Summer Science Program (SSP)

<p>Wow thanks so much
I really need this, as I'm probably going to be one of the few people who'll know basically nothing going into this camp--only basic high school physics and programming, and no calculus or astronomy. I'll be studying pretty hard...</p>

<p>hahaha
found the site
<a href="http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/index.html&lt;/a>
awesome, really :)</p>

<p>hey im also from taiwan. no actually my heritage is. i went to school there for 5th grade...thats it.haha but i have lived in the US the rest of my life</p>

<p>has anybody received their enrollment documents yet? i know they said they'd mail them out by the end of the week, but i haven't yet received them.</p>

<p>Whatsup guys...</p>

<p>Just found this thread, got into the ojai program, getting a little excited. Don't really know what to say...hope you guys are a nice group of kids...and hope that socially there will be other things to do besides math and science (not that I don't just love the idea of spending every waking moment on those topics). Anyway, someone should make a facebook group for Ojai...</p>

<p>the mailman doesnt deliver on sundays</p>

<p>hi um. i just made an ojai facebook group :)
<a href="http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2259981413%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2259981413&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>(and i've posted before, just didn't want to give away who i am)</p>

<p>jungle, are u going to SSP?</p>

<p>Thanks Udbhav, amazing sites :)</p>

<p>Nope, I don't think anyone has received their enrollment documents yet. They should arrive within three or four more days, or so I hope.</p>

<p>Hey I'd love to join the facebook, but whenever I'm trying to access the page my computer is breaking down (almost). It's also spluttering strange sounds that I've never ever heard a computer to do. Fascinating machine...</p>

<p>Ruella76, for calculus I would probably recommend archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/ for beginners. Or maybe you could also try the Wolfram Mathworld Homepage, where every math topic is covered in indecipherable language.</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
generalobserver</p>

<p>I just got my documents. Big envelope, guys.</p>

<p>Yeah I got mine today as well. But I'm on the east coast, close to SSP's office, so if you live farther away you'll probably get it within the next couple of days.</p>

<p>Should everyone have received their decisions already?</p>

<p>Early application people should have. People who applied by... last week, need to wait a couple more weeks.</p>

<p>kenny: yeah i am going to socorro. i live about 2 hours from socorro. haha</p>

<p>hey guys. i'm going to SSP at Ojai. i'm from boston. just got my documents today. ( i noticed someone asked for calc websites. <a href="http://www.math.hmc.edu/calculus/tutorials/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.math.hmc.edu/calculus/tutorials/&lt;/a> has some good overviews of important topics.)</p>

<p>just fyi... if you haven't taken calc, but want a solid foundation... those ap test prep books will probably help...</p>

<p>i think they start from the basics... but cover them really fast</p>

<p>Hey guys.....just out of curiosity I searched for SSP here on CC and what do you know I found this thread. </p>

<p>I am from Romania and I attended SSP in 2006:) Ojai campus of course:)
it was a great 6 week experience that I am unlikely to forget in the near century. What can I tell you....the sleep deprivation thing is very very real. After SSP all I wanted to do was sleep:) You basically are divided into teams of 3 and depending on your choice of an asteroid you will go observing through the night. My group picked a middle asteroid so we didn't have to wait until 3 in the morning to get good plates(I've heard you'll be doing only CCD ...you lucky bastards) and develop them.
I'm just writing stream of consciousness here...SSP was so many amazing things....the people(ratio of exactly 2:1 male:female) were all smart....not geeky as I totally expected(seing American movies presenting school life)....of course some were more "bookwormy" but still...all of them great. Someone asked about the classes....they basically start from scratch so don't fret if you don't know how to derive....Taylor Expansions...or what will be your nightmare, SPHERICAL TRIG:) the teachers and T.A.s will help you....it will all depend on who will be your teachers:) For me the astronomy classes where the most interesting, because astronomy was the main reason I applied. Just to clear things up...this is not a Math . Physics. Astronomy. Programming camp. All of what you will learn over the 6 weeks will revolve around your asteroid's orbit and your Orbit Determination program that will earn you the Diploma at the end:). So all the math and physics topics you will learn will help you understand your asteroid's orbit and how to compute it.</p>

