern is lack of impressive SAT scores. </p>

<p>I'm a math guy, so most of my EC's are centered around mathematics.</p>

<p>SAT-(750 M/ 720 CR/ 720 W) (Yes I know, ew, but I'll be retaking it)</p>

<p>Freshman year (4.0uw/4.67w)
AP Calculus BC-5
AP Physics B-5
AP Chemistry-4
Honors English
Spanish 2
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>EC's that year:
Varsity Baseball, California State Science Fair- 4th in Mathematics & Software, Published paper in Undergraduate Math journal written under chair of mathematics department at UCR, AP Scholar with Honors, Scholar Athlete</p>

<p>Sophomore year (4.0uw/4.5w)
AP world history
Honors English
Spanish 3
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>Multivariable Differential Calculus-A
Multivariable Integral Calculus- A</p>

<p>Taken at Harvey Mudd College:
Linear Algebra- A
Differential Equations-B+ (I was out of town for the final -_-)</p>

<p>EC's this year:
Member of two Professional Research groups at UCR for post-docs and professors, named the "Fractal Research Group and the "Mathematical Physics and Dynamical Systems" research group. Only high school student in 25+ years of existence</p>

<p>Invited/attended AMS (American Mathematical Society) Sectional Meeting held at UCR by math chair.</p>

<p>Taught AP Calc BC- (I know this sounds strange, but I literally would teach the course for our calc teacher on days he wasn't there. He'd excuse me from class and I'd teach for him for the day)</p>

<p>Tutoring of Harvey Mudd students in Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations</p>

<p>Collaboration with recent UCR post-doc and MIT student on mathematics paper, completed last month.</p>

<p>Professional Seminars given:</p>

<p>"On the theory of Lures with Dynamical Action on Manifolds and Fractal Strings" part one. Fractal Research group, UCR, hour seminar</p>

<p>Part two, Fractal Research group, UCR, hour seminar</p>

<p>Upcoming seminar next quarter in the Mathematical Physics and Dynamical Systems research group, hour seminar on "Fuzzy Differential Topology"</p>

<p>Varsity Baseball, Captain as sophomore</p>

<p>Intel ISEF regional sweepstakes award- given to the best overall project in the high school division.</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta award for excellence in mathematics- International award given on the basis of individual research in mathematics.</p>

<p>Intel Award for Excellence in Computer Science- Given to a research project in mathematics or computer science.</p>

<p>Intel ISEF 2014 finalist in Mathematics</p>

<p>European Award for CERN Exploration: Given to 12 international students on the basis of their STEM research at Intel ISEF. Includes all-expenses paid trip to Geneva, Switzerland to tour CERN for a week.</p>

<p>Self Studied: Topology, Analysis, Algebraic Topology, Differential Topology</p>

<p>Junior Year Courseload:</p>

<p>AP Language
AP U.S. History
AP Spanish
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>At UCR:</p>

<p>Distribution Theory (PhD level class)
I couldn't afford to take the course for credit, so I'm "auditing" the course with the prof's permission, but still ascertaining the knowledge nonetheless)
Graduate Analysis (PhD level class) (same as above)</p>

<p>Via Stanford Online: Abstract Algebra, Real analysis, Complex Analysis</p>

<p>At Harvey Mudd:
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations II
Mathematical Analysis I</p>

<p>This year's EC's so far:</p>

<p>Still a member of the professional research groups at UCR, will be giving two one-hour seminars in November.</p>

<p>Still teaching AP Calc BC at the high school level. </p>

<p>Little to no competition for my regions ISEF this year, so expected 2015 ISEF finalist.</p>

<p>Work Experience: I work at a math tutoring center for k-12.</p>

<p>Currently writing a math paper with a undergrad friend from Harvard, will later submit for publication.</p>

<p>Submitted last year's science fair math paper to the arxiv.</p>

<p>Goethe Institut Award for German Exploration:
International award given to 12 students on the basis of his/her intel ISEF research. Includes an all expenses paid trip to Germany for a week, paid by the German Government.</p>

<p>Varsity Baseball- 3rd year</p>

<p>Hook: Heavily recruited D1 athlete, currently being heavily recruited by 4 of the ivies, and talking to all of them. Will be flying back east to visit the campuses soon as per coaches' requests. Pending offers from highly competitive programs, but not academic fits.</p>

<p>Letters of Rec: Glowing from a professor that I've worked closely with for a year and a half now. My AP Language teacher wrote that I was the "most talented student [he's] had in 9 years of teaching".</p>

<p>However, I'd like to know my chances from a purely academic viewpoint. Just in case something goes awry with athletics.</p>

<p>Any comments appreciated.</p>

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<p>bumpity bump bump</p>

3

<p>@PurePhysics Sup. I’m a 2014 Rickoid. Your stats look good. Spend as much time on your essays to make them exceptional. Have you made MOSP? and What’s your PSAT?</p>

4

<p>@Pieater I don’t participate in competitive math, and I never will…so no MOSP.</p>

<p>Not sure what my PSAT is yet, but I don’t think it’ll be exceptional (probably similar to SAT). Standardized tests are not my area of expertise, research is.</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

5

<p>@PurePhysics Ah I was just wondering. There were quite a few students last year who focused primarily on mathematical research and had similar resumes. California is extremely competitive, so I cannot say exactly your chances or anything of that sort. However, I believe you have a realistic profile for attending. I would say think about what you really want to do with your research and convey that in your essays. Be honest. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Hmm you’re taking 4 analysis courses Junior year (graduate analysis, real analysis, complex analysis, mathematical analysis)… Not too sure if all 4 were necessary lol - anyways, I wish our school would let us take courses like that… T.T I’d actually not be bored in math class</p>

