Do you need to show scientific/mathematic based achievement for MIT?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Apart from getting good grades at science and math at school, do you need/is it recommended to show scientific/math based achievement for MIT? Because I don't have any display of scientific/math passion apart from tutoring kids in math and science but that's more of a job. How do some of these brilliant kids on CC etc work their way up to publishing research papers!? Where does it start tbh? Because I'd really like to be able to display a science or math in particular passion on my application as I do want to do a math based degree in particular at MIT. </p>

<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Well publishing research papers start with doing research :wink: There are summer research opportunities - working in a prof’s lab. (Though I’m not sure how that’d work for a math project) If there’s a system or programme in your area sign up for it, that’s a good start. Since I don’t know what area you’re in I can’t advise on specific programmes.</p>

<p>Anyway for Math you can do AMC / AIME?</p>

3

<p>“Apart from getting good grades at science and math at school, do you need/is it recommended to show scientific/math based achievement for MIT?”</p>

<p>Well you don’t <em>NEED</em> almost anything to apply. But the rule of thumb for college admissions is the more badass you are, the higher your chances for acceptance.</p>

<p>“How do some of these brilliant kids on CC etc work their way up to publishing research papers!? Where does it start tbh?”</p>

<p>It starts by learning to use CC’s forum search feature. Seriously, these questions have been debated to death from multiple angles multiple times and include responses from people who have landed at every level of this game. Instead of waiting for one or two meek replies, tap into the fact that people have been pondering the exact questions you asked for nearly a decade.</p>

4

<p>What do you mean by ‘more badass?’ </p>

<p>In Australia that basically means ‘more gangsta…’ which is not exactly what I had in mind about MIT students. And I live in North Sydney</p>

5

<p>Oh, there’s definitely a badass count in there. My badass points probably came from me being a pilot.</p>

<p>What he means (I assume) is that yeah, grades and stuff are cool - but really the main thing that gets you in are some combination of essays/rec’s/activities. Admissions have plenty of high achieving applicants to choose from - if your activity is going home all day and sleeping, you’re not going to get it. But if you have a passion - for music, for programming, for community service, for mountain climbing, for <em>something</em> - those types of things will set you apart as a go-getter.</p>

<hr>

<p>Also, never done any research/published anything =P</p>

6

<p>I know five students who’ve been admitted to MIT over the past three years. In addition to high grades in math and science classes, and AP classes in math/science subjects, they’ve held leadership positions in math and science clubs and involved themselves in math/science extracurricular activities. If by “badass” the previous poster means that they were each the best in the high school in one of these areas, then I guess the term fits; however, they’re also each very collaborative, good people. Here’s a thumbnail sketch to show how each student demonstrated a fit with MIT through extracurricular activities:</p>

<p>Boy #1, MIT class of 2009: President of h.s. science club; regional awards at County Science Fair; mentored younger students in a science fair project that went to the State Fair; member of the school mathematics team for multiple years; leadership in school entrepreneurship club (winning state and national awards)</p>

<p>Girl #1, MIT class of 2010: Member of school mathematics team for multiple years (winning county mathematics contests and scoring around a 7 on the AIME); President of a h.s. cultural club; Known in the school community for carrying math problems on scraps of paper in her pockets so that any time she had to sit and wait for class to start, she could be seen pulling out a problem and working on it.</p>

<p>Girl #2: MIT class of 2011: President of h.s. science club, member and vice-president of school mathematics team; member of science bowl team (team placed in nationals) science research won multiple awards at science fairs; presented a scientific paper at a regional (western states) scientific conference; artist who’d won state and national awards in multimedia.</p>

<p>Boy #2: MIT class of 2012: President of h.s. mathematics team for 2 years, took the USAMO twice; active in school entrepreneurship club, winning state and national awards multiple years; member of science bowl for two years (team placed in nationals both years).</p>

<p>Girl #3: MIT class of 2012: Began taking science and mathematics courses at the local community college before her senior year and will have completed Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calc before enrolling in MIT; leadership in school robotics team for multiple years; known at the h.s. for engineering, programming, and basically loving anything related to hands-on building.</p>

