What kind of previous experience in cs, physics, astrophysics, or astronomy do y’all have?
Personally, I don’t have a strong background in any of these subjects but I do enjoy all of them!
@cbcbcb1 Yeah I think that most of the applications were from people with a passion in those subject without a ton of experience.
@cbcbcb1 I have really strong CS experience but not too heavy in astronomy nor astrophysics. I am taking physics right now, though, and my physics teacher submitted a LOR on my behalf.
@duoduo @marvelousmarvel I guess we should wait until this saturday according to YSPA website!
@cbcbcb1 I have a strong CS background and I have done many of the Python topics YSPA website lists. I’m taking AP Physics 1 right now but I’m not that good in Physics. I’ve never taken Astronomy but my school does offer it as an elective, which unfortunately doesn’t fit my schedule. I’m taking an independent study in the Astrophysics of Black Holes so I have my study advisor, who is also an Astronomy teacher and my past CS teacher, submitted a LOR for me.
I took AP CSP and passed with a 4, but personally I’m not that good at/ enjoy CS, but I do love physics and i am taking AP Physics 1 at school and physics c online. I also compete in Astronomy in SciOly
still kinda nervous,i got rejected from 2 programs already
@duoduo0619 These summer programs are so selective… I’m so sorry to hear that. I got a rejection too so I really understand. I badly want to get into YSPA. Well, 4 days left until YSPA decision day!
I badly want to get into YSPA as well, I am scared of seeing rejection letter…
@Krli2790 California! What about you?
I’m also interested in the gender ratio of applicants. Any other girls applying on this forum?
Yes I am applying as a girl!
I’m also applying as a girl. I wonder what kind of students they are looking for.
I’m a girl, too! Yay, go women in STEM. Curious how many of you are in #BUILTBYGIRLS or NCWIT? We have a rather extensive community in both of those programs.
Yes, I am part of NCWIT.
YSPA 2018 Alumnus here. If you have any questions, send me a pm and I’d be happy to answer 
Hi! I don’t know how to pm but I think others were interested in this question. What is the 2 week prep work like in terms of time commitment, flexibility, etc. In other words, is it truly on your own time? Could you skip a couple of days and then do more work? Trying to understand if every day needs to be completely free during that period. Thanks!
@marvelousmarvel, I’m from maryland but I currently live out of us due to my dads job.
@cbcbcb1 I’ve been doing physics since I’ve started high school and for astronomy I love. I miss no news about anything corcebing it be it on NASA’s website or Tesla. In fact in terms of activities linked to these two fields, I have a limitless number of them. I organized Science fairs science fairs every where I went and I think of creating an NGO but that’s a plan. I believe we all here love astrophysics and will be applying to world rtop universities next year so I invite those interested in creating this NGO to meet me so we can work together and build a stronger and perfect profile not only for our applications but for us as well
@phyphi8551 what do you think made you accepted in the program. Where and what are you song right now ( university) do you think your attendance to this summer course influenced your acceptance and will considerably influence your future ?
@phyphi8551 I had the same question as @rileygrl as to what is the involvement with the 2 week prep work, does it require significant amount of time every day in those 2 weeks, are there online meetings and stuff??
@rileygrl There were 2 problem sets due for us in the self-study period - 1 each week. The first pset was programming-based (python exercises) while the second was related to astronomy. Personally, I found the astronomy pset much harder. The amount of work you need to do in the study period depends on how quickly you can finish those psets thoroughly. If you’ve done a lot of programming before (especially python) you should be able to finish the programming aspects of the online study program fast, but the astronomy topics will take some time unless you’re familiar with things like celestial coordinates. Also, they’re completely changing the YSPA syllabus this year (imo you guys got really lucky, we did asteroid orbit modeling and characterization while you guys will be investigating galactic supernovae I think) so the self-study portion may not be exactly the same - the above is just based on my experience. I probably spent 2 hours a day in the first week (programming pset) and 3.5 hours a day in the second week (astronomy pset), procrastination included 
@Krli279 My recommendation letters were probably what stood out the most to me during the process. My physics teacher and I have a great relationship. At the time of applying, I had just switched into my school’s most challenging math class halfway into the year, which my math teacher really liked, so I think he wrote a strong recommendation as well. My weakness at the time of applying would definitely be my grades since my attainment in math wasn’t the highest until later on in high school. They definitely care about you as a person much more than your test scores (I mean that genuinely).
I’ll be attending UChicago in the fall. I definitely thinking YSPA was a significant way to demonstrate my love for physics and research. It’s highly competitive (the program director told us 531 people applied in 2018, and probs even more this year - you can do the math 
), so it might be partly correlation as well as causation, but the majority of my friends from YSPA have gotten into some of the best schools out there. From experience, the fact that everyone comes out with a co-authored research paper to their name helps with research supplements in the application process.
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'From experience, the fact that everyone comes out with a co-authored research paper to their name helps with research supplements in the application process. ’
really? everyone in the camp can have a coauthoried research paper? it will be a big plus if that is the case.