RSI 2019

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

Like last year, we’re starting ahead of tha curve…what’s your thoughts? Stats, maybe? I’ll start with my stats.

Louisiana, from a conservative Catholic school
Asian Female
ACT: 35, PSAT:1440(10th), SAT IIs: Math 2 (800), GPA: 4.61, APs so far: AP Art History (anticipating a 5)
Junior year APs:
-Calc AB (will be taking BC exam, my school isn’t one to encourage taking classes ahead)
-APUSH
-Physics C:Mech
-Lang
-self study Physics C: E+M

ECs:
-zero research experience sadly, although currently trying to find a mentor before the summer starts
-also trying to secure an internship at a local uni robotics lab
-beginner’s experience in Java, Python, HTML, and CSS (boohoo CSS sucks)
-mechanical experience from robotics
-IT experience from Help Desk

-Mu Alpha Theta VP
-Treasurer of Girls Who Code
-Treasurer of Youth and Government
-Past Art Historian of school JCL
-will be resurrecting our long-dead Amnesty International Club junior year! im so excited for this :))
-Intern (about to start working ) at my school’s computer help desk

MUN x2 yrs
Youth Leg x2 yrs
FIRST Robotics x2 yrs
JCL x2 yrs
MAO x2 yrs
Beta x1 yr

-Winner of Mu Alpha Theta state convention, of nearly every regional tournament since freshman year, and two year state winner in a game
-6th at 2018 Junior Classical League state convention, placing overall in creative arts and academics
-15th in Gemini,at MAO nationals last year, hoping to place in top 10 indivs this year x
-150+ volunteer hours at various organizations, namely Girls on the Run and my local council on aging center

Hobbies:
-artsy! I love painting with watercolor especially
-a big fan of politics and government, so i’ve been a repeat offender at Youth Leg and MUN, having my bill on light pollution pass through both houses and being a lobbyist the year before
-math. math. MATH. my classes don’t show it, because my school’s really restrictive with classes in general (up to 2 APs soph year and I ditched one for doubling my maths to take AB next year), but i honestly enjoy reading math textbooks…it’s pretty nerdy ik :confused:
-i meme Latin references on the regular
-obsession with electronic music. i’m pretty much a curator at this point. EDC is raging on this weekend and i’m freaking out over the lineup. i really want to DJ a school party or something! or learn how to DJ for the matter…but DJing is a pretty expensive hobby… :frowning:

Uh yeah, this is my overly long, too detailed profile of me. I truly want want want to get into RSI! I have always wanted to do research, but I could never find a way to at my local university (I’m trying rn lol). I’ve always been fascinated by discovering something new and I’ve always wanted to be involved in that kind of effort. I looooooooooooooove astronomy and want to pursue aerospace engineering with a specialization in space technologies in my life. Sorry for being loquacious!

TELL ME ABOUT YOU! LET’S TALK ABOUT OUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS IN ANTICIPATION FOR RSI!

2

New York, Public High School
Southeast Asian Male
PSAT: 1270 (10th) didn’t really study for these since they wouldn’t count for NMS
SAT 2 Bio: 650 (9th) I don’t know what happened here
GPA: 98.00
APs: World, Euro (both in 10th)
Stats, Psych, Physics, Lang, U.S History (all in 11th)

Clubs: -Mu Alpha Theta (Charter member 9th grade, VP 9th grade, Pres. 10th grade)
-Science Olympiad (VP elected for 11th grade)
-NHS (elected secretary for 11th grade)
-Model UN
-Math League
-Gonna try to start up National Science Honor Society next year

ECs:- Independent Cancer Research at a local University under a mentor
-2nd Place at Regional SeaPerch Competition
-International SeaPerch 2018 Competition
-State semifinalists for Samsung’s Solve For Tomorrow Challenge
-Won a medal at Regional Science Olympiad competition
-Presented my previous research at a symposium where THE Dr. James Watson looked at my research and I even got a picture with him :slight_smile:
-Honorable Mention at a Regional Science Congress

Volunteer: 200+ hours at local hospital
30+ hours at Library

Comments: Gonna try to get a letter of rec from my mentor that I’m doing research under, as well as raise those test scores. RSI would be a great addition that would make my science spike even stronger.

3

Colorado (fringe rural public school, near both Aspen (rich skiers) and Grand Junction (homeless rednecks).
Straight White Guy
PSAT/NMSQT: 1480 (10th)
SAT: 1400 (9th)
ACT: 33 w/ a 36 in reading (9th)
APs: Human Geo (5, 9th), World History (Independent Study, thinking a 4, 10th), Chemistry (probably a 4, 10th), and Computer Science A (Independent Study, 10th, )
11th Grade: AP Seminar, AP Lang/Comp, AP Biology, Dual Enrollment Algebra/Trig (basically honors pre-calc), APUSH
GPA: 4.21 (W), 4.00 (UW)

Clubs:
Band (Section Leader, All-State 1st Alternate as a sophomore)
Orchestra (Co-Principal, Drive 3 Hours a Week to make it happen)
Student Council
NHS
Captain’s Council
Cross Country (Varsity)
Track (Floater)
100+ Hours at Hospital
40+ Hours a year teaching STEM to kids at Camp Invention in the summer

Research:
Limited Due to Location. Participate in local water quality data collection. Involves physical collection and basic lab tests (e.g. alkalinity, hardness, etc.). Presented basic findings at Youth Water Summit, which I am on a council to organize it this year.

