<p>Anyone want to comment on how fun SSP is?</p>
<p>I'm more interested in that than the academics...</p>
<p>By the way, the Ojai campus looks amazing.</p>
<p>Can someone describe in more detail the topics in math and physics covered at SSP?</p>
<p>Is it basic calculus such as that in the AP curriculum, or do we get exposed to more advanced material? Because I have heard that they start from scratch?? I hope it is more adv. material.</p>
<p>I've never been, but judging from the comments by the alumni on the website and on CC, SSP is definitely a lot of fun. I've never seen any summer program that is so well supported and funded by its alumni, so it must be doing something right.</p>
<p>And yes, Ojai does look amazing. But...Socorro is better ;).</p>
<p>As far as calculus goes, I've heard that yes, they do start from scratch, but move quickly and within a few days are already past calculus.</p>
<p>But I'm not 100% sure about any of these claims, so you might want to wait for an alumnus/alumna to respond.</p>
<p>Accepted! Ojai campus</p>
<p>I'm from Orange County, CA</p>
<p>YAYYYY :) CONGRATS</p>
<p>but also... anybody else from the east coast who's also going to ojai? Because my parents are worried about me going from LAX to Van Nuys by myself so if anybody wants to travel together... I'm from the NYC area, probably leaving from Newark International...</p>
<p>First of all, SSP = amazing fun!</p>
<p>I don't know about Ojai, but Socorro has great field trips. We went and saw the VLA, and three or four other observatories, as well as cultural events in Santa Fe and Albequerque and other places. My favorite was the trip to White Sands. The Ojai kids get to go to the beach though, so that's a plus.</p>
<p>As for calculus, we started from scratch, and covered the entire first semester of AP calculus in about two hours. Needless to say, the people who hadn't already taken it were having some trouble, but there were always people (other students and TAs) willing to help. However, if you haven't had calculus, I'd recommend borrowing a textbook from someone and start going through the first couple chapters at least. I originally tried to organize my binder by subjects: math, physics, astronomy, programming, and "other", but after the first or second week, so much of it interlapped, that I just guessed where to put stuff. The physics was all pretty math intensive, and the math was tended to be explaining something physics-related, and the astronomy was pretty astrophysicsy. I took calculus and physics as a junior, and I still found it all challenging.</p>
<p>Also... I know that two of the TAs from last year (Socorro) are going to be TAs again this year, and they're both really really cool!</p>
<p>bananagirl:</p>
<p>what is daily life like? specifically, how many hours of lectures are there, how early do we wake up, how are lectures structured, and what is the social atmosphere in terms of what people do when not learning, etc...?</p>
<p>im just trying to get a feel for it before i go</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Bananagirl, what are some of the physics topics covered?</p>
<p>accepted
socorro campus
good essays</p>
<p>Ojai people need to start a facebook group!
Congrats, junglebum!</p>
<p>i heard Ojai campus has a lot to do w/ Caltech; a alum I know said everyone he knows at Ojai who applied to Caltech (which is like 12) got accepted..
that's a pretty big number considering about 36 people go to Ojai and not everyone applies there.</p>
<p>Wow, it looks as though Socorro is already overcrowded. How come so many from Socorro are informed so early?</p>
<p>By the way, congrats to all those who got in. Anyone who attended the Ojai campus earlier, how are the field trips from there? Cuz I heard that NASA's JPL is really amazing.</p>
<p>Yeah I would love to know what life is like at Ojai a bit beforehand too, like doctor asked. I didn't like the look of the line in the handbook which says 'We're not kidding about the sleep deprivation'.</p>
<p>One more thing, Udbhav, how are you going to reach Ojai on Arrival Day morning? In fact, speaking of that, when are you reaching the IMO camp at Mumbai? Would love to talk to you.</p>
<p>As for the IMO-SSP controversy, I think IMO is more prestigious and everything because you get to represent your country, but SSP is a more exhilarating experience. If I get admitted to IMO as well (fat chance), I'm going to be in a bit of a dilemma too.</p>
<p>Bye all, will come back later. Congrats again to the already-accepted, and all the best to the still-waiting folks.</p>
<p>The 100% caltech acceptance thing is really interesting.It's got my hopes high.Ojai rocks!!!
