<p>^agreed, a lot of these people have no clue what they’re doing, so id apply somewhere else, perhaps YESS, since this doesn’t seem to be the rigorous program for those who truly care</p>
<p>^The Caltech campus is not hosting YESS this year, just putting that out there. </p>
<p>And just saying, from previous threads, there have been some academically amazing students that attended SSP. Just because it might not be as “rigorous” as other programs, it does not mean this program is not right for an academically rigorous student. </p>
<p>I am sure everyone applying to this program does have a clue what they are doing. Personally, I am applying to explore this field of astronomy and physics. This might sound weird, but the whole reason why I am applying is because I don’t have much of a clue about the fields that SSP focuses on.</p>
<p>@Double Dare</p>
<p>I apologize for being forward and adressing you directly, however the thing that caught my attention was your comment that SSP doesn’t care about Band/OotM. I just created an account on College Confidential to set things straight and to encourage you to apply. </p>
<p>I can say personally that I wrote explicitly about the technical contributions I made to my Odyssey of the Mind teams over the years as well as my involvement in band and passion for music as a major part of my application. As a recent alumnus of the program (Socorro 2010), I can also say that SSP was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and not just socially - although I believe I became more aware and more mature as an individual through my participation - as seemed to be a suggestion of earlier posts. </p>
<p>You will get out of SSP what you put in, and it definitely helps to prepare for the program by reviewing your AP Physics C: Mechanics and brushing up on VPython (I had only worked with Java before). Although the first week or so consited of review to allow those who were less prepared to catch up, spherical trig was new to me, and once we started working with VPython and applying what we were learning, I couldn’t get enough of it - and there was plenty to be had. </p>
<p>You will be challenged, and to some degree the professors will push you to your failing point, when you’re sleeping an average of three hours each night for a week straight between observing your asteroid and writing/debugging your Orbit Determination Program, complete with additional corrections and error propagation.</p>
<p>Your professors will be incredible, your classmates will be brilliant (even if you meet someone as …eccentric as SexyAznPrincess, or a few others become absorbed by the fun to be had without challenging themselves academically), the guest lectures are engaging, and the field trips are unforgettable. Definitely apply. Don’t convey yourself as someone you’re not - be yourself, including your eccentricities or diverse interests, and demonstrate the passion you have for physics, math, or science.</p>
<p>Sorry for posting late in the game, I realize the deadline is approaching!
Good luck!</p>
<p>Hey everyone. I was in socorro, and I just wanted to say something that I dont think was mentioned here. Our year was unusual; very very unusual. In fact, they said our year was the most social one they have had, if I remember correctly. So as you read what my friends have posted here, just remember that our year was not typical and that our personal stories probably do not represent what a normal year of SSP is like. It would be much smarter to read stuff from older years for the sake getting a normal point of view. This is just my personal take.</p>
<p>Another point i wanted to make for those of you writing their essays right now and try to check if their stats are good: A big part of SSP is learning from your peers, and other posts mentioned that. This has consequences. Because say 30 people form the same state with perfect stats apply, and only 5 people from another contrasting state with worse stats apply. It would be smarter to admit some of the lower stats people form the other state over certain people with near-perfect stats, simply because they come from a different background and would bring cultural and maybe some ethnic differences that are needed to create an enviroemnt where poeple would learn from each other. Therefore, it comes down to what you have to express and your uniqueness in your essays. Let me add that when they were admitting people to our year, they first read the essays, then put those in order from interesting to less interesting, and then used checked the stats for the better essays to make sure the ppl who wrote are not complete idiots. Idk if this process was mentioned here before(I didnt take the time to read through all the posts), but I hope this gives you more insight as you are writing your essays. At the same time, some people who are less interesting and who only have good stats will also get in, because someone has got to pull up the averages that SSP uses to “brag” about its ppl. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m a junior and I’m considering applying to SSP. But…I don’t have any extracurriculars related to science or math because I realized a little late in life that these are important when applying to programs and colleges and stuff. I read all of the posts and I know that some of you got accepted even though you don’t have any experience in research or astronomy/physics. To be honest, I have zero experience in these subjects outside of classes in school. But I do love science; it’s my favorite subject. But I’m worried that my lack of knowledge in these subjects will hurt my application, although I suppose I have decent standardized test scores and grades. </p>
