<p>Hey guys! I'll be applying to EA to MIT under the major of: Brain and Cognitive Sciences</p>
<p>Can you guys maybe give me a "rundown" of my chances? : </p>
<p>(this is probably the death of me....)
GPA: 5.26/6.0 (3.65/4.0) (ehhhh!!)
Rank: Top 10%
ACT: 31 Composite (w/ writing)
SATII: 710 MathIIC , 740 Chem, Physics to be taken....</p>
<p>EC:
President JETS
President Robotics
Vice President Chess
Lead Guitarist of Band (Battle of the bands finalist)
3rd Degree Black Belt in Japanese Style karate (11 years of practice)</p>
<p>Major Awards/Honors:
Siemens Westinghouse Southwestern Regional Finalist- 11th/ 2004-05
Siemens Westinghouse Semifinalist - 10th/ 2003-04
LOTS of other science research awards
1-Patent pending
2-Publications under review one from the International Journal of Radiobiology and another one by the Journal of Radiation Oncology</p>
<p>I have LOTS of research experience/papers
i got into sharp...but I didn't go bc i was sponsored to complete research by the Radiation Oncology dept. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY (I was accepted for a spot reserved for undergraduate students)</p>
<p>The MIT media lab took a great interest in my research and I was ultimately offered a research position there this summer by the head of the touch lab, but I had already commited to Albert Einstein....</p>
<p>Other than that:
KILLER recs. from:
-english (one of my passions in addition to science) teacher
-physicsIIC teacher
-Extra recs. (which should show a diff. side of me) from the Chairman of Radiation Oncology Dept.(my mentor, pretty famous guy in the research world) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine</p>
<p>I'm really interested in the BCS program at MIT too, but I was wondering...is it really required in the eyes of adcoms to have done research and won competitions?</p>
<p>why BCS and not just biology?...well...they way I see it, the brain is one of the most amazing entities of this world, bound only by limitations of physics (chemistry and biology maybe....hehe). So, for me to study the way we think would be an endeavour into sooo many ideas: from biology to computer science and even to philosophy. I guess i'm just attracted to the concept of interdisciplinary thought...</p>
<p>As far as biology goes, it's a pretty amazing field of study but I don't know if I can restrict myself to just one field (I might be wrong though...).</p>
<p>I'm going to quote two things I think pertain to this discussion. The first is something I posted a while ago, with which I believe most people on the board (including the adcoms) agree with me.</p>
<p>"You have to realize that when a school gets 10,000 applications, where most are statistically qualified, and (I'm venturing to guess) 3,000 have perfect class rank, SAT scores, extra curriculars, or maybe research experience, regardless of how good you are, your chances are small."</p>
<p>The second is something straight form Ben Jones's mitblog:
"I saw the 'perfect match' in a bunch of apps that we deferred. Please remember that we deferred a LOT of people who wholly deserve to be at MIT - folks who are passionate, who love life and the discovery thereof, who genuinely care about the people around them. The absolute worst part of this job is the fact that there are so few spots for so many qualified people, which means we can't take everyone, even if they belong here.</p>
<p>The best we can do is try to build a perfect class. Not the perfect class, but a perfect class. As Andrew mentioned in a different thread, we could build 2, maybe even 3 perfect classes out of our applicant pool, without question."</p>
<p>So there you have it. Even the perfect applicant has at most a 33-50% chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>A fair share of MIT students have done research in labs, but what sets you apart? Take in mind that students at some magnet schools can "automatically" get into a lab so they can say on applications that they have research "experiences."</p>
<p>What did you learn? Do you see yourself as being a researcher at MIT and in your career future? Why or why not?</p>
<p>Anyone can get into a lab nowadays if he/she really wants to. THe question is whether or not your experiences have directed you toward a future in science and research.</p>
<p>What if we do a Siemens Westinghouse Project without working at a University Lab, or even having a mentor? And win something?</p>
<p>I know this is OT, but how hard is it to make it to semifinalist for Siemens Westinghouse southern division. I'm wrapping up my project, and I just wanted to know at what pace others are going.</p>
<p>to clarify...my siemens awards were projects I did at my house. My partner and I made a "lab" in my room--they were enginnering projects, so not much equipment was needed. This is the first year I will be competing with research done that I completed at a lab.</p>
<p>What is the level of projects that people apply with?</p>
<p>I'm entering in Computer Science with a project on Artificial Intelligence. We have a very solid project, but the problem is very difficult, and we simply don't have enough processing power, so our results aren't very conclusive. Thus, we made it a big focus on the runtime of the AI Algorithm, and the multiple variables it depends on.</p>
<p>How do AI projects fair in general? Do you have to have very conclusive results to get anywhere?</p>
<p>BUMP... anybody? This is my first time entering, and I'm a little nervous, since I did the project independently, and don't have a mentor who can show me how to correctly format the paper all
the way(I kind of do, he discusses parts of the project with me,
but hasn't helped to much with writing it).</p>