<p>Hey where it says to list your two top chocies from a science field and subfield, is there a list of options to choose from that I am missing or can you do anything that you're interested in? Also does your choice of field have any weight when they are choosing who to accept? If you choose a less common field are you less likely to get in since there might not be any mentors available in that field?</p>
<ol>
<li>it says so on the app</li>
<li>no there is no list of option; whatever goes</li>
<li>no</li>
<li>yes</li>
</ol>
<p>by availability of mentors do you mean researchers in the area around MIT or Caltech in that field(if so, YAY!), or who have expressed interest in being a mentor for RSI?</p>
<p>many of the mentors probably volunteer every year, and most of the students' interests are general enough to fit with any one of a number of mentors. I get the impression that RSI chooses the students first, and then circulates info about them around to prospective mentors. The mentors can request specific students if they want to. (the way it was described to me sounds like a mail-order bride catalog). Or they can just say "anybody" in which case RSI tries to match as closely as possible based on people's interests. Most students are just glad to be there, and are fine with working on something a little different from whatever they put down.</p>
<p>only those who expressed interest in being an RSI mentor.</p>
<p>Static - Obviously people who express an interest in mentoring are going to get info on available students. But I think there's some casual "passing around" of student info also. You know, like one prof says to his buddy "Hey Joe, this kid is interested in exactly what you do". I don't think my son's mentor had expressed an interest in being a mentor before the student info was circulated. As we understand it, he saw some student info that included my son, then submitted the mentor paperwork late in order to specifically request him because their interests matched so well.</p>
<p>thank you,
what prompted my query was that there are a LOT more researchers in my field of interest in the Cambridge / Boston area than in Pasadena</p>