<p>What also kind of worries me is that I’m more of a biology person, although I’m really interested in this program because it explores subjects that I haven’t really studied before. My school doesn’t offer any astronomy class because of lack of interest, and although I haven’t taken a high-level physics class yet, I plan on taking AP Physics next year. And I’m only in pre-calculus right now. Do you think I have a chance? </p>
<p>But what really interests me about SSP is how much fun and social interaction the previous students had. I really want to go to a residential program just for the experience. </p>
<p>So any thoughts, comments, suggestions? I know I should decide soon whether to apply, but I guess I’m still a little afraid that I have no chance of making it in anyway.</p>
<p>I definitely think you should still apply; what dyou have to lose? The resume is optional, and I think that passion really counts for a lot when it comes down to the final decision. (Although I wouldn’t know for sure, lol). Then again, there are also lots of other great residential programs out there with awesome people to meet-- especially if you’d enjoy a more biology-focused program. But I don’t think you shouldn’t apply just because you don’t think you’ll make it in! (That’s a really messed up sentence haha). You’ll have zero chances if you don’t try D:</p>
<p>I missed the January SAT thanks to a blizzard… My chances are probably even slimmer since it’ll probably be too late to send March scores… I hate Canada…</p>
<p>is it only useful to attach a resume when you have lots of science related ECs/awards? :S i want to attach one mainly to show ssp what other kinds of things i’m interested in, but i have next to zero science related credentials :(</p>
<p>Would it hurt my application if I put anything other than physics and astronomy as my favorite science topic? Because I haven’t really had a chance to explore these subjects yet because of lack of classes and the way my school is scheduled. And honestly, I find any science topic interesting and I think it would be so fun to learn about astronomy since I probably won’t be able to take a class for it in school. </p>
<p>And does the teacher evaluation have to be from my math teacher? Because at my school, everyone is summer program crazy, so teachers get bombarded by recommendation letter requests. A lot of them have started saying no to students, and I think my math teacher may have already stopped taking requests (plus I haven’t been able to ask her this whole week because she’s been gone). </p>
<p>Also, does anyone know the rate of admittance? I think I read it somewhere but I can’t find it anymore.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I read somewhere that the rate of admittance is around 13%. But I’m not 100% positive.
Can anyone confirm this?</p>
<p>I found in older posts that 72/531 applicants were accepted last year, but I expect that to go up this year D: </p>
<p>So, is it a bad idea to put anything other than physics or astronomy as your favorite science topic in the short answers? I wouldn’t really know if I like these subjects yet since I haven’t taken any real classes on them. Which is partly why I’m so interested in applying to SSP xD.</p>
<p>Does math count for the science topic? (I’m a math guy, with just a bit of physics on the side.)</p>
<p>It’s crazy that applications increased by almost 70% in the past year. I guess more and more people are hearing about the awesomeness that is SSP :P</p>
<p>You could probably make the argument that math is a science, depending on your definition of science (there’s even a whole wiki article about it lol). But as lc93430 mentioned earlier, the best idea is probably just to write passionately about what really interests you.</p>
<p>so basically if I’m taking ap physics c & ap calc bc I would be considered average in the applicant pool right? </p>
<p>Oh and for essay 1 what are ppl writing about?
I’m talking about like this intel proposal I wrote over the summer at COSMOS on the Biefield Brown effect (E/M stuff) but I heard in previous years the essay topic had to do with astronomy… so should I change my topic?
For essay 3 I talked about my experience at COSMOS over the the summer where I essentially did something similar to the orbit determination project they do at SSP except mine was simpler I used CCD images to determine the mass of Saturn, but I’m not sure whether this is substantial enough to deserve mentioning in an essay.