<p>Another thing about Ojai was THE FOOD:) OMGOMGOMG:) The best camp food in the entire world(and trust me I've been to dozens of camps). The chef there was sooo nice and all they did in the 40 degree weather was cook for us....so careful about the extra pounds you are bound to gain(there is a gym to workout and lots of place to run in the morning). There was variety for everyone...kosher...lactose intolerant...allergies...hindu...I am still mystified as to how the kitchen stff managed to cook something for everyone in the camp.</p>

<p>The rooms are nice but you don't need to worry about them....you'll be spending no more than 5-6 hours in them...sleeping of course:D.....everybody does their homework(which is a LOT :) ) in the common rooms:P:P with everyone else.....although "sharing" is mostly discouraged. You'll be assigned a roommate based on the form you sent...but it was kinda random for me and some of the others....I know the booklet says bring a fan....you won't need it for your room as it's really cold in there...air-conditioning was on 24/7...you should rather bring a warm blanket for the nights.</p>

<p>Uhm...the computers weren't that great...because they all ran on one server so when we were nearing the completion of our orbit determination programs and everyone was running simulations that meant lots of computations everything would lag....we had some people who brought their own laptops even though the booklet says otherwise(this is written because they wouldn't want you playing WoW when you could socialize and get to know the most amazing people of your life:)...it's really true...you'll be seeing the people from SSP everywhere when you get back home and you'll be dreaming of them a lot)...</p>

<p>Trips....Ojai....JPL...wasn't that amazing....we saw where they control some missions from...and that's about it(a little smth about the Mars Rovers)...
Caltech....this was nice for me...as an international...first glimpse of an American college....
the beaches....ok beaches...cold water(was expecting more from the Pacific:) ).....
trip to town(every saturday...mandatory)...Ojai is a really small quaint town....which has a cinema basicaly...that's what a lot of people did every saturday...you can get ice-cream and it has a VONS shop, where you can get basically anything you want.
...L.A. museum of science...nice place ...cool experiments...
...and... of course In-n-Out..the place where all your gastronoical desires are fulfilled:)....that's where we went to eat most of the time.
A place I would have wanted to visit and was really close to the camp was the six flags park:( only the T.A.s were allowed to go</p>

<p>I don't know if I forgot to mention anything....you can e-mail me or msg me on <a href="mailto:wainblatrobert@yahoo.co.uk">wainblatrobert@yahoo.co.uk</a> or @aim.com or @hotmail.com</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>This brought back so many beautiful memories....I hope it will mean the same thing for you too. I ask you to come back around this time next year and see what your reaction will be:P</p>

<p>Robert</p>

<p>P.S. Regarding Caltech admissions and SSP participants....it's not 100% sure....I, as an international, was rejected from Caltech:( because I requested full aid....but most of the U.S. residents got in:P</p>

<p>Today is the day we get answers back from the IVY league:P so nervous....I wish I could just go to SSP all over again.</p>

<p>WOW, thanks so much for all that detail. I'm starting to get excited already :).
So now that I've heard that there's major sleep deprivation from a lot of people...I have a really important question--will we be having access to a lot of CAFFEINE? (Cause if I'm sleep deprived, I really can't function without it...).
And I'm also wondering about the food and field trips from Socorro since I'll be going there this summer, so it'd be really nice if an alum from Socorro could do something like this ^ (hint hint--but don't worry about it if you don't have time; any comments on this would be nice).
But again, thanks soo much for this :).</p>

<p>And thanks to everyone who posted those links on calculus so I hate to ask another favor of people, but does anyone know any good astronomy books or links? Cause I don't know anything about astronomy either...</p>

<p>THANKSSSS :D i'm so excited, it's rediculous (sp?)</p>