Recently, my son won a competitive start-up grant challenge for building a mechanical device with early seed money of 150k while competing against people much more experienced than him. How can one use this achievement in a college application? Or is it of any value in elite schools like MIT & Stanford, given that he has not got great ECs other than the technical skills which he has acquired which helped him win this grant.
Sounds like it would make a great essay topic!
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The award should be included in the awards/prizes section and the activity as an EC. Agree that giving more detail would be important- perhaps in an essay
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Thanks !! He decided to narrate it in his Stanford Essay. Unfortunately he was rejected. Clearly it is very hard to get into these elite schools even with a perfect 36 on ACT and a high GPA. I have suggested that he should focus on reputed public universities. It is nearly impossible to get into these super competitive schools in my opinion.
Yes, that’s very important. Admissions for high-stats unhooked applicants at the private elites has become very unpredictable in these past two years.
And remember that some of the best STEM programs are at public schools. But most require applying EA, so hopefully he has already applied?
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Couldn’t agree more. A few weeks back, I was having a conversation with a professor at MIT where I am helping them scale-up a technology for commercialization. The professor was pretty blunt in saying that the real assets of MIT, who bring innovation to the table, are the students who come for the Graduate School program. UGs are accomplished but are mostly there because they knew how to strategically check all the boxes which make them ‘agents of change for the world’. My recommendation to my son and other aspiring kids in STEM programs is to excel in the UG program at a good public school and if at the end of the education, they are convinced about their passion for technology, they could go to an elite private school for the Graduate program and work on innovative research. That said - it doesn’t hurt to put your name in the draw but not being too attached to the outcome.
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