Summer Science Program 2018

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
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“Each summer since 1959, highly gifted and motivated high school students have come to the Summer Science Program to immerse themselves in hands-on, experimental science, and to live and work with their intellectual peers for the first time. The experience changes their lives, and the benefits continue for life.”

There are programs in astrophysics at New Mexico Tech and CU Boulder and in biochemistry at Purdue.

I’m an alumna from SSP 2017 at CU Boulder starting this to let people know about this amazing program. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

For more information or to apply, please visit http://www [dot] summerscience [dot] org !

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I’m a SSP '17 Biochem Alum, feel free to ask me questions as 2017 was the first official year that a Biochem curriculum was offered!

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Hi,

Planning on applying to SSP Astrophysics. Just wondering how my chances of getting in would be. Also, what is the experience like? I’m more into a hands-on engineering design research type of program, but I feel like I would also enjoy SSP.

3.93 UW (1 B in Precalc taken over the summer) , 4.76 W GPA

AP Classes: Calc AB (5), Calc BC(5), Computer Science Principles(5), U.S. Government (5), Psychology (5)
Other relevant classes: Biology GT (A), Chemistry GT (A), currently taking Differential Equations GT, Physics C Mechanics AP, Comp Sci A AP.

1480 PSAT, 730 CR, 750 M,
1550 SAT, 760 CR, 790 M, 20/24 on Essay

Haven’t taken any SAT II’s.

Extracurriculars:

Intern at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory(APL), started during summer session, continued over the year, doing rocket nozzle design and thermal engineering–various skills learned like CAD, MatLab, Abaqus, etc.

Captain of a multi-school FIRST Robotics Team, finalists at multiple District Competitions, also World Qualifiers.

Section Leader of Percussion Section and Drumline, Jazz Band Drummer

Lead a 5 person Jazz Combo that plays at various events across the state, including a few galas in D.C. – Organizing and playing charity concerts at various restaurants to raise money for a music charity foundation, a goal of 2,500$.

Various Honor Societies(unimportant) National, Math, Tech, Music, Social Studies.

It’s Academic TV Team(Trivia), Singles No.1 on Varsity Tennis Team, JV Cross Country two years, Math Team captain

Founded a FIRST Lego League team at a local middle school, regularly mentored, continued post-season training and STEM learning.

Work Experience: Working at a Dunkin’ Donuts for the past two years.

Volunteer Experience: 100 hours at a Veterans Affairs Hospital over the summer, around another 100 from various other things.

Awards: 1st place schoolwide STEM Fair, 50+ applicants (not too impressive), AP Scholar w/Distinction, Departmental Award in Math two years in a row, Departmental Award for Music.

Recommendations: Pretty good from two Math teachers, another good one from research mentor from APL

I don’t have any big science fair accomplishments or any Olympiad experience, and I also don’t have any SAT II’s or AP Chem or Bio. Would that one B in Precalc over the summer sink me? I’m definitely above average in math but I don’t know whether I would stand a chance

Any input helps.

Thanks!

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Hello! I am an international SSP´17 Astrophysics alumna from NMT. Feel free to ask me any questions about my SSP experience at the New Mexico Campus. I will ask any questions you have about the admissions especially for those who are applying from outside the US and have some questions about the admissions and what is required.
Good luck to everyone!

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:stuck_out_tongue:

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@ScreenNamee17 what were your stats/test scores? What did it take to get in? I’m not 100% sure if I’ll ever have room in my schedule to do this program (stuck deciding between this and a study abroad program, along with others) but I want to major in biochemistry so it’s something I’d like to look into. Thanks!

Edit: Would a B+ in Honors Alg2 hurt me? I’m only one year ahead in math and i haven’t taken any science AP’s but I’m going to next year (junior year)

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@hsstudent13 It’s sort of pointless to list out the whole 9 yards, but I’ll say this much: most there had good scores, but they weren’t necessarily perfects. I really want to emphasize that scores/grades don’t matter that much in the admissions, and they are really looking for passion as cliche as that sounds which is demonstrated in essays/Letters of rec.No,your B in Honors Alg2 will not hurt you AT all (trust me on this), as long as you maintain As in more advanced classes (and even then a couple of Bs won’t mean auto-reject).

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@ScreenNamee17 thank you so much! I’m definitely going to look into this program further (:

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@hsstudent13 I agree with @ScreenNamee17 100%. My GPA is (in my opinion) far from a 4.0 and my PSAT was great but not amazing, but I still got in. As they mentioned, they look for passion. I think I greatly showed my passion for astronomy in my essays and that helped me a lot and I think led to my acceptance. If you have any questions about the astrophysics SSP program, feel free to PM me!

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Is there an alumni from the biochemistry program?

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'17 biochemistry alumni here, like Screennamee17. I’m also happy to answer questions!

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spicy @ktorres

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How generous is the financial aid? I’m middle class but my parents are paying for my sister (who’s in medical school), so if I don’t get a pretty significant financial aid package ($4500 - $5500), I won’t be able to attend even if I’m admitted.

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@esperantist I can’t speak for other people, but for me at least my financial aid was very generous.

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How many sophmores (if any) were there in SSP Astrophysics? Also, if you knew any, what kind of students were they?

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@Castle219 There was one sophomore at the CU Boulder campus. I don’t know what kind of student he is (I didn’t speak to him much), but he’s very studious and–in my opinion–genius level smart. Go for it and apply if you want! I know someone from my campus who didn’t get in sophomore year but didn’t junior year!

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@esperantist I was in a similar situation since my family is also middle class and had to pay for my sister to attend college in the fall. I got a generous financial aid package within the range you mentioned, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the financial aspect as they are pretty generous with it.

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@triacontahedron Thanks! That made me feel a lot better.

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Students applying for SSP in 2018 might also consider applying to the Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics (yspa.yale.edu) in 2018. YSPA was founded a few years ago by some SSP alumni based on the same structure as SSP, but with some changes, and it’s held at the Yale campus observatory.

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Are Permanent green cards considered non-citizen in the US?