Building my way to MIT?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi,
I am a rising HS senior. Inspired by the article of Admission Officer, I
decided to try my chances at the MIT. Here is my profile:</p>

<p>I study in school in Russia. Here, we have 11 years of school. Students
aren't allowed to choose which subjects they want to take; instead,
there is a list of 17 required subjects. From 17 subjects, I have 16 A's
and one B. My middle school grades don't shine. It's doesn't matter who
I was; it matters who I am now.</p>

<p>I am very talanted in writing good essays. I've never gotten anything
less than a maximum score on essays.</p>

<p>I want to major in Theoretical Physics. I self-studied all advanced
topics: Special Relativity, General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics. I
don't bother writing that I self-studied AP Physics B and C.</p>

<p>I can use my talents in writing perfect essay about my major choice.</p>

<p>I am also a professional painter.</p>

<p>I did research on Relativity and wrote articles; and made a new formula
which is a synopsis of relativity on high school level.</p>

<p>As for tests, I've received about 2000 on SAT I, and I've registered for
SAT IIs.</p>

<p>So my question is, should I continue my way to the MIT? Do I have even a
small chance?</p>

2

<p>as an international you will face stiff competition, but no reason not to apply if you love it so much. applying is the only way to find your chances - it’s either all or nothing.</p>

3

<p>what competition?! I thought that being an international student is a big plus, especially considering the fact that english is NOT my native language. My SAT is higher than that of 90% American’s! Americans! whose native language IS english!!!</p>

4

<p>You may want to check out the admissions site a bit more. MIT has to limit the number of international students that they admit. They also consider them as a totally separate pool. This means that you will be competing for a smaller number of places against all of the other top international students not mixed in with those students who are US citizens or green card holders.</p>

5

<p>Unfortunatly, being an int’l student is not a plus.
I’ll try to go point to point.</p>

<p>

That is correct. As a note, you will NOT be required to send anything pre-HS, so your middle school grades are irrelevant, don’t worry.</p>

<p>

I’m not sure how are your essays scored but I do not think MIT scores essays at all. They aren’t a means to compare you to other applicants but learn what you think and who you are. This is true for most US colleges.</p>

<p>

Thats great! If you haven’t noticed yet, MIT is sometimes referred to as “liberal arts college with a science bent”, so its a plus.</p>

<p>

2000 on SATI is great for an int’l. May I ask your specific scores in each section(M/CR/W)? As a note, from what I understand, MIT does not take writing section into consideration.
You may also want to take TOEFL, which is more oriented towards int’l students.</p>

<p>

While you may have an extremely solid point, this isn’t a big plus. Think it more like a requirement, not a means to compare. Not 90% of the Americans nor 10% of the Americans get in :slight_smile: However do not forget that there are many other int’l students like you. If test scores were the most important point, you aren’t unique in that way, but again you aren’t your test scores, thats why they have the essays.</p>

<p>As I said being int’l doesn’t help, you may wonder why.
It isn’t MIT’s choice that how many int’ls they can admit but the government’s. US gives only a limited number of student visas to MIT, and MIT admits them up to their limitation. They can’t admit someone if there are no student visas available.</p>

<p>For comparision, MIT admitted only 3.7% international applicants this year, while their general acceptance rate was 9.7%.</p>

<p>This 9.7% isn’t only made up of people who scores higher than 2000.
I suggest you check the admission statistics: [Admissions</a> Statistics | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats]Admissions”>Admissions statistics | MIT Admissions)</p>

6

<p>So I have no chaces, do I?</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>You know, something I always wondered is whether this will change dramatically over my lifetime. That is, will schools like MIT start enrolling more internationals over time. And perhaps similarly, will other top foreign schools also refine goals to admit more internationals.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>You do - if you really communicate well in your application why it is your dream to attend MIT. Why is that?</p>

<p>How about Moscow State U? A lot of really insanely talented people go there, right? I mention this because your sole reason to go to MIT can’t be just that it’s a wonderful school for talented people.</p>

<p>The thing is MIT is bound to get applications with international level medals in various things, but it won’t necessarily admit people just based on that. You should spend a lot more time on the admissions site looking for what they are about, and at least showing them in your application that you might be some of that. Your lack of knowledge of the fact internationals are admitted as a separate pool seems to betray that you have a lot to learn (which is no fault of your own really, just that you should for your own benefit start learning more, so you can give it your best shot).</p>

<p>I for one find it wonderful that you did all that in theoretical physics. If I interpreted it correctly, the fact that you reduced some formulas of GR to a high school level or so is very cool (I know too little physics to know what this would entail). </p>

<p>As a starting point, I think two things MIT seems to like to emphasize: 1) creativity, probably ultimately in endeavors requiring significant intellectual input, although this needn’t disqualify other shows of creativity, 2) working well with other people and doing something good for the community. </p>

<p>Perhaps you are good at explaining the complexities of physics to the nonspecialist, perhaps many things. </p>

<p>The problem with just learning physics on your own, though, is that it leaves little to show, except a statement that you did it. While that will help you immensely in the future, it won’t necessarily give as much of a boost in admissions as your efforts might beg for.</p>

<p>Edit: although, you say you wrote articles - that might be something great to show.</p>

<p>As an artist, you have elements of creativity. But how are you going to make your traits serve the MIT mission statement? You must answer that in some satisfactory depth.</p>

9

<p>Out of US, it is even harder to get into good unis as a foreigner. Most countries don’t have any quota at all for foreign students. Even thought the US quota isn’t so high, it isn’t that low.</p>

<p>The only way thats gonna change is, either an organization like UNESCO steps into create a global framework or someone forms a world government lol. Otherwise, I don’t think governments gonna increase int’l student quotas because they have to give priority to their own citizens first.</p>