<p>hey corina ;)</p>
<p>I think there is a misconception that summer programs like RSI, etc. will get you into colleges such at MIT that are difficult to be accepted to.</p>
<p>The real truth, I think, is that RSI and other programs have similar or the same selection criteria as the top colleges, and a similar applicant pool. So people who go to RSI, etc. don’t get into top colleges because they went: they get into the top colleges because of the same reasons they got into RSI (i.e. research, demonstrated interesting in science/math, etc.).</p>
<p>RSI does help, though, especially with the research.</p>