To z-particle,
I plan to LA airport on arrival day morning and then just follow the procedure as given in the handbook.My major cause of worry is how I am going to endure the 24hour long flight as I get bored terribly fast. :(
As for the IMO camp, I'll get there on the evening of May 9th.</p>
<p>Well, about IMO and SSP, I'm still not very sure.My heart says SSP but my mind says IMO.Representing the country is indeed a big thing but I wouldn't go for that point as I've already done that twice in astro.Also, at IMO one does not get to learn new things while SSP is going to be "the educational experience of a lifetime".And then there is the point that I have one more year to try for IMO but I don't think that I'm gonna apply for SSP next year.
All things said, the fact still remains that IMO is super prestigious and I think that I'll just have to toss a coin in the end ;)(If indeed such a case arises ;))</p>
<p>Neway guys, don't let me bore you.It's holidays for me here and I'm dying to do something interesting.</p>
<p>Another thing guys.Let's meet at some community website or start a yahoo group or something.Don't think facebook will work for me as my school is not on their network</p>
<p>keep in mind correlation =/= causation :P</p>
<p>Well, that's true, but it's still better than the case in which none or a very minute %age of the ppl would have been selected(or am I just trying to coax myself...hmmm...whatever)</p>
<p>Neways, I see that you are from Taiwan.I was interested to know whether the school system there is similar to the american system.I mean I have not taken any of the standardized yet, and we do not have any system of courses for specific subjects(we study all subjects all the time, like I'm doing Physics,Mathematics Chem and Copmsci with english and Environment Edu.).As a result, my application would have been pretty incomplete as compared to other US students and I had to ask Mr. Bowdon for assistance a number of times.Is it the same with u?If not, then how is it? </p>
<p>The updated list:</p>
<p>Socorro Campus:
doctorx017, NY
Ruella76, MD
kennyk616, Taiwan
junglebum </p>
<p>Ojai Campus:
freeflyer, CA
09xoxo, NJ
udbhav, India
z-particle, India
elliott_j, Orange County CA</p>
<p>I go to school in the US haha.</p>
<p>I've went through 10th grade in Taiwan though :)</p>
<p>To Udbhav:</p>
<p>Yup, I had the same problem in my application. Specially where they asked for the GPA, I thought my chances had slimmed, because our school doesn't have anything remotely like the GPA system. But I had taken the SAT I though, so I at least had a standardized test to show them.</p>
<p>As for your application being incomplete, I don't think it mattered. First of all, I think they probably have the fact in mind that many schools abroad do not have the same system (like well-defined academic courses, GPA etc), so they take that into consideration. Secondly, with your record (IAO gold twice, and the IMOTC twice or thrice?), you didn't need a complete application.</p>
<p>Since you are an obvious authority on astronomy, and I like to call myself a 'dabbler' in the subject (others call it a 'moron'), could you recommend some books/sites that I might go through before SSP, so that I have at least a clue about what's going on? Just the basics please, I don't want advanced stuff...yet.</p>
<p>Many many thanks.</p>
<p>Kenny, which part of the US are you from?</p>
<p>PA, but i think I apply as international for SSP.</p>
<p>haha
I guess I assumed a bit too much :"></p>
<p>First of all, I wouldn't like you or anyone else to think that I'm an authority in Astronomy.I have just chanced to do a bit of astro at school level</p>
<p>For the resources and stuff, here are some of the sites that might be useful:
<a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/%7Eanand/astro.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~anand/astro.html</a>
Great links to journals and observatories</p>
<p><a href="http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/CS/CS.01.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/CS/CS.01.html</a>
Spherical trignometry</p>
<p><a href="http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/%7Efv/webnotes/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~fv/webnotes/index.html</a>
general positional astro
or maybe just go to this site
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/astronomyolympiad/astrolinks.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.geocities.com/astronomyolympiad/astrolinks.html</a>
and you'll get all the links to every astro related thing u want.</p>
<p>There was another site, which I can't find now :(, that had all the techniques for finding distances to astronomical objects.I'll try to search for it sometime </p>
<p>I have some cool Astronomy e-books too and could send them by mail if anyone is interested.</p>
<p>Btw, anyone has any idea about how the food is at Ojai.I'm really picky in case of food and I would just like to be prepared mentally (and materialistically;)) for it.</p>