<p>Will it be a problem that my real honest dream is to be an engineer?</p>
<p>I'm afraid that this is too common a dream for a place like MIT, but I really can't think of any other real aspirations other then the usual: get a job, get married, and have kids.</p>
<p>Anyone have any suggestions? and would anyone like to read my essay so far and comment on it?</p>
<p>If that's your dream, then that's what you should write about.</p>
<p>Don't worry about trying to manipulate the essays so you say what you think they ought to say -- that's a recipe for sounding insincere.</p>
<p>That's really funny (sorry, mollie, i'm always posting right after you, hehe), because I doubt that many applicants are comfortable enough with themselves to say on their apps that they aspire to get an engineering degree, get a stable engineering job, get married, have kids, etc... I went through 5 years of an engineering program at MIT (getting both my bachelor's and master's), and you know what ... sooo few people were man or woman enough to admit that they wanted what you wanted out of life. The most outspoken people were the ones who wanted to move on to do something else (business, finance, entrepreneurship, law, etc.) instead of being an engineer. There is a selection bias, obviously, because the people who are truly passionate about engineering are, on average, less vocal. Anyways, that's just my observations.</p>
<p>I don't really have any good essay advice, but if you have a dream and are passionate about it, then write about it with candor and honesty. I've never read a single MIT applicant essay (besides my own), but I bet that not many people will write essays about wanting to become an engineer (not as many as you would think, at least, because many people want to stand out in some unique way).</p>
<p>do you think an 800 word essay is pushing it? I could trim my essay down a bit, but then I'd feel like it'd be losing it's character.</p>
<p>What's the word limit, 500 words? 800 words for a 500 word limit is really too high. The admissions committee will definitely realize that you're over the 500-word limit and will be annoyed. My advice is to have some of your friends or teachers read over your essay; perhaps they could suggest parts that you can cut or make more concise. Oftentimes, if you read your own essay over and over again, it's hard to cut out things because you hold onto certain sentences so dearly, but in reality, it's possible that nobody except for you cares about those sentences ... get some more opinions from your peers</p>
<p>i've cut it down to 740 words...</p>
<p>My 100th post!!!</p>