<p>My son was deferred by MIT, his first choice school. He's president of Robotics team, competes on Science Olympiad team, is Battalion Commander for NJROTC, is in the top 4% of his class for GPA and scored 34 on the ACT (SATs were a bit weaker). He has some community service, but probably less than 30 hours per year. He completed a physics internship last summer and submitted an art portfolio with his app. What should he submit for the Feb. update?? He'll probably have one competition completed with Science Olympiad by then, but no other awards on the horizon. With all his ECs and heavy homework, there's no time for more volunteer work other than through ROTC community activities. We'll ask his ROTC commander to submit a letter re: his leadership. Any other suggestions? Any of you out there who were deferred, then admitted?</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that MIT doesn’t want much additional material sent in after deferral. Just a midyear report and updates on any new ECs or major awards.</p>
<p>nonononononononono</p>
<p>submit everything you possibly can on the feb updates to stand out
like extra essays and whatnot
and then some</p>
<p>stand out!!! make a DIFFERENCE between EA round and regular round. If you do nothing differently (unless something like grades are in question), the regular round result will be the same as the EA result (except rejection/waitlist, not deferral).</p>
<p>I took another science SAT II jn January to make up for a low physics score and sent in an essay about- When I fell in love with MIT and how I new it was the perfect place for me.</p>
<p>Accepted and attending!</p>
<p>Hamletz:
Are you sure flooding the adcoms with updates is in one’s best interest?</p>
<p>@Sharis
Your son sounds plenty amazing already, and the ROTC is an interesting EC. Did he ever try out air pistol or rifle shooting competitions? (MIT has teams.) The rec letter, the grades & awards update and a short, sincere new essay sounds like enough to me. You could pore through last years EA & RA admit thread for more info on the deferred who made the cut. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Rothstem:
You mean that you wrote an additional essay except from that optional essay in Part II in mymit?</p>
<p>Funnily enough, the answer is neither “don’t send us anything” nor “send us EVERYTHING.” </p>
<p>We require the FUN form to tell us your midyear grades. We have an optional section (and it is optional) in case you have other things you’d like to update or tell us about. </p>
<p>Is there something new you’d like to tell us? If so, do so. If not, then don’t. Sometimes deferred candidates develop further through the FUN form. Sometimes they simply ripen with time.</p>
<p>I actually didn’t write anything for the optional essay in part II when I submitted my application for EA. In February when I was asked to send in my midyear report they gave space and say that you can write anything you would like or nothing at all. That’s where I included an essay explaining how I knew that MIT would be perfect for me. I left it up to MIT, obviously, to decide if I would be perfect for them.</p>