<p>Looking at your math experience, especially in research (which most competition math students don’t have), you definitely have a good shot. But then, it’s California :confused: (you would be in easy if you were from like Nebraska or something lol) Good luck with your app/research!</p>

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<p>@Kirito69 Well the topics covered in each respective analysis class are entirely different. For example, the Graduate Analysis covers topics such as Lebesgue Integration, L^p spaces, Normed Spaces, Sobolev Spaces, etc. while Real Analysis is a basic analysis intro. Complex Analysis covers analysis in the complex plane… contour integration, residue theorem, complex sequences and series, etc. The Mathematical Analysis is probably the most “standardized” of the 4, covering topics from the proverbial Baby Rudin textbook… probably the hardest of the 4. </p>

<p>I’d really be interested to know how many other students in California really participate in math research… I haven’t come across many at the state fair or even at the international fair…</p>

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<p>@PurePhysics Ahh that makes sense - I was just thinking some would naturally come before others (i.e. real analysis before complez or basic analysis stuff before Lebesgue stuffs) and from the order presented, it seemed like you went from Graduate Analysis and then to Real Analysis lol</p>

<p>Personally, the only people who I know of who do research in math are those in like MIT PRIMES or RSI (biology seems to be the thing these days… shame on most of them), so I think you have a really good niche. Looking at like Intel and stuff results, it seems like if there’s a guy who really does math research well, they usually easily beat out all those biology-stuff people (but idk), but they seem pretty few and far between (at least in high school, since while you can do biology “research” with AP Bio knowledge, you need to be at least 3-4 years ahead of AP Calc to do math research).</p>

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<p>@kirito69 I’d definitely agree, VERY few students complete research in pure mathematics. And, if they do, it’s usually in something that doesn’t require prereqs, such as graph theory, which can be studied while in AP Calc. Unfortunately, I’d say that most awards go to the applied math project, such as the ones on cancer or something of the sort.</p>

<p>To everyone else, feedback is still welcomed. </p>

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Bump bumpity bump bump

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Another bump attempt

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Update PSAT scores have been released, I received a 228… hopefully this will help my chances a bit?

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Awesome PSAT and thatll probably get you NMF, but you need to remember that RSI is more competitive than normal MIT admission. Id say youre a strong applicant but not quiet at th level of RSI people(IMO medals and such).

Maybe 20% chance or so?

14

@reddr0p I’m sorry, not at the level of RSI people? Clearly you don’t understand this, but there are two tracks one can pursue pre-college in mathematics: Research or Competition. An IMO medal does not necessarily act as an indication that one will succeed in research. I’ve spoken to a few of the students who were admitted to RSI last year in mathematics, all three had only completed a course in linear algebra and abstract algebra.

Perhaps research a bit more before sharing your opinion?

15

Experiences a massive inferiority complex attack
I always get those when I see stats like yours…
Sings in a Bill Medley-esque voice: “What good am I?..”
Incredible accomplishments & extracurriculars, great depth and breadth in mathematics courses/research, excellent personal qualities, both a student and a teacher. Your passion definitely shows. I don’t think you need to worry too much about your scores, as they are very good. Good essays will just be the cherry on the top of your ice cream application, and an individual of your intellectual capability and prowess probably won’t have much trouble with writing them.

16

Im going to ignore most of the top of that because it is not worth my time…

Anyway, your PSAT scores are good and help lots(you do have to send all scores tho IIRC, so they will see the average/below average SAT). It is not like youre not a competitive applicant, youre just competing against the VERY best. Your ECs and classes are amazing for math.

Having done a “rare” type of research helps but RSI only selects about a dozen of people for math each year( https://math.mit.edu/research/highschool/rsi/index.php ) Do you honestly think there arent 12 people out there as qualified as you? Youre definitely at the top but not neccisarily one of those 12.

Anyways, I hope you make the cut. Keep up the good work even if you dont!

17

Methinks PurePhysics has somewhat of a chip on his shoulder, with his Harvard logo and blown up sense of his math research. I think it’s all going to come down to some rec letters. Will some of the UCR or Harvey Mudd profs vouch for your inherent brilliance and superior math analytical skills? If so, that will count for a lot, esp from Harvey Mudd. It’s curious though that such a brilliant math student can’t ace standardized tests… but it doesn’t sound like you really want anyone’s real opinion except to tell you what you already know.

18

agree with spayurpets. PurePhysics asks for opinions and bumped it up a few times only to challenge a not completely positive opinion (condescendingly I might add). I think some people only want to hear praises like OMG!!! you are the smartest smart who ever smarted. Sometimes I wonder why people really do these chance me threads.

Anyhow - I am friends with someone who went to RSI two years ago. He is definitely on a higher strata in math than OP and he said that the other Rickoids in Math were in another stratosphere altogether…

So I say 20% chance.

19

Hi guys, if anyone is interested in an update, I was recently accepted for RSI 2015. :slight_smile: thank you to those who had kinds word of support.

20

Hi - I think you have great stats, and the research is impeccable. However I had one question:

Does this mean you were offered an “official visit”? If so this is quite early for them to be offering OVs to a junior?? Please explain

Your best shot of a likely letter is via the athletic hook. The math stuff is indeed impressive, but no slam dunk.