RSI 2022 - Chance Me

Hi, so I will be a junior in the Fall of 2021 and RSI has been one of my biggest dreams since 8th grade. I just wanted to know if my stats and EC’s look good enough for the application and if there’s anything I can do (in the very short time that I have) to amp up my application.

Texas, pretty big public school
Asian Male

Stats:

GPA: 5.8/6 // 4.0/4.0 // Top 2% of my class (class size is about 1000 so within top 20)
PSAT: 1440 (sophomore year; didn’t try or study at all), hoping for a high 1400 when I take it this October
SAT: haven’t taken it yet, but based on practice tests (so far) should be in the 1510-1560 range
Freshman Year APs: AP Human Geo (5)
Sophomore Year APs: AP Computer Science (hoping for a 5), AP Seminar (probably a 4)
Junior Year APs: AP Physics, AP English, AP Research, AP Calc BC, AP Environmental Science

ECs:

Outside of School:

Research Assistant (data science/computer science) with a local professor (3 months): The Internship has been amazing (it’s still currently going on), I’ve increased my knowledge within JS as well as JSON, and the mathematical aspect of it has also been challenging yet really accomplishing. It isn’t at a very prestigious college, but I feel that I’m growing a lot… would you recommend doing a research paper or something of that sort on the data and project I’m working on?

Software Engineering Internship at a non-profit (3 months): honestly very challenging; I definitely bit off more than I can chew (this one’s also current), BUT I’m learning a lot and applying my knowledge within Java into my project. The problem [or maybe it’s a good thing] is that majority of the interns are college students wanting in on the workforce, so I do feel “behind”, but I’m definitely improving in terms of coding and application]

Business Internship (held two major leadership positions as well) (5 months): wasn’t challenging, but I was juggling school while also attending meetings daily (took advantage of the virtual school year lol)

Interned for a start-up technology company (centered around app development) (10 months): helped with product development as well as business outreach - wasn’t a very intensive internship, but I met really cool people (through zoom haha)

In School:

→ VP of Math Honor Society

→ Part of the school’s Math Team (I’ve done the AMC and got the second-highest score at our school, but didn’t qualify for AIME so I think the participation is pretty insignificant)

→ Co-founder and Co-president of a chapter of a STEM organization (~150 members)

→ Varsity Orchestra [we’ll play at Carnegie this year; don’t know if it has any significance on the application though]

→ DECA

→ Student Council

Awards:

→ DECA State Finalist, ICDC Qualifier
→ PVSA Gold Award

I know this wasn’t too specific, but it’s clear that my awards or stats don’t have much to show, but if you have any feedback (can be as harsh as you’d like it to be) or advice, it would be so so appreciated! Thank you!

Personally I would say the APs aren’t enough IF you are coming from a rich and well-populated area, like the Bay Area. But you are coming from Texas, so you could have a decent shot.

RSI takes into account your opportunities, so if a lot more APs were offered at your school and you didn’t take harder classes, your 4.0 gpa’s significance to the committee declines, since you didn’t overload your courses.

Leadership and research is good, leadership especially. The awards are slightly lacking, most RSI people who are admitted seem to be AIME qualifiers and semi-finalists in USABO/USAPho/USNCO, but your internships and leadership could definitely make up for that.

Remember that some people who are admitted are IMO gold finalists, and others have never even heard of AMC. They diversify their acceptances, and the people that don’t have so many awards make up for it with top tier research and internships.

You could have a decent shot if you get within your projected range for the SAT, but class ranking is a slight problem.

RSI typically admits one student per school, so you should be around top 5 in your class at least.

I would DEFINITELY recommend doing a research paper, perhaps publishing it as well; published papers are always valued more than private unpublished ones.

All in all, I think you still have a decent shot RSI, but make sure you have a backup.
RSI is a crapshoot for a lot of people, and I think that may be the case for you as well, despite your excellent internships and leadership background.

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Thank you so much for the response! It definitely put into perspective how rigorous and competitive the process is… I’m currently working on getting a paper that I worked with the professor on published, so hopefully that does bump up my chances. I’ll also definitely look at other choices for summer programs. I think when I started out thinking about summer programs I had such an intense desire to get into RSI that it really blocked out a lot of the other good options out there…your perspective really helped a lot; thank you!

Hi, just saw this, I’m not sure how good my application looks comparatively, but I hope I have a decent shot at getting in.
I’m an American citizen studying in India at an IB school, currently a Junior. And was wondering if I can do anything now to help my app (though I think it’s too late)
Stats:
40/42 IB score, 7 in all my HLs (Math AA, Physics, Chemistry), 7 in Economics and a 6 in English and French; Ranked 1st in my class for overall IB score and for my Math, Physics and Chemistry grade. Class size of around 60ish people.
SAT: 1480 in August (790 Math 690 English), didn’t study for it much, was super overconfident xD. Expecting 1530-1580 next time.
Extracurriculars (non-stem):
-Basketball team captain for 2 years, won Jr.NBA 3 times in a row and got selected to represent my state at nationals.
-Learnt how to play the Guitar for 2 years, taking the Grade 4 Trinity exam this January.
-Acted in 2 school plays, with an audience of approx 1.5k people each time

Extracurriculars (stem):
-Winner of the Regional (South Zone of India) Science Fair on a research project I did
-Spoke at an International Science Fair this year (certificate says over 9000 attendees but it really didn’t seem that popular)
-Founder of the school math club as well as captain for the school math team
-President of the school tutoring desk
-Won a few small math competitions, no olympiads though

Other than this, I am performing some primary research by conducting the double slit experiment with a few modifications, and a few principle quantum physics experiments for fun-might write a private paper on these?. I’ve also watched and think I can understand a decent amount of 8.04 on MIT OCW (Modern Physics) as well as reading and trying to understand Feynman Physics Vol.3.
I do however feel like I haven’t done anything significant yet, and my essay writing isn’t the best, but I’m super passionate about the topics I picked. Any chance I don’t get straight out rejected because of my SAT score and grades?

RSI => near 0% chances. Most scholars are int’l olympiad winners, etc…

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Same as OP.