Also for the supplement I don’t get what we’re supposed to put… just Ec’s and awards? or like is it a works submit kind of thing?</p>
<p>To international applicants: Did you guys submit your applications?</p>
<p>Just mailed it today. I leave everything to the last minute :P</p>
<p>@skipblooms</p>
<p>I hope you’re an international student. I saw your comment and kind of panicked for a moment there. :)</p>
<p>We US students have about a month left before the deadline. I’m lucky to live close to the mailing address, so hopefully mailing issues won’t occur for me.</p>
<p>Is the ratio of boys to girls at SSP even? Does anyone know if more boys or girls apply? Don’t know if this really makes a difference though lol…doubt it.</p>
<p>I had actually meant to post something in the previous years’ SSP forums, but just never got around to it. I was at Socorro in 2008 and SSP was probably one of the most life changing experiences I have had to date. For those of you with a true passion or possible interest in astronomy or astrophysics, this unique program recreates a condensed experiment within a tight-knit community, that is as close as you will get to experiencing the atmosphere and kinds of problems that you might eventually work on in those fields, while you are still only in high school. </p>
<p>While it is true that a handful of my group were there mostly for the social experience and did the bare minimum to get by, the majority of us were thrilled to be pushed to the limits of our knowledge and often went beyond the required expectations. SSP will take you as far as you are willing to go. Just because you can get by during SSP without taking the time to understand what you are doing is not the fault of the program, but rather reflects the philosophy SSP has that self motivation is what ultimately creates successful scientists. This is why there are no grades/credits at SSP. Those who are willing to push themselves beyond their limits are the ones who will get the most out of the program. (Essay hint—if you are a good match for SSP, your essays will reveal this quality in places other than just in getting good grades in school–and the essays are really, really important.)</p>
<p>As with all scientific summer programs, finishing a research experiment complete with written report within a six week time frame is challenging to say the least - especially when you are trying to get meaningful results. From friends I know who left SSP to do RSI the following summer, the same problem exists there as well. But just because good science takes a long time to do well does not take away the essence of what SSP, RSI, and many other great summer science programs will give you. While it is true that you will not be doing groundbreaking new research during your time at SSP, I found it ultimately more helpful to be involved from start to finish doing an experiment that required substantial hands-on work with the telescope as well as learning to program my own code, deal with unexpected results, learn complicated material I had never seen before in a short period of time, and write a cohesive final report. All of this was on top of going to the classes, guest lectures and bonding socially as a group, and really fun field trips! We were pushed to work collaboratively, because even if one of us was great in calculus, another person had tremendous code programming skills, and yet another had great skill with the telescope. All of this ended up being like a crash course in what life as a research scientist would be like. And therein lies the true value of these programs. Either you will be inspired, as I was, to pursue this even further, or you will realize that it is not exactly your cup of tea and other things excite you more. In other words, the value lies not in the end result of your project, but in the process.</p>
<p>So where am I three years later? I met incredible mentors and friends, with whom I still get together, or e-mail, or talk with on a regular basis. Everyone I met there is incredibly smart, and some are truly brilliant. (I fully expect one to win a Nobel Prize one day.) I realized that I would thrive in an atmosphere like SSP for college and wound up at MIT, where I am currently a course 8 major (physics). For the past year, I have been working as part of a research group doing cutting-edge research on black holes (using skills I started to develop at SSP.)</p>
<p>For those of you who think that SSP is/was not a “useful” summer program–you have barely scratched the surface of what this program is all about. For those of you looking to find out if life as a scientist suits you and especially life as a physicist, astrophysicist, or astronomer…it is worth much more than the time and effort it takes to apply.</p>
<p>Good luck to all 2011 SSP applicants! (Hopefully, I’ll make it to the reunion this summer.)</p>
<p>i sent my application on the last day too 
</p>
<p>skipblooms, what address did you mail it to? is the “administrative office” one at the bottom of each page of the application correct? also do we receive any kind of confirmation as to whether they received it?</p>