<p>This question is for people who applied to any research-oriented summer programs, such as RSI. </p>
<p>On an RSI thread, I read a post that said that applicants should be very familiar with their potential research fields. For example, they should know models, procedures, formulas, etc. that are commonly referenced in the papers dealing with the topic. </p>
<p>Say I'm interested in quantum physics; does that mean I have to read many papers dealing with what I want to conduct research in? </p>
<p>How do I get to the level where I can understand a higher-level paper dealing with, say, quantum physics? As I understand it, I'd have to cram many years of college courses in my head over this summer in order to write a genuine, higher-level research proposal for the RSI application.</p>
<p>The first RSI essay question is the following: “In each Research Field selected in Question 2, articulate why this scientific field is intriguing or exciting to you. For each Sub-Field, please state what you perceive as the one or two most interesting questions or problems. Explain why these questions interest you.” </p>
<p>This question gives you, as the applicant, the opportunity to demonstrate your interest and knowledge in a specific field and your ability to think critically about scientific research. To do this, it’s not necessary to already be an expert in a field, nor is it necessary to read lots of published papers about that field. Also, you shouldn’t necessarily think of the RSI application as a “genuine, higher-level research proposal.” I view it more as a space to gush about the cool science stuff that you love, meanwhile demonstrating that you have indeed thought deeply about the fields you choose and the questions you pose.</p>
<p>Here’s how I approached the question. When I applied to RSI, I had taken AP Biology, but only three weeks of Chemistry and no Physics at all. Thus, the only fields I felt comfortable writing about were biology- and biochemistry-related. I subscribe to the magazine Scientific American, so I opened up the latest issue sitting on my desk and chose two articles that looked interesting. I decided that the topics of those two articles would be my two research fields. Then, I consulted Wikipedia to learn up on those fields.</p>
<p>That was pretty much the extent of my research. Magazines like Scientific American are great because they summarize high-level papers in a form that a scientifically-trained high schooler can understand. At RSI 2012, I ended up doing a really cool bioengineering project that was closely related to what I wrote about in my essay. It’s mind-blowing to consider what wonders that article in Scientific American, picked almost at random, ended up doing for me.</p>
<p>I totally forgot about magazines! I subscribe to Physics Today, I suppose reading that would be less daunting than taking on research papers. </p>
<p>But I think it will still take a lot of expertise to pose intelligent questions and to not sound stupid to the MIT scientists who read them. </p>
<p>Could you tell me about how specific the questions/ problems that interested you were? I’ve seen some abstracts & titles for papers produced by RSIers, and they are incredibly specific and complicated. Are the original application questions as complicated?</p>
<p>Literally google every single thing that you don’t understand. And learn to trust Wikipedia for higher level science topics (not many average people can go in and edit a super complicated topic and make it seem legit)</p>
<p>@BurnOut: the questions/problems that I wrote about were about as specific as the articles that inspired them. You don’t need to make your responses complicated, as long as you somehow demonstrate your curiosity and interest in whatever you write about. I’d encourage you not to worry so much about your scientific expertise (or what you might believe to be your relative lack of scientific expertise), or even about impressing the selection committee with advanced knowledge, but instead with telling about cool science stuff that you’ve read or that has inspired you.</p>
<p>The RSI application can seem incredibly daunting, but it becomes manageable if you take it a step at a time, and just think of it as an opportunity to articulate how awesome and amazing science is. I had never set foot in a laboratory before I came to RSI, nor had I taken any advanced science coursework beyond AP Biology. Trust me, most everyone at RSI thought they were underqualified or had no shot at acceptance. I think that the full expectation of rejection actually made the application bearable for me because I felt freer to unabashedly declare my love of science and not worry about the readers thinking I was stupid.</p>