<p>I want to see if i have a chance at RSI (posting things that matter for it i guess)
Here are my stats, im a rising junior</p>
<p>Location: Canada</p>
<p>Grades
-Haven't taken PSAT yet (will see what i get), stupid school decided to cancel it because of "lack of interest"
-Good science + math grades (only taken science 10 + functions and relations 11)...biology 11 next semester... NO APs offered</p>
<p>University of Waterloo math competition (like the AMC)
-ranked 21st in Canada in grade 9 (school chamP)
-ranked top 1% of top 80000+ (*sad i know) math students in canada in grade 10(school champ)
i wont be able to get the scores in for grade 11/12 before the app deadline</p>
<p>-computer science summer program at university of toronto
-engineering program at university of toronto (i wont mention the specific names because it doesnt matter, both for gifted students or w/e-thats what they say anyways)</p>
<p>-internship at pfizer (will this matter at all?)</p>
<p>-no science olympiads at school, only national science competitions in gr11</p>
<p>The Maybes...
-i might be able to do a research internship with an university of toronto mathematics professor
-maybe win something in city robotics competition
thanks guys</p>
<p>I dunno, hard to say. You want to go to RSI for math, and you're Canadian. Sometimes they will accept people like you if they have research experience and show a lot of passion; otherwise most of the math people end up being IMO types.
-River</p>
<p>What do you mean by that? I will probably read a couple of textbooks just to catch up on the sciences; I will not choose "math" has first choice subject (if they even have that)...</p>
<p>Is being Canadian good or bad??
Also for the place where they want you to put your competency level of programming languages, does it matter a lot? I'm intermediate at Java at most...I've never worked with C/C++/pascal...</p>
<p>iwantfood,</p>
<p>If you are a US citizen, then I suppose you'll face some cut-throat competition (1200+ US Students apply annually). If, however, you are a Canadian citizen and applying from Canada, then I'm afraid you won't be eligble for admission to RSI. Unless a canadian sponsoring agency decide to sponsor a canadian exchange next year, you should not bank on RSI.</p>
<p>They select people from other nations... it's just far far harder to get in.</p>
<p>bah :mad: I emailed them a question regarding that issue, but unfortunately RSI was in session (i forgot)</p>
<p>If you don't mind me asking, isn't Nortel a Canadian company? I saw their name in the "sponsors" column...damn</p>
<p>river: RSI says it consists of 1/3rd international students, but I guess much more apply eh? =/</p>
<p>iwantfood,</p>
<p>I have no idea. The only thing I'm aware of is that Canada was not represented in RSI 2005, but everything could change next year! I recommend emailing Ms. Lowry (her email can be found in the international RSI page), and not the general RSI email, for everything international related.</p>
<p>Let us know if things work out, and good luck!</p>
<p>thanks! and i did email Ms. Lowry lol. after a delay(because she was at RSI), she replied saying she didnt have info for the 2006 RSI yet :(</p>
<p>no, I heard it's easier to be admitted as an international because they try to have a "internationally diverse" program even tho by far the greatest percentage of applicants is American. Anyhow, yeah, there's no way to predict -- no one really knows if he or she will get in.</p>
<p>At MIT's preview weekend, I met a kid who did RSI and I was curious to know what he did. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I dunno -- I guess I was good at math." LOL; so ya, no one really knows.</p>
<p>good at math could mean "I won Putnam in high school", so..</p>
<p>Unlikely. You can't really win Putnam - you can become a fellow (top 5) but you never know your rank in that group. If I'm not mistaken, only Gabriel Carroll has pulled that feat off while in high school, and he's attending that other institution in Cambridge. More likely "being good at math" means that he's a multiple time USAMO qualifier, a Mopper, or perhaps have extensive original research in math.</p>
<p>Can you actually join Putnam whilst being a high school student? Hmm, I always thought it was /only/ offered to college students.</p>
<p>You can definately take it, but you may have to be taking a college class (which for a whole bunch of mathy kids isn't an issue.) The bad thing is that you can only take the contest 4 years, so you end up using some of your years during high school. (happend to Caroll, partially why MIT won last year.) But others also tend to use a pseudonym to take the test. I'm seriously considering that option next year. It's unlikely, but it would be cool to see "Hugh Jazz" or "Al Caholic" on the Honorable Mention list.</p>
<p>Now that would rock. </p>
<p>Good luck with that. ;)</p>
<p>I was exaggerating about the Putnam thing; yes I know that only Gabriel was a fellow in high school. I took the Putnam my senior year of high school, but mostly for fun because I was bored.
It is possible to know your rank, because in the rare case that somebody gets a perfect score, they will tell you.</p>
<p>I don't believe that's true. What's your source? I know that a year or two ago, when Ana Caraiani was a fellow, there were many rumors that she was the outright winner by many points (she had an almost perfect score) but officially, it was never revealed. </p>
<p>I do agree that your rank is known outside the top 5.</p>
<p>She didn't get a perfect score, she got an almost perfect score. They inform the public when somebody gets a perfect score (this has happened once or twice in history).</p>
<p>From <a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3742/is_200410/ai_n9471680/pg_2:%5B/url%5D">http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3742/is_200410/ai_n9471680/pg_2:</a>
"Over the sixty-four competitions between 1938 and 2003 there have been only three perfect scores-one in 1987 and two in 1988. Although the top five scorers are always listed alphabetically, it is known that the 1987 perfect score was achieved by David Moews. What is amazing about this score is that the 1987 exam was a difficult one. The median score was one point and twenty-six points put one in the top two hundred (out of 2,170 participants). In 1987 the second highest score was 108, while the third highest score in 1988 was 119. The winners of the 1987 and 1988 competitions rank among the strongest groups of Putnam Fellows ever. Among them are Bjorn Poonen and Ravi Vakil, both four-time Putnam Fellows, David Moews and David Grabiner, both three-time Putnam Fellows, and Mike Reid, a two-time Putnam Fellow. In contrast to the 1988 scores, of the 1,260 contestants in the 1963 competition the highest score was sixty-two. That year, anyone with a score of twenty-eight was in the top 10%."</p>
<p>It seems that only once out the three times that somebody has gotten a perfect score, did they give a name.</p>
<p>Thanks River Phoenix, I had no idea about this. That's actually really cool.</p>
<p>A rickoid from 04 got a 23 on Putnam in his junior yr (the national average is what? a 1?). He went to the Clay Math Institute camp after he did RSI. Let's just say he's brilliant.</p>