@darkermuppet did you submit a resume of some sort? I heard last year that a resume was required and it seems for this type of program that they would ask for one. But on this years requirements there’s no mention of one and there’s no mention of it in the online app as well. Also, is the app automatically submitted after your checklist is all done or is there some additional action you need to do to submit it.
Hey, @OsamaCare Basically all the questions you answer are your resume. It asks your GPA and your classes, etc. Once I entered all my information and my teachers loaded my letters of rec. I then submitted the resume (I think). I did it over a month ago and I might be getting it mixed up with MITES, which I submitted as well. One thing is once you have submitted the application and everything is done, you receive an email that tells you that you that everything was submitted. Then in a couple of weeks, I received an email telling me to login to look at the decision.
@darkermuppet Is the AI4ALL program limited only to individuals who fall into the “diversity within CS” category? So a middle class Asian would not stand a chance?
Hello everyone. Just came back to say that SAMS is now available to both juniors and sophomores(limited). As an alum, I will be happy to answer questions about SAMS and AP/EA, except those pertaining to chance someone. I just personally do not like the idea of “chancing” someone based off of stats. So please, no questions asking me whether or not you have a chance. Also, I can’t really answer much about the AI4ALL program as that program only started last year and I was not there to see what took place.
@ak2018 What do you exactly do at SAMS? Like what course would you take?
@ak2018 can you look over my essays and perhaps give me some feedback? :(((((( Im so drained of ideas and i would appreciate so so much if you could
@Bing__Boy For the most part, you’ll find general course info on the SAMS website. Basically, you have a Science class, math class, programming, Standardized test prep, a project, and a few seminars here and there. All classes are mandatory and the schedule, at least for us, had us in class from 8 to 5, Monday to Friday, with office hours immediately following. To be brief, you’ll have time for fun stuff and class work and everything in-between. In your free time, it is recommended you study during the week, but you are free to travel around Pittsburgh as you please. But yeah, this is me being brief. There are 75 pages worth of info at your disposal, as I helped last year’s participants, so you can use the previous posts for help as well.
@jjhh516 Sure, just PM them.
The thing I am worried about is that I have already taken calculus so will I be placed in a different class?
@Bing__Boy All accepted SAMS student will take a math course placement test to be placed into a math class. If you pass all of the Pre-Calc and Calc portions of the exam, you will be placed into Concepts, which is considered higher than Calculus and is a proof-based class. As to my knowledge, this is the only math class above Calculus that they will offer. However, if you do not get a good enough score on the exam, you will either be placed into Calc B (which I believe is equivalent to BC Calc), Calc A (Calc AB), or Pre-Calc, depending on what you get. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend studying for it. This one girl who was in Calc got placed into Pre-Calc, so it more so tests your near-complete mastery of a topic as opposed to it being hard. It’s not too long either and you cannot request to go into a higher math class than what the test places you in, but you can go into a lower one.
Hello there, I just wanted to ask about the supplement essays for SAMS. I finished up the supplement essays for it but for some reason it says “*Required for Summer Academy for Math and Science only. Optional for AI4ALL”, I’m not sure what this means. Does it mean that I have to submit all 4 AI4All essays or are they optional. I put AI4ALL as my second choice sooo…
Yea, you have to do the AI4ALL Supplements as well.
Can you submit your application even if your recommenders haven’t submitted their recommendation?
@HennyHinderker Yes.
Which is more helpful for college application, SAMS or AI4ALL? My son is a Chinese American. He has no awards. Is it possible for him to be admitted to either of these programs?
@jenny001 , there’s no place to put rewards in the app anyways so even if he did, they wouldn’t know. I think he should go for it
@Potter3846 Thank you. I saw these two camps encourage minorities to apply. I was told Asian Americans are not considered as minority for STEM camps. Does that mean Asian Americans (not 1st- generation college students, not from inner cities) have a very very low chance to be accepted?
@jenny001 Asians are not minorities. Females are tho, so there’s that.
Also, based on your question about SAMS and AI4ALL, AI4All i believe is for minorities and if I remember correctly, only for females? I know they changed their program recently so it is possible that males can now apply.
Based on what looks good, it really depends on the major of your son. If he wants to do cs, in particular AI, then AI4ALL would be the way to go. If he wants to do any other field of stem, i think SAMS would be a better fit. However, these programs are some of the most competitive in the country. You will be going against students that are possibly Ivy bound and many don’t get accepted in the end. Without any ECs, even good scores won’t make him have a chance of being admitted. If he has STEm awards, I think it is still worth applying, but he may get rejected.
Rather than aiming super high, I would recommend your son to develop good ECs over the summer such as doing an internship or making a non profit rather than pursue programs where he will likely get rejected.
@jenny001 Hi, I am 100% Vietnamese guy which is Asian and went to AI4ALL last summer! There were some Asian girls in the program as well so I don’t think they have a very low chance to be accepted.
@HappySands AI4ALL was an amazing experience. We received AI/ML lectures from CMU professors in Comp Sci Department, Robotics Institute, and some other departments. Some professors are really famous that when you Google them you can see a bunch of results. After the first week, you will start working on an AI research project depends on which group you get in. There were 3 for my year: Cozmo robotic, Predicting house prices, and geospatial data analysis. Your project will be advised by a Ph.D. student or researcher in that field. My advisor is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley. Overall, this program is academically challenging and (I think) everyone should be prepared in computer science fundamentals (just fundamental).
About Dorm life, we all lived in the dorm for the whole program with other CMU summer programs. It was an amazing experience also. I lived with 25 other guys from various programs (Architecture, music, drama, etc). For food, you have access to the cafeteria 3 times a day for the whole week with 5 meals at other restaurants on campus. I would say food at CMU is a lot better than my school’s lunch 
One more amazing thing is the AI4ALL organization. After you graduate from the program, you will join their Alumni Association or something like that. They provide so much resources and opportunities for you. In October 2018, I got a grant from them to support my robotic teaching program.
Good luck with your app! DM me if you need anything.
@GoBears2023 Thank you very much for your information. My son has good grades, but does not have any STEM awards. I will also look for some internship or non profit opportunities. Really appreciate your suggestion.