It’s that time of year again… Summer program applications are open!
MIT Launch '17 alum here. If you have any questions on application process / life at Launch / curriculum / company continuing, let me know and I will try my best to answer.
A few things about admission:
they don’t really care about your transcript - as long as you don’t have bunch of Cs you should be fine.
the video matters a lot
they have alum application readers summarize applications and make recommendations
having a LaunchX club or being in the LaunchX regional leadership can be a huge boost
applied previous years (and rejected) can be a boost
from underrepresented countries can be a boost
*those are just my observations - totally unofficial.
Why apply to Launch:
the program is highly hands on. You form REAL REAL REAL company with your team and make lifelong friends.
most companies formed at Launch continues after the conclusion of the program. I’ve heard of companies from two years ago still running and making enough money to be self-sufficient.
every single lecture (maybe except the first three days) is designed to support your company growth. the lecturer (sometime guest speakers) are highly knowledgeable in their respective field and usually will stay 10 minutes after lecture to answer individual questions. You learn everything from primary market research (PMR) to professional marketing. You even get legal consulting!
walking distance to venture cafe - meet the entrepreneurs from all around boston there!
great working environment. who doesn’t love to work in a conference room with view to Charles River.
Launch reimburse some of your prototyping costs.
You get a lot of exercise during lunch - walking from seniors house to sloan is no joke (go look it up on google maps)
Do not apply to Launch if you are trying to:
get a golden ticket to MIT. While Launch team has a good relationship with MIT Admissions, they are definitely not a golden ticket.
just to fill your time. you simply won’t get in if you aren’t passionate.
make money. if you are just here to make money, you probably won’t succeed in your company, therefore, losing all your money spent on camp cost.
Again if you have any questions about Launch, just let me know. Good luck on your applications everyone!
Hi, quick question. I’m interested in Launch, but I have very little entrepreneurial experience. However, I’m pretty accomplished academically. Is there a decent chance I get in, or is a strong entrepreneurial baseline very important?
@aaronzsun As long as you pass a certain threshold (like not bunch of Bs in all regular courses) they don’t care much about academics anymore. But as long as you have a genuine interest and reflect it in your video somehow, you will have a chance.
@esperantist I believe they meet most (if not 100%) of demonstrated financial need. I applied for FA and got a pretty generous package. They are not pushy about payment as well.
Hey, I have a question. I found out about LaunchX because they sent me an email as part of the (for the most part) highly annoying student search services that spam your inbox and make you feel like you have friends when your phone buzzes constantly. I then connected it to the MIT Launch programme I saw once on some list of 10 top summer programmes for high schoolers. The list falsely said that the programme cost was free though the actual site said that it was around $7k. I didn’t expect it to be quite so expensive… I’ve heard that the financial aid was generous but exactly how generous? Do you have a general idea of what income bracket can receive aid? I don’t get reduced/free lunch at school. Thanks
@0x0001 Will it be a big issue that I had a bad first semester of junior year with B’s and C’s? I’ve gotten straight A’s pretty much every other semester so this might look a little sketchy. Do you think I’ll need to explain the bad semester in my application?
Also, do they really care if you haven’t done anything extraordinarily impressive yet? How do they judge passion and potential?
@“Prestigious Nerd” honestly, it won’t look good… If you have any special circumstances (hurricanes, family issue, etc) be sure to explain that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t talk about it in the app.
@0x0001 Do you think it could mean the difference between acceptance and rejection with an otherwise solid application? They do say that grades are the least important part of the application and IMO they’d probably be okay with a 3.5, but it’s the downward trend that I’m worried about. My uw gpa is still ~3.7 which isn’t too bad.
Also, do they want you to have completed personal projects? I haven’t completed any personal projects yet (other than internship work) as I’ve just started working on them in the past month. Should I mention what I’m working on in my application even if it’s only halfway done? Also, should I mention that I’m hosting a hackathon at my school this spring even though it hasn’t happened yet? My personal opinion is that hypotheticals look bad. How should I go about describing an incomplete project?
@“Prestigious Nerd” nothing would make or break an application. The review process takes into account of all your activities and pays attention to your personal circumstances. There’s not a single factor that Launch is looking for.
Submitting a portfolio definitely would help. Make sure you put enough effort into your application and submit early!
@0x0001 It’s due in three days, so obviously not enough time to finish all my projects. How should I mention what I’m currently working on and show that it has some direction?
@“Prestigious Nerd” They are very lenient on grades, they really just want to see kid with passion. That’s at least how it seemed in my session. Lots of very smart kids, but that didn’t necessarily mean straight-A student.
Definitely mention your current project, talk about how you started doing it, where you hope to go with it, and what you want to do with it.
@0x0001 Sorry to interject in your thread! Just was browsing and passed by it, thought I’d stop in.
@RedLongTurtle It is very generous. When it was just MIT Launch, they had a blog post which spoke about financial aid depending on your income, though it might have changed since they expanded the program far past MIT.
@Abeyance the project is off to a great start. no huge results yet, but the trajectory looks good. also, i made an app over the summer but never put in on the app store. i also raised $3,500 for my robotics team all on my own. these are the three major things i want to highlight. should it be good enough? i’m still a bit sure of what type of credentials they’re looking for. i watched some of the youtube videos and some people who got in seemed very impressive and others not so much.
also, do you think it’s necessary to add special effects to the video? do they prefer those?
@“Prestigious Nerd” those are all great things to highlight, don’t be worried about a specific thing. They don’t look for one type of person, they want diversity in their program.
I was up until about 3am the day before fine tuning my video, and a lot of the people in my session ended up being in the same ones from videos I watched and had noted as good. Then again, some weren’t; to restate the fact that it’s not one thing they look for, it’s variety. No single aspect is a make or break, so don’t worry too much on one part of your app over another.
@Abeyance lol I haven’t even started the application yet, but at least I have everything planned out. Would you say a ~1 minute video of me talking and no special effects, additional graphics, or background music is sufficient? Would it increase my chances if I added those things in? What did you consider as “good?”
@“Prestigious Nerd” Just make sure you speak clearly and the mic picks up your voice without too much noise. I added those things in because I like to make sure I do all I am that might better my chances, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it did. When I looked at videos I was impressed by ones which people clearly took time out of their days to make. Ones that didn’t seem to be done in a single take, but that people did until they got it right. Overall it was people who stuck to a theme throughout their video, and that theme correlated to the prompt the video was supposed to answer. They were confident, and appeared to be a person who I wouldn’t mind spending a month with.
@Abeyance Finally got my video done. I redid it like 20 times to ensure it was perfect. I don’t think mine is amazing, but I stayed honest and laid back. I also added in a few humorous puns.
I’m just a bit intimidated by the whole 12% acceptance rate, especially when my application isn’t that much of a standout. But do you think being a rising senior gives me an edge since I’ll never have this opportunity again? Is it easier to get in as a rising senior as opposed to a rising freshman/sophomore/junior?