I applied to iResearch Institute yesterday. They got back to me in literally one day (quick!). Now I have a decision to make between SSI (without research) and iRI (with research). The benefit of SSI is the masterclasses and the number of godly mentors. The benefit of iRI is “godmother of highschool research” Dr. McCalla and the godly mentors (less of them though).
What do you guys think? If anyone’s done iResearch before, please share your experiences.
@Nano1337 @sdtkd03 honestly I’m so sad i didn’t get into SSI bc i much rather do that program. iResearch is only 4 weeks! i heard it’s already super hard to get a decent project done in 6 weeks at RSI so i really don’t think 4 weeks is gonna enough to churn out a quality project. Also I looked into Dr. McCalla, and it looks like most of her students had wet lab research experiences. I’m not sure how that would translate into an online/virtual format, like i can see myself doing a data science project remotely but idk about a wet lab project online
Anyone else deciding between iResearch and SSI?
Could you drop your stats and what you talked about in your iRi essays?
I don’t see myself applying to iResearch… My school is in the Long Island area and Jericho is one of our competitors. I don’t see myself getting much help from Jericho’s research coordinator.
@crystalpalace Don’t worry. The grass is always greener on the other side. Were you to be accepted you would have to deal with the decision of spending $6500 on a project. If you’re still an underclassman you have time. If you’re a junior (like me), well… Tough luck for both of us I guess!
@BigTalk2056 My STEM ECs are typical and aren’t anything special (9th grade, AIME, Scioly Nats Medal, other math competitions and science things, some leadership positions)
@AILoveCS Lol
Do you have any research experience or anything like that? Congrats on getting in btw, I’m just trying to determine if I’ve got a shot at getting in
Nothing close to research experience lol
As someone who has placed at international competitions and published research, I am confused how I was not selected for the research program (considering the ECs and stats of other applicants in the thread), and I am almost certain it is because I applied for financial aid. However, at this point, I am happy I was not accepted into the research portion because now I will have time to make my existing project better for STS. This program seems unorganized and risky for me considering the cost, so this summer I decided to not go with SSI and to just continue my research project I have been working on with bioinformatics through my lab.
@bananapudding123
That’s great! Coming from another research student who worked in a lab, how feasible is it to get a “lab” by cold emailing? I basically stopped emailing professors at this point because I assumed it would be impossible to get a lab (esp. since I live in NY). Unfortunately, my lab bailed on me (even before corona), and I was left with little options in terms of lab work outside of school.
@ssianonymous they didn’t even answer the questions lol it definitely looks sketchy to me at least they could have tried to address our concerns
@AILoveCS I had already been working with that lab for about 1.5 years, so I basically just asked if I could have guidance from the bioinformatician at the lab to increase the scope of my project. When I originally tried finding a lab, it takes about 20 emails to get 1 response, and usually, the response is “we do not have room for an intern” lol. Just keep emailing labs! However, because of COVID, a lot of labs are not accepting summer interns right now, so if you are a freshman or sophomore, you might need to wait until next year to work with a lab
@user875634723
If you’re applying for these programs solely for the resume, I would advise against it… Paying thousands of dollars for that just isn’t worth it. Pursuing your passions and starting projects is worth more of your time.
Otherwise, if you think that admissions officers are going to question the work being done, just make sure you emphasize that the work you would be doing at SSI is in tune with your passions. For example, you want to pursue data science research, or you want a research project for next year. If you make that clear, I’m sure admissions officers will get the memo that you have initiative.
If what you’re looking for is prestige, SSI does not really have much of that; this is their first year, and no one knows how this will go.
@worksmartnothard yeah they did reply but only after they saw how we were bashing them on this thread lol
@user875634723 it’s really hard to tell because we don’t know the acceptance rates or if this program is even legitimate
I think emailing professors is probably the best bet unless someone can easily drop 6.5k
Both SSI and iResearch aren’t making acceptance rates transparent. I wish they did.
Just got accepted into iResearch with full financial aid! Has anyone gotten into SSI with full financial aid?
I’ve spent some time doing some comparing of the programs.
Cost:
SSI (No Research): 2.5 K
SSI (With Research): 6 K
iResearch: 4 K
Amount of direct instruction/mentoring measured in time:
SSI (No Research): 60 total hours over 6 weeks
SSI (With Research): 96 total hours over 6 weeks
iResearch: 80 or 96 total hours over 4 weeks (depending on if its 5 or 6 days a week), with an additional extended week 5 for project review and masterclasses
Extra Things:
SSI (both tracks): Masterclasses: 30 hours, Social Events: 30 hours, Weekend Challenges: 10 hours, Special Events: 9-18 hours
Total of 79-88 hours
overall SSI seems to be much more structured with a schedule so far, but iResearch starts later
iResearch: Office Hours: 60 hours, Masterclasses (not clear how many), Social Events (not clear how many)
Instructors/Mentors:
SSI: 4 godly instructors, 35 godly masterclass speakers, 6 godly mentors for research projects (6 mentors for 40-120 mentors isn’t gonna work out well lol)
(note that there might be overlap between mentors and masterclass speakers)
iResearch: “godmother of highschool science research” Dr. McCalla, 8 godly mentors
Other than that both are basically the same. Both have not released any kind of acceptance rates. We only know that over 1300 people applied to SSI. Some have said the cap is 40 for research and others have said the cap is 120 for SSI research. No word from iResearch on that matter, but they said that the max ratio for students per mentor is 10:1, and since there are 8 mentors, that means there could be 80 total accepted students (this is pure guesswork on my part).
I was accepted yesterday. Working like to jobs to pay for it lol (from what I can gather it is legit).
@dinosauce313 In the application, correct me if i’m wrong, it said your experience in computer science or anything related to your experience in the tech field wouldn’t give you an advantage or hurt your application…