<p>Caveat: Some high schools don’t offer the sorts of opportunities that made it possible for these students to follow their interests as they did, but in such schools, students can still convey their passion and interest. For instance, the girl who’s now majoring in mathematics at MIT was able to tap all sorts of adults who could write about her commitment and love of problem solving in math. My daughter (the 2011 student) wrote a short essay on her application that talked about how she’d loved physics since age twelve, when she first read Kip Thorne’s book “Black Holes and Time Warps.” She described staying up late over the subsequent years reading physics books under the bed sheets with a flashlight.</p>

<p>The most important thing is this: None of the students mentioned above engaged in any of these activities simply to “look good on a college application.” They had genuine, longstanding interests in these areas, and when it came time to apply to college, it was easy to demonstrate the commitment and passion.</p>

7

<p>P.S. I forgot to mention that boy #2, class of 2012, is also a black belt in karate. :-)</p>

8

<p>Girl #4: MIT class of 2009: participated in regional science competitions for one year (no leadership), participated in FIRST Robotics for one year and wrote an essay about how she had no idea what she was doing at first (no leadership).</p>

<p>Plus lots of other, totally non-science related stuff. Just saying.</p>

<p>I think Mollie can something relatively similar here…</p>

9

<p>I’d say you do, but don’t quote me on it. I don’t think I could’ve gotten in, even though I’d gotten into HYPS (with likely letters, at that), because a) my scores in math/science weren’t insanely high, and b) my ECs didn’t focus on it at all. My major is linguistics, which is why I was so attracted to MIT (MIT has a top, if not the top, ling department), but after discovering I’d be held to the same stringent math/science institute requirements, I was deterred. However, if you have a passion for a field like that but don’t have a way to ‘show’ it–or you didn’t take advantage of it–don’t worry: the essays are a great way to show how much you love it. I know some have gotten in on that. If not, there’s always grad school.</p>

<p>Good luck! :)</p>

10

<p>@Laura, All of the five Kids I mentioned also had interests that were “non-scientific”. But quite frankly, no one from the local high school has been admitted to MIT over the past 5 years without demonstrating a fairly high level of interest in math/science/engineering or some other field related to MIT. And as you point out in your post, you also devoted a year to science research and a year to FIRST Robotics (and as I recall, you once wrote about having taken some massive number of AP courses). </p>

<p>I imagine there will be individuals who will weigh in on this thread saying something like, “Hey, I got in and all I did was write poetry.” But I’m not sure that’s a particularly helpful post to a young high school student trying to figure out whether there’s a good fit with MIT, even though you can certainly study poetry there! I’ve been to three MIT admissions sessions here in Silicon Valley, and at one of the three the presenter said to the audience something like this: “It’s not enough to take math and science courses, you’ll need to really show us that you’re interested.” For kids who want to know, “How do you show that you’re interested?”, there are some examples on this thread. But a student can also show interest simply by building things in the garage; it isn’t necessary to have access to all of the resources some of these students had.</p>

11

<p>My husband was one of those build-in-the-garage types – he didn’t have any formal science/engineering ECs (virtually all of his ECs were athletic), but he was an expert model rocket builder and model airplane builder by the time he came to MIT.</p>

<p>I personally did not have any science ECs, though I was positive at that point that I wanted to pursue a biology degree and get a PhD and become a researcher. I was able to convey that in the application without explicit science extracurriculars, which weren’t available at my school and which I did not know how to come by. That’s not to say that it’s easy to get into MIT without science ECs, but it’s not an unusual situation, either.</p>

12

<p>I do really enjoy science and math but (the next bit is not an excuse, its my fault) I was always thinking of going to an Australian university which doesn’t look at ECs for example. So now that I’m moving to Andover as sophomore I looked around on CC and I’ve realized that I’ve wasted all those opportunities when I was younger. All my ECs are charity based and one in particular (which is only in the works) looks very good to other people but I don’t have these research papers or science projects that look amazing. I’m thinking of writing a summer science project but just wondering.</p>

13

<p>You’re only a sophomore – you have all the time you need. And the time you’ve given to community service is extremely valuable. Follow your interests and take advantage of the opportunities available to you in Andover. Most of all, choose to do things because you enjoy doing them. :-)</p>

14

<p>

I want to repeat it. When you do something you enjoy, you’ll end somewhere you’ll be happy at. When you look back at your years in high school, you’ll be satisfied. </p>

<p>Another side note, don’t be afraid to try new things. When I was a freshmen, i wanted to try some science research, but everyone else had lots of experience every year since 6th grade. So I didn’t do anything. I got too busy later on to have time for it. =( So, if research is what you want to do, use all your opportunities to start! It is always okay if you don’t do too well in the beginning</p>

