:S I don´t know what to do! MIT is my dream school, but I don´t think that 5 days in MOSTEC worth more than SSP… (Guy becoming crazy right here)
Well, Utilitarianism is still an option if you want to do your good deed of the year (lol).
puppy dog face
Well, I was 1 point away from making USABO Finals, so I’m pretty salty too right now, haha.
@Newdle or @violaqueen or anyone applying for financial aid, has your program fee page changed at all? When it says
“Payments Due:
(Note: if you have
applied for financial aid,
no payments are due
until after the Financial
Aid Committee has
reached a decision.)”
and there is no money amount next to deposit, does it mean that they have not reached a decision yet?
Share when you financial aid results come out (or tell of how long the wait was)!
@treborn81 I emailed Mr. Bowdon, and he said that the financial aid decisions would probably come out today. My best bet is that where it says “Your Program Fee” the price will be lower than 4500.
You guys are correct; it changes in the fee-due page. For confidentiality purposes, I’ll just say I’ll be paying no more than…2000 :)… Very blessed and grateful!
@Newdle , how long was the wait for you for financial aid?
Got my decision today as well. I submitted last Saturday so that would be approximately five days waiting. Not sure if they review during the weekend so it’s probably closer to 3 days.
As for how much I received, I can say they were very generous. I won’t be paying more than 10% the original program cost.
@treborn81 3 days.
@Newdle thanks, mine came the morning after three days.
Hello everyone!
As a prospective applicant to next year’s program, I was wondering if everybody could post their stats. I’d really appreciate learning what the academic caliber of those accepted is.
Also–do you think admissions were more heavily weighted on numbers or recommendations/essays (as in, is it possible to get in without a 4.0)?
And are admissions need-blind?
Thanks!
@topaz1116 Essays are the most important. I don’t have a perfect GPA (lol, English teachers and their A-'s), but I still was offered an awesome spot.
Aah thank you. My essays and recs tend to be the better parts of my application, so this was very reassuring.
@topaz1116
As a COSMOS alumnus, I was stalking your COSMOS thread. Congrats on your acceptance to COSMOS UCSC! I was COSMOS participant (at UCSC) and had a great time there. As Newdle said, when you apply next year, make sure your essays and recommendations are stellar. My teachers wrote me excellent letters of recommendation and I think that helped me a lot. You shouldn’t be worried at all with your stats if they are 3.8+ and 2100+. Even if your stats are lower, you definitely have good shot and your stats alone won’t kill your application (unless you have 0.5 GPA and 1050 on SAT…). If anyone gets rejected with 3.8+ GPA and 2100+ SAT that would be because of other parts of application.
As for financial aid, I have no clue. I didn’t apply for financial aid because my parents can afford the tuition. Better give it to someone else who actually needs the aid 
Thank you, although I won’t be attending COSMOS (I’m going to be doing a paleobiology internship at Stanford instead).
Thank you for that information!
USABO? Good to find another biology guy at ssp~
Which campus are you in?
@BARKLEYDEGAULLE Although biology is my forte, I really love physics/astronomy, lol. I was one point away from finals (super salty hehahahah). I am going to Colorado.
P.S. I think I already see you in the Facebook group lol
@Newdle So do I~ I love astronomy when I was little but there just wasn’t any chance for me to learn about it in my hometown.
I am not quite familiar with USABO, so if you become a finalist you can attend the IBO? And why is it held so early? Biology Olypaid in China is in mid May~
And how did you find that out lol
@BARKLEYDEGAULLE If you are a finalist, you “make camp,” where they train the top 20 in USA. Top 4 go to IBO, and I was around low 20 ranking in the US :(((((((((… I don’t know why USABO is so early here o_O? We’re hardcore maybe, haha? I found out because they post exam scores online, and the cutoff was 142 (mine was 141).