<p>A friend of mine recently attended a Leadership Program at Harvard - it was organized by the People to People committee. He won first place, apparently, and the "head" there told him "Put this on your application, and you're unstoppable."
Now, I know nothing guarantees anyone admission, but I've heard many positive things about the People to People programs, and many negative things about it too. So I was hoping to hear from one of the admissions officers here or from mollie. Does anyone know what kind of effect this program has on one's chances, considering you pay to attend it and whatnot? For every positive comment I've heard about this association, I've also heard a (maybe even more) negative comment. It's really weird, and I'd like to know if I missed out, because I had the chance to attend it and didn't want to pay that much money for something I'd heard so much negative talk about.</p>
<p>Uh, I have no idea how that effects Harvard admissions, but I don’t think “unstoppable” would apply to MIT admissions.</p>
<p>^I was putting more emphasis on the effect on MIT chances - Harvard’s a bit of a second choice. Pretty sure the guy was referring to all applications, not just Harvard specifically, by the way.
At any rate, I’m fairly sure you’re right in that it wouldn’t render anyone “unstoppable” ( 
), especially at MIT, but I was hoping to know how it affects chances at MIT (significantly/not that significantly/infinitesimally/not at all) and hoping to hear from an actual rep on this matter because I’ve heard such contrasting views and some facts would be nice :)</p>
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<p>Even so, I wouldn’t trust this guy to give an accurate guarantee on other schools’ admissions, especially MIT’s. All I know about him is that he’s involved in some program I’ve never heard of :P</p>
<p>But yeah, Admissions might be a little more familiar with the program, I’m not going to claim their knowledge here. But my guess on the “unstoppable” bit remains the same ^.^</p>
<p>People to People isn’t the most prestigious program, but it never hurts to put awards on an application. It is hard to be unstoppable as far as admissions go at MIT, so it won’t guarantee anything.</p>
<p>I have no knowledge or hearsay, either positive or negative.</p>
<p>When I was in high school, 80% of our student body got the “exclusive” embossed glittery shiny “invitation” to People to People. I’m not overexaggerating.</p>
<p>'Nuff said. Draw your own conclusions.</p>
<p>^ LOL.
Ok so I’m guessing it’s not all that important? I mean, it’d help, sure (doubt it’d hurt), but not all that much?</p>
<p>Yeah, same here. I was nominated for People to People twice within the same academic year, and the same goes for the GYLC (Global Young Leaders Conference, basically the same thing as People to People.) So I heavily doubt that it is that great of a factor on your application, although it certainly does look nice. Although it does prove that you can afford the fees…</p>
<p>i’d say it should be one small part of the complete package - listed on a resume as one of many leadership/community service activities where the applicant was singled out and successful. (assuming this is one of many things the applicant has done in h.s.)</p>
<p>my sister did a big People to People thing early this summer. It was nothing more than a really expensive tour. P2P is a great program, don’t get me wrong. If you’re going to travel without your family it’s about as good as it gets. But, I think the only thing about it that’ll help my sis on her apps (if she even puts it on her apps) is that she got a job and raised all the money herself (shows motivation).</p>
<p>oasis: same at my high school.</p>
<p>I mean, it seems like a cool/fun thing to do, but I don’t think it will help you any more or less than any other cool/fun thing you could do over the summer.</p>
<p>It’s definitely not OMG super prestigious or anything.</p>
<p>Especially considering that it’s pretty expensive. MIT will know that, and not expect everyone to have done it for precisely that reason.</p>
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<p>Same here. Can’t speak for other folks in the office. </p>
<p>Won’t hurt him. But it’s not going to make him ‘unstoppable.’ At least for us anyway.</p>
<p>@MITChris
Thanks for the reply.
Mind if I ask how you treat an award/achievement that you’ve never heard of if it pops up on some student’s application? (For example if the friend I referred to earlier applied and posted this on his application and you read his, how would you treat the P2P thing?)</p>
<p>Small extra (unrelated) question: Is there any chance that MIT will start to consider SAT I writing scores for this year’s admissions process?</p>
<p>@Jimmy - </p>
<p>We have an a pretty big database of awards / achievements / etc, with special attention paid to the ones that we’ve found produce good students for us (the olympiads are the most obvious example). </p>
<p>If it’s not in that database, or if it’s not one of the more important ones, then we don’t give it a ton of weight, we just treat it as being demonstrative of some capability or skill. The Harvard Book Award, for example, is often (though not always) given by faculty to the student they think is the best in that class; for P2P, I would probably say “they attended a leadership program at Harvard” or something to that effect. </p>
<p>As for SATW: I mean, we always look at it. But if you mean consider it in the same way we consider math scores, for example - not much of one.</p>
<p>^How about as much as you consider CR?
I’m sort of asking as to how it’d affect my chances if I have an 800. I’m under the impression (might be wrong) that you do look at writing scores, but merely passively, as in “it’s nothing horrible” and don’t give it more weight than that. So I mean, is it possible that some sort of weight will be given to it? Not as much as M and CR, for sure, but more emphasis than before.</p>
<p>^ I’m pretty sure that they look at CR. It’s not new like W is :)</p>
<p>CR has to be at the same level as M, in that you want 700+.</p>
<p>^I’m aware, but one can be hopeful
I have a combined score of 2260 on the SAT I (in one sitting - June 2010), which is excellent at first sight, except: my breakdown is as follows: 660 CR, 800 M, 800 W
Not exactly what I was hoping for on CR, I wanted a 700 and I’m considering retaking just for that (I underperformed, I was consistently scoring higher before in practice tests). I also wouldn’t mind if they put [however slightly] some more emphasis on the writing because it can only help me. I believe the writing section is the one most correlated with college success (in general, not for MIT) and it’s the section with the least 800’s.</p>
<p>^ Ah, you meant an 800 in writing. What’s your source for “the writing section is the one most correlated with college success”? :)</p>
<p>I actually don’t have a source for that, but I read it on CC from someone who I considered a reliable poster. I’m not sure who it was at the moment but it might have been silverturtle.</p>