15

<p>So whats a prestigious science competition for projects? Because I have some decent science projects I’ve done for fun and I’d like to submit them to an American competition…</p>

<p>What does it qualify to have done ‘science research?’</p>

<p>Because all I’ve done is 3-4 Science projects which are pretty long but no groundbreaking stuff as such.</p>

16

<p>It certainly helps to have done so, as it’s a science-focused school. If you can show adequate ability in math and science (to get through the GIRs) and great passion and/or achievement in something else MIT is really good at (e.g. economics, political science, comparative media studies, architecture), that’s also good.</p>

<p>Basically:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>You need to show that you have the math/science talent to get through the math and science GIRs (and enough humanities and writing ability to get through the HASS GIRs).</p></li>
<li><p>You need to show that you’re a good fit for MIT.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Since MIT is culturally a math/science place, strong achievements in math/science are a major, obvious way to address both of these. It’s probably an approach that most applicants should go for. It’s not necessarily what all applicants should do. A student who wants to study architecture at MIT, for instance (a perfectly reasonable thing to want to do, as MIT has a first-rate architecture program), who has strong test scores in math and science, and strong grades in the most challenging classes at their school in math and science, may be better served by winning art competitions and having a summer job with an architecture firm, than by trying to force themselves into the science fair winner mold.</p>

<p>If you want to go to MIT but have no idea what you want to study, science/math achievement is probably the safest option - if you’re unsure what you want to do, but you’re clearly a science/tech geek, it makes it more likely that you’ll find a major you really enjoy at MIT than if you’re not a science/tech geek, so it’s more clear that you’re a fit.</p>

17

<p>@ Shore, who asked, “So whats a prestigious science competition for projects? Because I have some decent science projects I’ve done for fun and I’d like to submit them to an American competition…What does it qualify to have done 'science research? Because all I’ve done is 3-4 Science projects which are pretty long but no groundbreaking stuff as such.”</p>

<p>Before deciding whether to answer this, I checked your profile and other posts, and I can see that you are not coming to the U.S. to enroll in a public high school in Andover, MA, you’re coming to enroll in Phillips Academy in Andover, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country. You’ll find all the help you’ll need at Andover, far more help than other students who may read these threads, kids who come from rural areas and countries with fewer resources. Andover sports a highly competitive and well-known mathematics club and also will offer all sorts of assistance to students interested in pursuing science.</p>

<p>The interesting thing, from the perspective of someone interested in MIT, is that being a student at Andover will not necessarily give you an advantage in applying to MIT. MIT will consider your application in the context of your school. Although MIT could probably admit all of Andover’s graduates, it will take only a few. The good news about Andover is access to all the fabulous resources you’ll have, far beyond those available to other kids. The bad news? You’ll have to stand out from among all the other seniors in your class there.</p>

<p>I wish you the best. The list of five students I posted above? Those kids all came from a large (2,200+ students) public high school in Silicon Valley, a very socio-economically and ethnically diverse school. It’s not a magnet school, nor is it focused specifically on math and science. But it stands in a community where some of the families are scientists and engineers who were themselves the first to go to college, and as a result, in every senior class there are somewhere between 15-20 kids who love math and science and who apply to MIT. MIT has admitted only one or two per year for the past 30 years, according to one of the math teachers, but I’ve heard the alumni have always done well at MIT. My daughter met two alumni from the high school who are now teaching at MIT, in fact. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

18

<p>So basically - Science projects at Intel etc, Math competitions and other math and science affiliated things all help. </p>

<p>But if I think but am no sure that I want to do economics or political science, what could I do to display that? I live in Papua New Guinea and went to BS in Australia and am now going to Phillips Academy but I write a economics article every week for the national newspaper of Papua New Guinea. Does that look impressive enough to MIT to display my passion for economics which alongside politics is my true passion? </p>

<p>Thanks everyone, you’ve all been very generous with your advice.</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>I would say yes.</p>

<p>I mean, if you want to do more, go for it! But you don’t need to do it just to impress MIT. Writing an economics article for a national newspaper is already impressive and shows that you care..</p>

20

<p>I am really a economics/politics buff and was always going to do it, I’m just not sure whether I have the math and science achievements that I thought were basically pre-requisite to MIT.</p>