<p>1) I'm the 1st person in my family to go to college, I'm the only one that actually speaks English</p>
<p>2) I'm interested in studying astrobiology-which is a really new/obscure field that not many science nerds are interested in.</p>
<p>However, sicne I'm Asian male, will my hooks and my eethnicity cancel each other out?</p>
<p>Also all my ECs connect to a central theme - astrobiology and I'm very good and explaining how each and every one of my ECs is personally important to me. Is that good enough?</p>
<p>Do I have to do some other spectacular things to get into MIT, for example, volunteering in Africa over the summer (I'm serious, I'm considering this)??</p>
<p>I have details of my ECs in my other posts, just check my profile?? Thansk a bunch.</p>
<p>2) I hope not. People almost never do what they plan to do going into college. As far as I know, MIT doesn't even worry about filling all of its majors. (For example, telling them you want to major in course 11, Urban Studies, it is not an advantage in admissions.)</p>
<p>3) maybe, but taking a class would be just as good I think unless things have changed a lot.</p>
<p>^^those 3 things will help more at ivies I think. MIT may care more than it used to about volunteer experience, but in the past it wasn't a hook.</p>
<p>wait you are saying that my 2 hooks are be significant at Ivies? Well for MIT, what DO they care about besides of course good grades? Do the essays, ECs, interview and recs carry alot of weight?</p>
<p>All 3 could be moderate hooks for ivies. However, I think the 1st generation thing isn't as much of an advantage if you are Asian.</p>
<p>Also, it would help if you actually had done research in astrobiology as opposed to just saying you are interested in it. I don't know if this is worth doing to you, though. Also, some of the ivies seem to be somewhat less impressed than they used to be about volunteering in Africa. It's almost a cliche' now. At least that is the impression I get from Northstarmom, who interviews Harvard applicants. You might be better off starting up some program in your own community over the summer than to just volunteer somewhere exotic. </p>
<p>As for MIT, it's hard to pin down what they want anymore. I think taking classes over the summer still is ok if that's what you would want to do, although it's not really a great move for the ivies.</p>
<p>In general, for most schools they give you credit if you start up something yourself. One example might be to do research in the area and then teach a short class (1 week or something) for kids in your community to share your passion for astrobiology. Try to do something which you would also enjoy and feel is worthwhile even if you don't get into the ivy of your choice. </p>
<p>I don't know much about astrobiology, although there is a chemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that does research in the chemistry of outer space. I don't know if this is what you're interested in. His name is McMahon. Probably UCLA has something in this area too...they have a department of exotic materials or something--I think astrobiology would fall under this umbrella.</p>
<pre><code>* Class Rank
* Extracurricular Activities
* Interview
* Recommendations
* Rigor of secondary school record
* Standardized Test Scores
* Talent/Ability
* Academic GPA
</code></pre>
<p>Considered:</p>
<pre><code>* Alumni Relation
* Application Essay
* Geographical Residence
* Racial/Ethnic Status
* Volunteer Work
* Work Experience
* First generation college student
* Level of Applicant's Interest
</code></pre>
<h1>1 says nothing unusual about you - almost all first generation immigrants from Asia learn English at school rather than at home and speak English much better than their parents (most never speak English at home).</h1>
<h1>2 was new 40 years ago, and the perspectives are still obscure</h1>
<h1>3 you can find great volonteer opportunities in your community</h1>
<p>If I remember correctly, Cornell has one of the leading astronomy (astrobiology included) departments in the world. You might want to give Cornell a look before you decide where you want to apply early action/decision next year.</p>
<p>And yeah, I'm pretty sure volunteering in Africa won't matter much, if at all, at MIT, especially if you take the attitude that it's something you're doing for college admissions as opposed to true humanitarian purposes. Hundreds if not thousands of other college applicants will have volunteered in underdeveloped places for the sake of "buffing up" their applications, and unless you do significant with your particular volunteering project, you probably won't stand out among all these applicants. If you decide to do a volunteering project, make sure it is something that you enjoy. Why not try educating your local community about astrobiology?</p>
<p>Your points #1 and #2 are cool, but I would not call them hooks. To me, a hook is something that can get you in by itself, not something that helps you in a borderline situation. Using that definition, I'm unconvinced that there is such a thing as a hook for MIT. There might be a few, or a few things that are at least close - for example, a guy I know who published research in a major mathematical journal for extending a famous Erdos paper when he was 16 - but they are exceedingly rare.</p>
<p>Last I checked (which was recently, as I still visit campus fairly often for one reason or another), there were tons of Asian males at MIT, so it's not going to keep you out. ;)</p>
<p>No, you don't have to go volunteer in Africa. If you want to volunteer in Africa for its own sake, go for it. Otherwise, go spend your time doing an awesome astrobiology research project or something instead.</p>
<p>I don't think studying a rare field helps at all for MIT. The have many majors there, and they kind of assume that people will decide when they get there to major in the less well-known ones. They don't recruit for it. For example, a lot of the material science majors are people who originally said they were going to major in chem E. So guys that did research in material science in high school got no edge whatsoever. I agree with this policy.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don't know the answer to most of your questions, but you should go to Africa this summer. For the experience, not the credit. That would be astounding!
I'm jealous.</p>