<p>ya ya, I'm assuming this stereotypical thread has been posted be4, but why not another one.</p>
<p>MIT looks for originality and creativity of the applicants and its wrong to immitate what the accepted applicants have done. But if you know what ultimately pushed you into that door, plz relpy. </p>
<p>It can be any EC, award, or essay topic.
Thnax.</p>
<p>no idea</p>
<p>I really doubt anyone knows</p>
<p>No one has a clue. If I had to venture a guess , it may have been the research I've done over the summer and my involvement in a professional ska band. I guess that's something that a lot of other applicants don't have? Who knows.</p>
<p>solid test scores and GPA, courseload including things like multivariable calc junior year and genetics and celluar physiology, four years of varsity volleyball and three years of managing swim team and writing for one of the top high-school newspapers in the country and two summers of internships at gov't research labs. </p>
<p>i don't know--if i had only one of those points going for me, i doubt i would've gotten in. i think it's a lot more about how everything about you adds up into a bigger picture, and unless you win intel or something huge like that, i doubt there's any ONE thing that'll put you in the "accepted" pile.</p>
<p>I graduated from hs in 2 and a half years and did research at oxford for a summer because we used to live near there and we knew a few professors and while I was there I found a new technique now used in PCR.</p>
<p>my optional sheet / essay</p>
<p>otherwise, I dont think I stood out in any way</p>
<p>u guys truly amaze me.</p>
<p>I was kidding... you probably have better stats than me! I would never apply to MIT!</p>
<p>Keep in mind that admitted students with really unique cases aren't going to post here, since their situations might be specific enough to personally identify them...</p>
<p>Alright, I'll give this a shot.</p>
<p>I've already mentioned on this board that I go to a tech school, so I (am forced to) take lots of science and math, but honestly...and this is what I wrote in my caltech essay haha... I've never been to a science fair, I never did research. I've never been to physics camp or qualified to take extra special math tests. I didn't do that whole Intel thing and when I was given the choice of applying to a summer program (NJ Governor's School) last year, I considered the engineering program for about two seconds before deciding to go for public policy. So while that stuff is cool and all...I don't think it really matters. I have strong grades and SAT scores, but I think it was my extra question that made the difference.</p>
<p>I answered the question about something I once created, and told the story of how I became interested in engineering. I really think that had a huge impact, because it wasn't this long list of impressive stuff that I did. Most of you could probably do it in 5 minutes, and it took me 3 days. But it was a personal story of how technology came alive for me and how I became enchanted with the idea of invention. </p>
<p>My two cents.</p>
<p>^That's encouraging to hear. Some of the people on these boards are so good it's frightening to us RD's.</p>
<p>I got in because I dreamt big and didn't back down :D</p>
<p>sorry but, wutz the thing about 2 cents? I often see ppl posting it, but I dun know why.</p>
<p>it is like saying "that is my input"</p>
<p>Hmm, I really believe I am the least of the admitted students. I have awful stats including 570 - SAT2phys, no research, a couple of ecs, but solid grades.</p>
<p>What I believe got me in:
1. race card - I'm a chicano in one of the dumbest, poorest towns in Texas, yet somehow I managed to do much much MUCH better than my peers. (#7/290 I know for a fact can't do factoring very well)
2. pestering - since I was rejected from the MITE2S summer program, I pestered the admissions people non stop, coming up with any question and even asking them if they could pay for me to go to MIT. They said no. But atleast when they picked up my application to review it, they knew me.
3. least importantly, (b/c everyone else has this) solid grades, good sat scores (1450), good essay, interesting short answer, and solid recs.</p>
<p>P.S. Only the most brilliant and determined seniors make it to AP Calculus. Our AP calculus teacher(master's from byu, we are lucky to have him) always compains to us because none of us ever knows what is the cosine of 0 or the sine of pi/2. It drives him crazy. he always has to review us over trig identities and the most mundane details.</p>
<p>gg mit too..</p>
<p>hikkifan,
I am wondering why you were rejected to MITE2s. Your SAT score is excellent, clearly in the range for MIT acceptance. While your SATII score is not good, you come from a terrible school, and it's very difficult to have high SAT IIs (which reflect course content) if one comes from a school lacking in academic excellence.</p>
<p>Were your SAT I scores not available when you applied to MITE2S? Any chance that your application wasn't very good because you didn't then know how to present yourself? For instance, perhaps it was late, incomplete, filled with typos, didn't answer the essay questions,etc. I have seen such things in scholarship applications from top students at weak schools. The students didn't know the importance of timeliness and of revising their essays.</p>
<p>I am sure that your persistence paid off for you with admissions. You did give the adcoms a chance to get to know you and to see first hand how you are overcoming the poor academics at your school.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your MIT acceptance. Although you will enter with some weaker skills than many other students have, Your obvious high intelligence will serve you well. (One has to have intelligence way above the average for a place like MIT to have done as well as you did in an weak academic environment. This particularly is reflected on your SAT scores. More privileged students get such scores by taking rigorous courswork plus expensive prep courses).
Combine your intelligence with your strong work ethic and networking skills, and I anticipate that when graduation day comes at MIT, you'll be in line, and will have a nice gpa. :)</p>
<p>Thank you, Northstarmom! That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long while. I posted in another thread my speculation over my rejection to MITE2S. A while after I was rejected, I got the chance to see a letter of recommendation my Algebra 2 teacher did for another student. (I had gotten her to write one for my MITE2S application). I was appalled by her incompetence. She truly writes on a fifth grade level. The most descriptive word she used was "incredible". Her entire recommendation was roughly six to seven sentences: one introducing her, one saying how she knew the student, a couple saying why she thought she was a good student, one to say she highly recommends the student, and one to say thanks, bye. I showed it to my French teacher(the only teacher in our district with a PhD. - BTW,it's from Stanford). He was more shocked than I was. This math teacher CAN NOT write!</p>
<p>Of course, I can't blame it all on others. I reread my essays at the beginning of my senior year - and laughed and winced. They were terrible. Really awful. I was so disgusted that I immediately deleted them from my computer. I had not taken SAT I yet. All I had was my 217 PSAT selection index, which IS the bottom of the cutoff for Semi-Finalist. I'm the only NMSC Semi-Finalist our school has had in many many years(more than fifteen). So I was extremely lucky to slide in at the bottom of the barrel. I was put front page on the local newspaper for it and spoke in front of the school board. That was...funny. I get all this attention for a test. Oh, well, I think it helped my MIT app - because I definitely put that down. </p>
<p>Thank you for your post, Northstarmom. That really was nice. I respond, in turn, with an also lengthy response. Oh, I hope you're right about my GPA at MIT. :)</p>
<p>Hikkifan, that's inspiring. I hope to have a success story to tell like you in April!</p>
<p>I'm a fan of Hikki too! I attend the same high school as she did. I also applied to Columbia so if I go there, I'd be following the same path as her! But I love MIT too...</p>
<p>That's so cool, expo2005. It's hard to find fans of Utada Hikaru in the U.S. I wish her Exodus album had had more of an impact. Same high school and potentially Columbia...next thing you're gonna tell me is that you were born on January 19. ;)<br>
I wish you the best on your MIT app!</p>