<p>240 for PSAT as a sophomore is impressive</p>
<p>@KREAYSHAWN Thank you, KREAY, for your advice! You are right, obviously numbers don’t play important role. Passion first, and numbers will come naturally. I will keek focusing on my interest.</p>
<p>@pokemon14, your #s are still impressive</p>
<p>@numbersense I’m wondering, too.</p>
<p>@numbersense Thank you! But, like KREAY said, they prefer juniors.</p>
<p>I’m still wondering if anybody could provide some insight as to how the alternate list works and the admittance rate from years past?</p>
<p>Reeejected. :P</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll see some of you at Mathcamp or at MIT over the summer. :)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Pokemon I can’t believe you were outright rejected! But I’m sure you will have a great shot if you choose to apply next year.</p>
<p>@Desafinado Thank you for saying so! I will try next year, will you?</p>
<p>I was actually admitted, but once it’s over I’ll be glad to tell you how it went.</p>
<p>@Desafinado Oh, I didn’t read through all of the posts. Congratulations to you! I admire you! Yeah, please tell me the “secret” :). I want to know what went wrong with my application. Maybe essays not impressive enough? I assume my teachers’ recommendation letters were very good, because I got very good comments from them on my report cards. And my grades are on the top.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s a secret. I would bet being a sophomore hurt you a lot, but for example I never even used the word “astrophysics” in my essays. I think as long as you write about things that are important to you and make sure to stand out a little bit, you’ll have a good shot since it appears you have great academics.</p>
<p>Now I have to think of alternate plans. what ideas do you have for me ? any ideas pokemon14?</p>
<p>I’m not he but I was thinking about applying to PROMYS if this didn’t come through</p>
<p>okay, anything else?</p>
<p>Hey, @pokemon14 and @numbersense, I really don’t think statistics are the only thing that matter, for example, I’m a sophomore and I got accepted even with not-so-great stats.
I’m currently doing an IGCSE syllabus, so I haven’t taken any APs.
I didn’t get an amazing score on the PSAT.
I don’t have any major bragging points, realted to Olympiads, etc.</p>
<p>Instead, I have had a love for astronomy/astrophysics from kindergarten, and I have some (unusual) talents. I think my essays focused around my passion for whatever I do, and brought that out really well.
So, maybe SSP, while also admitting people who show that academic excellence, is also looking for people who just love what they do (whether it is astrophysics, math, programming, or biology!).
I’m sure you guys will get in next year! You seem to be really good at whatever you do!
Okay, I am now done with my rather long rant.
And for anybody who cares, you just lost The Game.</p>
<p>@rdcolina, wow. congrats. What are these unusual talents ? Can you please elaborate ? Are these related to astrophysics? Or other extra curricular activities ? Please explain.</p>
<p>@numbersense, well I’m pretty good with jigsaw puzzles, and can even do them upside-down (without the picture), pretty fast. I’m also pretty fast at doing crosswords. I wrote about the jigsaw puzzles in one of my essays, because I thought it was just something unique.
I also have a blog about astrophysics, or just physics in general (along with sustainability), which I mentioned.</p>
<p>@numbersense
HCSSiM and mathcamp are still open, you should check those out! :)</p>
<p>I decided to take MITES’s offer. So, if you’re on the wait list, there’s a spot open on the Westmont campus :)</p>