pakkingpalb

If you want to have any hope of getting in, start your app now.

sadface9

Or you can do it during winter break.

pology

Or you can do it the night before. :P

TheDoctor10

HI GUYS. After getting a rather lost (in my defense, this thread is a little hard to find), I have finally arrived at your doorstep. And I have questions!


1) How important is programming? From what I've been told, it's good to have it, but it's not a dealbreaker. Is there a preferred language?

2) I've seen a lot of information about American applicants and international applicants, but what about Americans studying abroad? Especially we're not in an American or IB program? (I do the European Bac, which is a real joy.)

LuoSciOly

1) I doubt it's that important unless you intend to do a computer science, math, or computational project at RSI. However, if you have the initiative, time, and ability to learn a language before you apply, more power to you. Your assessment of "it's good to have it, but it's not a dealbreaker" seems about right to me.

2) You can read about RSI's domestic/DoDEA/international student policies here: Apply to RSI | Center for Excellence in Education. If you don't know which category you fall in, I would suggest contacting RSI to ask.

atomicbaseball

@TheDoctor10: To add a bit on your first question, you'd learn everything you need to know there, and it's not going to make any significant difference to your application. However, I will note that prior programming experience might make learning LaTeX a bit easier (that's what you'd write your paper in). Additionally, while significant programming ability is really only applicable if you're doing a computational project, it's often a good idea for non-computational projects to be familiar with some data-processing system (Matlab, or even something as simple as Excel).

EldrWnd

first anxious applicant of the year lolololol... in between stressing over college apps, I am going to enjoy watching (and maybe helping) you guys stressing over RSI apps.

atomicmango

Hello everyone, I would be pleased if you chance me out for RSI. By the way, I am a U.S Citizen living in a different country and my native language is not English.
• SATI: Math= 800, CR= 700, W=720
• SATII: Math II= 800 Physics= 800
• Weighted GPA= 5.0/5.0 & 88/100 average (It may sound low but there have been people who got into Harvard and MIT with 87ish averages) My school is one of the most prestigious schools in my country.
• Class Rank: In top %10 with a class of 550 (20sh out of 550).
• Courses: IB Higher-Levels: Math, Physics and English Literature, Standard-Levels: Geometry, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science, Theory of Knowledge, World History, French and my native language's literature course. In my school, we are being taught the national curricula of courses as well, such as math. There is no such course like Algebra II or something. It is just integrated.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Small Basic, Visual Basic, TI Basic, Intermediate knowledge of Java and beginner knowledge of C#.
• Harvard Summer School: Physics B
• Elected to represent my school in National Physics Olympiad (unfortunately the exam is on April ☹)
• Editor of school science magazine
• Working as part-time job in an engineering company
• Established a research team and participated in national science fair. (I don’t know if the project report is worth attaching)
• Top percentile in SBS (functions the same as PSAT in my country) and been awarded with %100 scholarship from my school.
• I also have legacy from MIT (I don’t know if that is worth mentioning) and rec letter from an MIT prof.
• I have received my teacher rec letters and they seem awesome.

Achievements not related to science:

Interviewer on school newspaper
Elected as the best speaker in school and participated in an international prestigious conference
1 year of school theater club
1 year of school volleyball team
School debate team
I have established a community service club of 60 people. We have done lots of things for aggrieved people with strict opportunities and helped schools in rural areas.

By the way, my essays are 800 words long in total. But I saw people mentioning about 2500s. I saw a statement like "keep your essays between 2-3 pages in total." and mine is like 2.5 pages. Can you also give me a clue about that?

I hope I didn’t forget anything. Thanks in advance!

StudiousMaximus

RSI is an absolute dream, but without much research experience, I'm not sure I'm qualified. I have great scores, nearly perfect grades, and good ECs. But I don't have that much in the realm of science/scientific research. Past RSI'ers: Is it possible to get in without loads of science accomplishments? Did you meet people there who did?

Thanks! I just want to make sure I have a smigen of a shot before I dedicate a lot of my time to the application.

eli1729

I just tried to make an account to apply and got an "access denied" error message. Is anyone else having this issue?

LuoSciOly

It is definitely possible to get into RSI without tons of prestigious science accomplishments. I applied to RSI with no prior research experience, no international olympiads, and only one AP science class. As it turned out, there were loads of people at RSI in the same boat as me - Rickoids ran the gamut from zero research experience to ISEF grand award winners, from people who hadn't taken a full year of chemistry to USNCO camp selectees. What everyone had in common was a love for science/math and a deep passion for discovery and intellectual challenges. Most people (even the most accomplished) said that they, too, were shocked to have been accepted - it seemed that no one who got accepted thought their credentials would be sufficient. You have a shot. And hey, even if you don't get accepted, you'll have essays you can use in other applications, and you'll have done a nice dry run for the college application process. Good luck!

tl;dr: Don't let your perceived lack of science accomplishments discourage you from applying.

Last year, the application wasn't available until early December. I assume the "access denied" message will go away when the application becomes available later in the year.

StudiousMaximus

^ Thank you very much! That was really reassuring. I think I might seriously consider applying now.

atomicbaseball

@EldrWnd: Wait, helping them stress over apps? lol does that mean I get to help you guys stress over college apps? GO GO GO YOU ONLY HAVE A COUPLE MONTHS LEFT HUURRRRRYYYYY (am I doing this right?)
(also don't actually stress [this is both for rsi apps and college apps] because it doesn't usually do any good. Just have fun with it!)

@atomicmango: I really hate chancing people because you can't chance for something like RSI. I mean, your stats look good, but there's too many qualified people and you can never guess who they're going to pick. As for word counts - as long as you think you said everything you need to say, don't worry about it.

@StudiousMaximus: To echo LuoSciOly, I was accepted without any "prestigious scientific awards" or even participation in anything particularly prestigious. What's important is that you have a real love of science, not that you've won some award somewhere.
RSI is an incredible opportunity. You should definitely apply! The only way to guarantee you're not going to get in is not applying at all (okay so there are probably things you could put on your application that would guarantee you wouldn't get in but I think you'd have to be trying to include such things)

atomicmango

@atomicbaseball

Thanks a lot for the info! And one more thing, how long were your essays?

atomicbaseball

@atomicmango: about 1700 words (~2.3 pages single spaced), for what it's worth. But length is not what you should be worrying about! If you're worried that your essays are too short, keep in mind that college applications have really low max word counts (around 500 words for the essay, 100-250 for most short answer questions). So the art of writing succinctly is a good thing, not a bad thing (also probably something I should practice, judging by the wordiness of my posts :P ). And if you're worried they're too long, just make sure they're still within limitations and don't repeat things, and you'll be fine. Also keep in mind that I'm pretty sure the questions they ask changed at least slightly between the 2011 application (when I was applying) and last year's, so my essays may not be the best indication.