To previous attendees, do you have any advice for getting off the waitlist of RSI?
To previous RSI attendees: Does RSI account for people who live in an area where there is no available research? My city only has a community college and a small Christian school, no math olympiad or anything like that. We only have science bowl.
^^ You will have to find your own path then. They only take roughly one person per state (NY, CA and Texas aside) and many states they don’t even take any. If you are not among the top research or competition science and math kids in your state, you will probably not be in serious contention for a spot. Good luck finding a path!!
@cgoodwinner Create your own opportunities. Do independent research. Ask teachers to host competitive competitions. That’s what 90%+ students do.
I am a current junior in high school, 36 ACT, 230 PSAT (80 Math), 5 on BC, Bio, Chemistry, and Comp Sci; 800 on M2, currently enrolled in IB HL math Yr2, AP Phys C, and AP Stats.
I am a white girl and live in Ohio. My extracurriculars are extraordinarily diverse (varsity/Midwest ranked tennis player, high executive state role in a speech/debate club, founder of many schoolwide photography projects, volunteer teacher for a govt mandated program to teach kids in bad school districts how to read, etc) but I do not have anything specializing in STEM aside from being one of the state’s top 10 Math Team competitors and being in the top 50-ish in math in a state competition this past year, which I know is not impressive. At all. I actually applied for multiple lab positions at OSU this past summer and was accepted to multiple, but I later found out that I wasn’t allowed to work in a lab/behind a computer/assist in research until I was 16. Since I’m young for my grade, I still haven’t been able to participate in any lab work.
Can someone chance me for RSI or redirect me to similar summer programs that may be for students with more diverse interests?
Thank you!
@ayraify Awesome stats. I would remember, though, that RSI is literally only research. Admissions is not just research, but most of the kids that get in have some experience with it or a passion for it and know that they want to spend 6 weeks doing a rigorous and singularly-focused project.
If I were you I would apply to some more balanced programs, like MIT’s WTP or SSP, which are science and tech related programs with a broader range of things to do and learn. You might enjoy TASP, too, if humanities strikes your fancy as well.
@ayraify You should definitely apply. You have great stats. It depends on which field you want to work. I think for math, physics or computer science…etc most kids do not have “research” experience. It does not hurt to apply. If you get in, it may be one of the most memorable experiences you will have in your high school life. It is definitely worth spending time filling out those forms/questions.
My son was a 2015 RSI alternate and ended up going to another prestigious science summer camp. His science project teammate on the other hand got in RSI. They compared notes during and after the camps. Both camps are superb, but we feel RSI is much better for various reasons. RSI staffs/personnel really go out of their way to make RSI a great experience for their kids both intellectually and socially. I am even considering making donation to RSI although they did not take my son, LOL, just because I feel what they do for the kids is so honorable and respectful!!!
Thank you both to much for your responses! @love2cheeses , I probably would want to have a project in computer science/data analytics. Here at home, I’m also in the process of getting an internship where I would be writing programs to sort through MediCare data. Hopefully, this experience will help me with any future comp sci projects, regardless of whether they are done through RSI or not:)
@ayraify, you might also consider YSPA, which is a new summer research program at Yale: http://yspa.yale.edu