<p>My son’s status still does not say “Application in Review”. He was accepted to NASA INSPIRE last year and I just checked the old emails to see when he was notified that he got in. It was 8/27/2010, so I think we have another month to wait. </p>
<p>NASA INSPIRE is highly competitive and you have to apply each year to first be accepted to the online community. Once in, you participate in activities all year long to earn points. These can vary from live chats with NASA scientists, research papers, group projects, doing experiments, building models, etc. It takes a lot of time and effort all year long to gain points, but you learn a lot. Then in the spring everyone in the online community has the opportunity to apply for the summer activitites. It is a full blown application just like for college, complete with transcripts, letters of recommendation, and essays. They also take how many points you earned into consideration.</p>
<p>My son was accepted into the summer program for 10th graders and just got back from the University of Puerto Rico where he had a fantastic two week (all expenses paid, even airfare) Collegiate Experience. There were 33 students and they split into three groups to study either robotics, nanotechnology or biotechnology. My son chose nanotech and his group worked intensively with the head of the nanotech department. They have 3 electron microscopes and they used one to grow carbon nanotrees. Very cool stuff! </p>
<p>If he is accepted for the online community next year he will then apply in the spring for the summer experience for juniors. This is an 8 week internship at a NASA center. </p>
<p>Good luck to all those who applied. It is a great program!</p>