Comments:
Really hoping to use RSI or something similar to get real research experience before high school at a somewhat low cost. Will take ACT and PSAT/NMSQT again as well as maybe the Chem SAT 2 with Math Level 1.

4

What do you guys recommend for people learning any coding languages for the first time? And what languages do you guys prefer?

5

Personally, I used Treehouse to learn Python, Codeacademy for HTML/CSS, and had a “class” last year for Java (mainly us learning it ourselves sometimes with some supervisor who was a programmer before). Treehouse is a wonderful platform to learn coding languages. Check with your local library if they offer free memberships :slight_smile: and my favorite language is Python!

6

Hey! So I’m starting my sophomore year this year, and I’m hearing that having coding background is essential for RSI, so what exactly do you guys recommend starting out with?? And what specific languages do you guys recommend having a strong foundation in?? I’m also taking AP CompSci A the summer before junior year.

7

I have the research part down, and I won awards at both the national level and international level (ISEF) during freshman year, so hopefully that will help along with other ECs I have, but I really got to get on that coding grind :’)

8

Wow I’m dumb, I just realized I asked that a day ago and someone already replied. Thanks @thegrandestproof

9

Hey everyone, I had a question. I came to the USA at the beginning of my 7th grade (Indian male). I was thinking of applying to RSI. However, due to the huge wait for Indians for permanent residency, currently, I’m neither a US Citizen nor a Permanent Resident. However, I’m enrolled full-time is a US High School. My question is - if I applied to RSI, would I have to apply as an international applicant, a US applicant, or can I not apply at all? Thanks!

10

Are the 2018 results posted somewhere? just could not find it.

11

Pennsylvania, Extremely Competitive Public High School (but i don’t think anyone else from my school is applying)
South Asian Female
PSAT: 1430 (10th) didn’t study for these, I expect my 11th grade score to be closer to 1500
SAT 2: None
GPA: Unweighted 4.0, Weighted 4.65
APs: AP World (4), AP English Language (4), AP Stats (3), AP Psych (4) in 10th. In 11th, planning on taking AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Macroeconomics, and a college English class
Clubs: -A bunch of not-science clubs
-A STEM project with Samsung and the United Nations that happens every 4 years; 4 US schools are selected and partnered up with 4 international schools across the world. We were asked to use STEM to develop solutions to worldwide problems (UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) outlined by the UN. Representatives from our school then travelled to the UN headquarters in NYC to present our work to the United Nations (This is the only super impressive thing that I have, and I’m sort of counting on it for admission:) )
-PJAS (State-wide Science Competition)
-NHS

Awards: None Really, a couple First Places at the State level at science competitions

Volunteer: Work in a developing country to help spread awareness about the environment. (This is another one of my more impressive things)

Comments: I don’t really have that much going for me but I hope the UN thing will really help me;

http://webtv.un.org/search/public-private-partnership-steam-for-global-citizenship-to-achieve-the-sdgs/5726873764001/?term&lan=english

https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-global-classroom-steam-challenge/

Heres the links to some info about what I did; in case you’re interested

Also could someone who knows a bit about RSI admissions chance me?

12

@LivingHappily go to the RSI application site and you will find instructions on how to apply. As an international student you have to contact the liaison from India and find out the procedures for applicants from your country.

13

@kiwi18 some help please? :wink: I’ve seen you on other rsi boards and was wondering if you could look at my other post on this board^^ Thanks

14

Whoo, I came here late but I’m going to tag along with my stats anyway!

State: Utah (which pretty much doesn’t exist)
School Type: Large Public High School
Demographics: Vietnamese Female

ACT: 36 (36/34/36/36) with 12 (4/4/4) on writing
SAT: N/A (taking in August)
PSAT/NMSQT: 1440 as a sophomore (went in cold, hoping for improvements in 11th)
SAT II: N/A
APs: Human Geography (5), Calculus BC (5), APUSH (5)
Junior Year APs: Chemistry, Psychology, Biology, Lit, Stats; self-studying Environmental Science and Lang
Junior Year IBs: European History SL and Spanish SL (though I might swap it out for Math SL)
GPA: 4.0 UW

Clubs/Extracurriculars:
• Speech & Debate
- will be a captain for the 2018-19 school year
- 2018 state runner-up
- 2x qualifier for NCFLs (Declamation for 2017, Policy for 2018)
- NSDA octafinalist (2018, first speech competitor from my state to break in ~18 years)
- mentor kids down at the junior high (~50 hours for 2017-18 school year)
• HOSA
- vice president for the 2018-19 school year
- 5th place at state conference
- played a huge part in bringing HOSA to our school; it was our first year competing last year
• Science Fair Club 2018-19
• Science Olympiad 2018-19 (will compete in Bio Oly)
• volunteered at state university hospital for 50+ hours
• shadowed a sarcoma surgeon
• will hopefully land a research internship at an orthopedic hospital when the summer’s over
• attending TASS (Cornell seminar) right now

Comments: I have no research experience or SAT IIs, which are huge weaknesses. I’m looking to do research in either biology or psychology, but I can’t be sure I’ll be able to land an internship until I get back from Cornell and can reach out to people. Utah sadly doesn’t have many opportunities to do so :frowning:

15

@LivingHappily did you get an answer? (same boat here)

16

did you get an answer?

