Chances for MIT EA

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>From what I've heard of MIT, it seems like the kind of place I would like, but it seems like everyone has millions of awards, ECs, etc. My grades are OK but my ECs stink -- how much weight does MIT put on that? Also, I'm not a very creative or interesting person; I can't think of anything to write for the essays and I feel like I haven't really accomplished anything impressive over the course of high school.</p>

<p>If I don't get into MIT, my options are Cornell, Princeton, and Michigan. How do these schools compare when it comes to math/science/engineering?</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 uw (school doesn't weight) -- same as 20% of the class . . .
SAT: old - 780v/670m; new - 800v/800m/790w (but essay = 9 :( )
SAT II: Writing: 760 (essay=8), Biology E: 780, Chemistry: 800, Math IIC: 800
APs: Calculus BC: 5, Chemistry: 5, English Comp: 5
Next year's APs: American History (yuck), English Lit, Physics C
ECs:
Track - 4 years (but at my school it's a joke). 6:00 mile
Mock Trial - junior/senior year.
College Bowl - 4 years (trivia contest - also a joke).
Torah Bowl - 4 years (bible trivia contest).
School Play - junior year, I don't know about next year
Electives: French III + IV, AP Chemistry, Directed Research (more like directed lunch period -- we didn't actually do any research)
Leadership positions: Captain of Torah Bowl and College Bowl next year</p>

<p>AMC 12 - sophomore year - 105, AIME: 0. This year the school didn't offer it :(</p>

<p>Summer:
Freshman year: Wrote a program for my dad to test out the effectiveness of different numerical integration strategies (taylor expansion, u-substitution, gauss-hermite integration) for an expensive item-response model integral (he works for ETS)
Sophomore year: Wrote a program to provide a GUI and build tensor matrices, contingency tables, for log-linear modelling, took a class at Rutgers (Multivariable Calculus)
Junior year: Still working on the program</p>

<p>I took EPGY courses in Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, but they were of fairly limited scope compared to what MIT has. </p>

<p>Right now I'm working through Advanced Calculus by Loomis & Sternberg, and I'm doing all of the exercises. It's basically rigorous analysis on general spaces, norms, compactness, manifolds, differential forms, etc. The only problem is -- I don't know how to put that on my application to make it seem "legitimate" -- I'm not taking any tests or anything, just doing exercises. I'm also working on typesetting the book into LaTeX (it's available free online under a Creative Commons license.)</p>

<p>Interests: MATH, computer programming, NLP</p>

<p>Essays: Will be pretty abysmal
Recs: My french teacher loves me, but I don't have any science teachers who really know me/like me. My calculus teacher from sophomore year likes me, but the guidance counselor said that you need a teacher from junior year??!!</p>

<p>I'm thinking of taking Algebra sometime, maybe through EPGY. Is this worth it, or should I focus on the Advanced Calculus?</p>

<p>Well, thanks for looking</p>

2

<p>um, you have time to work on your essays and make them something that's not abysmal. the self-studied math and programming you've done sounds like something you could write about. the essays aren't trick questions, they're meant to be answered honestly, and creativity only really comes into the style in which you answer them. if you don't have anything at all you do for fun, or you've never ever been in a difficult situation in your life (two common topics), well, that's another story...but i think you're selling yourself a little short.</p>

<p>and some schools may require that your teacher rec be from the latter part of your hs career, which is good advice in any case b/c honestly, your junior-year english teacher can better assess your ability to succeed in college than your freshman-year teacher. since we hope you aren't graduating with the same academic abilities you had as a frosh.</p>

3

<p>Self-confidence=none...Why?
Best of luck with the application and admissions.
Regardless of the outcome...focus on being happier with yourself. By the way, everyone has creative and interesting aspects to their personalities.... they just need to let them show!</p>

4

<p>(sorry this is so long...)</p>

<p>I'd have to agree with phosphate and goddess: have more faith in yourself! For a few months I was the same way (thinking of all the things that might be seen as "bad" on my app), but then I realized how many people (my parents, my physics teacher...hell, even people I'd never met before) had (and still have) faith in me. I know that if I put as much effort as I can into this application (considering what to write, what teachers to ask for recs, etc), I've got a good shot at making it (I, too, am applying EA) even though my stats aren't quite as good as most of the other "what are my chances" posts I've seen around here (to be fair, though, some of my stats don't exist yet; I'm taking my SAT I in Oct and IIs in Nov).</p>

<p>Enough rambling about me, though. My advice about the application itself:
* You've been in three ECs for four years each. You say they're jokes, but the admissions people don't necessarily know that. Regardless, you've remained dedicated to them. That shows something.
* As goddess said, you've shown a will to learn and gain experience by doing that math and programming stuff on your own.
* As phosphate said, everyone's got some interesting qualities. Make sure the adcomm knows about yours!
* I have heard (anyone who knows may correct me if I'm wrong) that the essay topics have not changed. Go to MyMIT and download last year's app to check them out. I've already started writing down ideas (I have an essay written, but it needs a lot of work).
* Get an interview if you can. I'm planning on it (I hope I can get one; I'm in SW Missouri). It adds more of an insight into you as a person than your stats do.
* Think a bit more about whom you ask for recs; I'm sure there'll be a math or science teacher who's willing to write you a strong rec.</p>

<p>Again, I apologize for being so long-winded, but the bottom line is to be confident in yourself.</p>

5

<p>i have two friends from missouri, and i'm pretty sure they had interviews (which are, incidentally, a part of the app process that's rather more recommended for MIT than at other schools; they want everyone to have one unless there's just absolutely no one in their area), so unless the fellow's moved away, you'll almost certainly have one.</p>

<p>yeah, interviews are another decent way to make yourself stick out, if you're capable of talking to people.</p>