I am a sophomore, and am planning to apply to RSI in the fall. However, I have look ALL OVER the internet, and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information, even on basic quantitative information, such as acceptance rate ( I’ve heard estimates of around 5% to less than 1%, and I’ve only been able to find applied/accepted figures once, form about a decade ago, and I suspect that the number of applicants has grown since then, but by how much I don’t know). Anyhow, I had no idea what RSI was until about 18 months ago. Back in the Stone Age, when I started high school, I though you had to be well-rounded to go to a good university. Then I read the (in)famous PrepScholar article, and my view of things was changed completely. I now knew that I have to have a “spike”, as they call it, so I did various science activities that I was interested in, all the time keeping RSI in the back of my mind. Then I just finished reading Cal Newport’s “How to Be a High School Superstar”, and it was yet another different view of everything. So now I’m wondering, preferably from Rickoids, would I be right in saying that the common denominator among RSI participants is having “interestingness” as described by Cal Newport?
I did RSI in 2014 and am in college now. Obviously all the information below is from my own experiences and perceptions, so take them with a grain of salt. re: acceptance rate, I remember seeing somewhere in the RSI welcome materials that they accepted something like 51 kids out of more than 1400, which puts it at a 3.6% rate at the most. My memory is imperfect, though, so take it with a grain of salt.
RSI admissions are not college admissions, though they ask for similar information. RSI is first and foremost a meritocracy, and they will screen you for competence before they look at interestingness. Being impressive as hell in a STEM field lands you a better chance at RSI than doing something interesting. This is not the case for college. This might be a contentious point, but I think that the (albeit rare) instances where Rickoids get rejected from colleges are where they don’t have that interestingness that Newport talks about.
Also on a more general note I’m not sure the two philosophies you’re talking about can’t both be right. The PrepScholar article teaches you how to get in on academic merit alone (presumably because that’s how the author did it), which is possible, but probably more difficult because you need to be at a level where it is literally impossible for the admissions committee to not be swept off their feet by your accomplishments. But at that point, your academic ability becomes interesting in its own right.
To answer your question, though: the common denominator is scientific ability, not interestingness. Most Rickoids are interesting, though, possibly as a result of their scientific ability.
Last year the acceptance rate for RSI was about 2%. Generally 1 student per state - there is a little variation. If you are interested in RSI then apply. Just know it is very competitive and have alternative plans in case this doesn’t work out.