17

Hey guys, looks like I’m a bit late but here we go. Please give some feedback!!

State: Missouri
School Type: Large Public High School
Demographics: Indian Male, Upper Middle Class

ACT: 35 (E 36/M 36/R 33/S 35) with 10 on writing
SAT: N/A (taking in October)
PSAT/NMSQT: 1500 as a sophomore (no study)
SAT II: World History 800
APs: Calc BC (5), World History (5), Physics 1 (5), Comp Sci A (5)
Junior Year APs: Chemistry, Lang, Stats, Spanish, Physics 2
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.52 W (4.7 if all A’s junior year)

Clubs/Extracurriculars:

Outside school

  1. Student researcher in neuroimaging at Washington University in St. Louis under a major consortium under key professor for national project; writing paper (second author) and will be submitting by the end of this semester (around November/December)
  2. Current summer intern (and continuing into school year) at a neuro-opthalmalogy lab at the University of Pennsylvania on neuroimaging and visual connections with brain; writing paper (first author) and will be submitting by end of semester (October/November) Note: This is was my summer internship for this year, this was an independent project that I secured by emailing the PI and getting a rec from my professor at WashU. He doesn't actually take High School interns, but he made an exception because of my unique background and experience. He basically paid for me to come to Philly and it's also a paid internship, so it's quite substantial. It's also a great experience to be at Penn (alone) for the summer bc it's my dream school!
  3. Working with an NYC-based neuroinformatics startup on PET imaging analysis as a collaborator
  4. Founder and CEO of a global youth-driven consulting agency that works with small-scale high-potential startups in emerging markets like West Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Latin America. Currently working on major deals with companies in countries across the world, and also have a team stationed in many different countries. We have already secured close to $2-3K in corporate deals with over 4-5 companies in the first month.
  5. Started a small company that collaborates with STL startups to build partnership networks of biotech and medtech companies. This wasn't something I did for profit, more to help establish connections between companies in the community. I am no longer working on this as I began my other startup.
  6. Midwestern Outreach Administrator for a youth-driven national non-profit educational equity startup seeking to provide more academic opportunities for students of all backgrounds across the US.
  7. Taekwondo athlete for ~10 years. Instructor at my local dojang and state/national level competitor (gold medalist at Missouri and Illinois state, silver medalist at Kansas state)

Inside School

  1. Founder/President of Students for the Advancement of Interdisciplinary Science, a club/organization that aims to explore and educate students about the alternative opportunities one has outside the traditional clinical medicine or hard bench science. We explore different career paths that integrate these aspects of science into different fields like business, marketing, law, etc. It's actually based off a similar student society I learned about at UPenn, so I got the help of the Penn student to found this in my local community.
  2. Founder/President of Investment and Economics Club, where we explore the nature of investing in different types of securities like different types of stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. We utilize a lot of simulations.
  3. Regional chair of the STL Model UN. Administer 2 conferences every year with over 20 schools and 500+ students.
  4. Member of Science National Honor Society (SNHS) and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)

Comments: As you can probably tell, my application is split between and also integrates two quite separate fields together: science research and business/economics. I have a passion for both of these fields and I seek to integrate them greatly in an interdisciplinary career path. In the future I hope to do some healthcare consulting for some time, get a Ph.D. or MD Ph.D., and then pursue a career in Pharmaceutical R&D and administration (like MD, CMO, CSO positions in pharma). I really want to focus on my research passions in my career and also integrate them with my passion for leadership and changing the world through business/entrepreneurship.

I hope my kind of “split” personality won’t pull away from my chances in RSI. It’s basically my dream summer program! Especially because MIT is one of my top choice schools (because neurosci AND Sloan!).

Will appreciate any feedback!

18

Ah I’m sorry I missed one of my major upcoming ECs (it’s research related so it’s important). Here it is:

I am also starting to do research at Wharton (Penn’s Business School) under one of the most renowned professors of neuroeconomics (a very interdisciplinary field) this fall. He basically founded the field in the late 1990s/early 2000s by writing some very interesting papers on them and is one of the most famous professors here on campus, especially because he works in Wharton, Perelman (school of medicine), and the college (in the department of psychology). Having read them and some books on neuroeconomics, I see a lot of potential and decided to pursue work in his lab. I will be doing some neuromarketing analysis with him and a CS-grad student in his lab regarding eye-tracking and some analysis of ways advertisements evoke specific emotions and senses in people. Again, you can tell it’s very interdisciplinary and combines my interests quite well.

19

bump

20

bumppp