Hi guys,
I really thought someone would create a thread for this summer program but four months later, here I am…
Decisions are out this monday. Who applied?
I attended SSTP Iowa last year, so feel free to ask any questions!
Hi! I know it is too late to ask these questions anyway, but just out of curiosity. What would you say is the chance of admission at SSTP, since they barely have any clear admission statistics posted? Could you please share some of the common statistics of admitted students? My only research experience is on writing a paper to make personalized cancer treatment through machine learning (which only made state level category best, not ISEF finalist). And my first choice on my application is on computer science. I heard most of the chosen students will be working on bio and chem stuffs in the camp, so does it mean computer science prospective students won’t have good chance of admission? Thank you so much!
@asdssf hi! Funny thing is that last year, on the second day during orientation, a kid asked what the acceptance rate for the Program was. They said they received “almost 400 applications” (there were 42 kids attending) but at the end they said around 370-375. So this means that there’s a 10-12% attendance rate; a bunch of kids got off the waitlist so we’ll never know the REAL acceptcne rate. But as I said, many kids give up their spots for other programs so don’t be worried if you get waitlisted (I originally got off the waitlist). I don’t have much insight on the stats of the students, but at the time my PSAT wasn’t too bad but not good. However, I know someone who didn’t do too well on their PSAT (they scored in the 1300’s I believe), I know a sophomore who got a 1460 and another sophomore who got a 1500. So it varies. And I noticed that a decent amount of the students didn’t get straight A’s so don’t be worried if your grades aren’t perfect. I feel as though SSTP values essays more and take people who stay true to themselves and truly love science. I feel as though my essays are the only reason why I didn’t completely get rejected. A lot of us didn’t get awards of ISEF or anything (my friends didn’t and neither did I) so you don’t need to worry about that. I’m not even sure if they asked about awards on the application. I know many kids had research experience, but I didn’t. And it’s true that most kids worked on Chem and bio stuff, but about ~4 kids last year did comp sci research. I think as long as you show that you’re interested in this stuff, they’ll find a spot for you. Sorry this was long haha
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Hello, What’s the average student grade level of folks who attended this last year? Is it mostly rising juniors (current sophomores), or rising seniors (current juniors)? From previous years thread, it appears that quite a few of accepted students were rising juniors.
@RedMan108 last year, it was almost half and half (I think 22 rising seniors, 20 rising juniors ?). Most of the girls for us were rising juniors while most of the boys were rising seniors so I guess it kinda balanced out.
Thank you so much! Your answer is so thorough!
I saw the pictures on their website. It seems they admit more girls than boys. or maybe more girls apply? just curious.
@asdssf haha you’re welcome! I’m glad I could help 
@JKMSNJ well last year, there were 20 girls and 22 boys, so generally they admit almost the same number of each
@vxia12371 thanks for the info. btw, how intense is the program? do you need to work on weekends? thx
@JKMSNJ the program isn’t too intense in my opinion. I guess it can depend on your lab and mentor. We never worked on weekends but we worked for 6+ hours a day for 5 days a week. But many kids stayed overtime (they stayed till 5 PM or later) and the RAs got mad about that haha
@vxia12371 thanks. one more day to go. good luck everyone!
Any updates?
They say they will post the result by today 5:00 pm
I know they said they’ll post by 5 PM, but last year, I got mines earlier. It came out at 8:12 PST so it may also come out a couple hours earlier this year too
Dude where tf is this decision result, kinda cutting it close here
Just got accepted! Email hasnt come out but if u log into ur portal through the email link they gave u during application season and click program info, it tells u ur application status
My daughter got an email. Rejected!
Sadly, rejected from this program. Two down, three more to go 