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I know RSI looks really prestigious for MIT, Harvard, and Caltech, but how do other colleges such as Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, UPenn, etc. see RSI? Is it pretty much the same?

By Jbaby262 (Jbaby262) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 08:09 am: Edit

yes pretty much...most of the RSI alumni who apply to duke get full scholarships so it's definently worth alot..im not too sure about those other schools, but i would imagine the same thing.

By Nerdish (Nerdish) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 10:04 am: Edit

This is a little off topic, but I'm from Fairfax County, where Thomas Jefferson High School is. Does that mean that I have insanely small chances of getting into RSI?

By Schemer (Schemer) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:46 am: Edit

why don't you simply email the people at CEE for that kind of question, they are the only people who can give you a real answer to that.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 12:33 pm: Edit

people who get into RSI generally have so much stuff going for them that they would get into most of the selective schools they apply to even w/o mentioning RSI. That said, I wouldn't count on every adcom at every college having heard of RSI.

I attended a Stanford info session recently with an English-major adcom who is clearly very humanities oriented. She spent half the session waxing poetic about the excellent writing Stanford is looking for on their touchy-feely essays. My guess is that she is not particularly in touch with high powered math/science types and the programs they attend, and I would not be surprised if she (or another adcom like her) has never heard of RSI. She did say that the applications from high powered math people are reviewed by math faculty. That raises the question of whether or not math profs at Stanford have likely heard of RSI. My guess would be no.

By Vinny919 (Vinny919) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:38 pm: Edit

I have to disagree with Texas slightly in that the kids that get into RSI would get into the selective schools anyway.

You can get into RSI if you have a 1100 SAT but you are still a genius researcher or something. If a college saw you with an 1100 SAT, you probably wouldn't get in. Also, the college process is a lot more random than the RSI process, so RSI is more trustworthy when choosing the people that really deserve it.

Just my 2 cents.

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:45 pm: Edit

Dumb parent here....what is RSI?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:59 pm: Edit

RSI = Research Science Institute. Prestigious (free!) summer program at MIT or Caltech for rising seniors interested in math or science research. www.cee.org

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 03:03 pm: Edit

Thank you.

By Gvtennis55 (Gvtennis55) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Hey i'm a soph and I REALLY want to go to rsi, this summer i'm gonna do some research at a local university but i got 2 b's in honros geometry freshmen year. I was just being lazy and didnt do the work. In fact, this year (soph year) i'm going to take the ap calc bc and ap stat exams (i have been doing an outside of school math ind study program since 3rd grade) by the time i apply to rsi i'll have some college math under my belt. I'm also taking ap chem and ap us history. How much is my geo going to hurt me? Will rsi look past it and focus on the college level work i am doing now? (Junior year-ap phys c ap bio, some college math courses somewhere)
btw- i've read all the posts saying if u do stuff just to get into rsi you wont get in. but this is not the case for me, i have been reading papers involving neurological research for some months now and find it extreeemly fascinating. rsi just came up and seems like exactly what i was looking for!

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 04:29 pm: Edit

>"the college process is a lot more random than the RSI process"

Vinny's probably right here. That goes along with my saying that inexperienced, humanities-oriented ad coms don't necessarily know what is "impressive" in math/science programs (and vice-versa, I suppose). I wouldn't expect RSI kids to necessarily get in everywhere they apply, esp. if they apply to colleges that don't usually get RSI applicants. But certainly they should have good success at the colleges that know to look (and want to look!) for the same sorts of things RSI looks for.