<p>Well Ill start with what (I think) set me apart. I had decent test scores (which I dont even think I sent haha), good GPA (but again, I didnt take ALL AP classes or anything like that) but In my responses, I tried to balance talking about myself with confidence and remaining humble. I don’t remember the exact question but for one of the responses (possibly:what made you interested in the sciences/how did it start/what have you done so far? type of question) I simply talked about my second grade science fair project–which I didnt win–but I had an amazing time looking into “how plants drink”. I think it must have pleased the counselors! and regarding the research, Yes it’s significant. You are placed into a research lab and assist with whatever project is ongoing at the time. That said, It depends on what lab you are put in/which project in that lab you get to work in/if you can get results in 6-weeks whether or not this research is competition worthy. But even if it fails (like mine did, I had kinda a horror story in my lab. 3-weeks in one of the techs killed all the cells in my project accidentally so I had to restart on another,less interesting, project) the research still counts! I sent an abstract to nearly every college I applied to and it’s gotten me accepted to some great places already! It’s the research EXPERIENCE that matters most, not necessarily the research itself.</p>
<p>But my advice is to just relax and write your essays like your talking to the adcoms. Don’t use inflated language or try to impress them with your knowledge of mitochondrial function. Just be yourself and show a genuine love for the sciences! </p>
<p>btw: If they have a question similar to “If you could meet one scientist, who would it be and what would you ask them”, Don’t use Marie Curie (sp?) or Albert Einstein…think about how many other applicants are talking about them! Do some research on past scientists in your field of interest and pick one of those that actually means something to you!</p>
<p>@Gecko245, Thanks for the advice! I tried to write the way I would normally talk, but because I get randomly formal sometimes when talking normally, it might have sounded like I was trying too much, idk. Regarding the essay, I actually wrote about a lesser known but still important scientist who worked in practically the same field that I am leaning towards, so maybe it will show my genuine interest. Who knows? I guess I’ll find out mid-April, lol</p>
<p>@Gecko245 Thank you for the suggestions! Also, do you know if it would be okay to send supplementary information, like a past year’s science fair proposal? Or would that be bad?</p>
<p>So this thread’s been pretty active guys…</p>
<p>And I appreciate all of you people who read these threads and don’t make accounts to reply to them.
But seriously… I hope not that many people apply… Why are people so motivated this year…
I will literally jump of a cliff if I’m not accepted jk no I probably will</p>
<p>AHHH waiting for this and studying for sat2s and aps are driving me crazy.
What is the meaning of life…
Do any of you guys ever ask yourselves what this is all for? All this competition and studying and stressing out? To get into a good college? All for even more stress and 100X more competition? For what? A nice-paying job? Ughh I don’t even care about money… We’ll all just die in 70 years anyways.
People try to convince themselves that they love science or medicine or blah, but really, we’d all be sitting on a couch watching tv eating food and looking for peeta if society had no expectations/no one cared.
I used to think I wanted to become a doctor, but no eww I hate people</p>
<p>Crap I posted in another ysp thread. but i have a REAAALLY important question: I’m trying to rush an app in today. It’s really late, but do you know if the online teacher recs are actual letters or just templates? asdfasdfzxcv help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Not sure if it’s a letter or template. One thing that you want to keep in mind that your 2 teachers will need to bring the printed on-line (submit) receipts to you, and you’ll have to mail in both receipts along with your other materials.</p>
<p>Still have to compile my application, lol, with the million things they require.</p>
<p>AH! The wait is going to kill me!</p>
<p>lol guys I sent my application in like 2 weeks ago. Also, I just got my March SAT scores back and they were pretty good (over 2300 and I’m a sophomore). Do you think I should send them my score report/ email it to them, or is it watev?</p>
<p>Thanks! Should I email or mail, because i’m worried they wont get a measly slip of paper in the mail among bulks of applications, and then get really annoyed having to match me up w/ my app… idk though</p>
<p>Send an e-mail to Dr. Pomeroy to ask for which way is the best way to update your academic status</p>
<p>Thanks! Already mailed them in :)</p>
<p>GenCross, we weren’t required to send in SAT scores right? I don’t remember reading anywhere that we even could send in supplementary materials like scores… or did I just completely miss that part .___.
But good job on your SATs anyway! I wish I could get a >2300… but CollegeBoard is evil anyway heh.</p>
<p>@archaic, no, but I was looking at their facebook page, and someone asked it he/she could send in SAT as a supplement, and YSP said that it was fine… so I just decided to send mine… no harm right? And thanks!!</p>
<p>Okay. I am a complete idiot. After reading a previous post in this thread I realized that I thought it said 200 words, not characters, for the School Activities section. Please tell me the three short answer questions were 150 WORDS each.
Procrastination → careless errors! I hope no one else made the same mistake :O</p>
<p>But seriously! 200 characters is like 2 lines… I guess they were just looking for a very basic list of activities. Not sure how that shows our character or anything though, since a lot of people at my school create clubs just to put them on their college apps. (There must be at least 70 clubs, most of which are barely active.) Okay… mini-rant over.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone x)</p>
<p>lol yeah 200 characters was so small. Even 150 words was hecka limiting…</p>