<p>I've been wondering . . . there are so many people who applied to MIT with Intel ISEF, USAMO, or AIME, USABO, stuff like that. Yet they were rejected. There are others who have had no awards like that, yet still they were accepted. GPAs and test scores between the acceptees and the rejects should be same, so no problems there.</p>
<p>I have hypothesized that there must have been something wrong with the essays. Maybe those AIME and USABO winners wrote without their "voice standing out" or maybe they had'nt accomplished something that benifitted the society (Awards for yourself is selfish, doesn't help anoyone else hm?)</p>
<p>From the 2008 Official Acceptence Thread, I figured that MIT probably wants people who make a difference in the community, not people with prestegious awards. The essays should say "Hey! I am a person with other interests too, not a math nerd who's obsessed with math problems." </p>
<p>Well, that all USAMO/Intel finalists are often rejected is simply not true; USAMO/siemens/intel finalists are admitted at much higher rates than the standard rate. It just may seem more pronounced when someone with this award happens to get rejected. Like perfect SAT scorers, while having such an accomplishment DOES increase your chances greatly, it does not make them certian. When someone with such an accomplishment gets rejected, it is often more pronounced.</p>
<p>On what MIT wants to see:</p>
<p>MIT wants to see, the way I see it, dedication and diligence. Now there are so many ways to show this, whether it be by dedicating yourself entirely to a community service cause, or fully to research and becoming an Intel Finalist. Heck, for some people it may be a sport, or a hobby such as Stand up Comedy (which is what I do).</p>
<p>To not only succeed at MIT, but make the BEST use of its enormous resources, you need to have dedication and diligence. There are 1000's of ways to express this, and none of them are the "right" one. Just be sure to find something that you LIKE doing, and WANT to be dedicated and diligent with.</p>
<p>This is why sometimes MIT will reject say, a perfect SAT scorer. While the person must have indeed had to been very smart to do that in one sitting, MIT may be turned off by the applicant if he/she had a lackluster transcript that demonstrated a lack of effort. MIT doesn't want to only admit people who can succeed, but people who will put in the effort to be the best they can be, and while at MIT, make the most use of its resources.</p>
<p>I think, by far, the more prominent effect is that the people who are passionate and dedicated enough to their field of interest to be performing internationally are the ones for whom that will show through in all areas of their applications. I can't imagine someone participating internationally in a competition and NOT have that subject be a significant (even if small) part of their lives.</p>
<p>The dedication behind an award is worth more than the award itself. Not all passions have prizes associated with them. A prize does convey this dedication, but I'll bet you a dollar that the field of study/area of interest showed up on the application several times beyond just the awards section.</p>
<p>I am not sure you can draw conclusions about the essays of those who were rejected, since most of them probably were fabulous...but I imagine someone who just writes an essay about their deep love of math, etc, would cause MIT to raise an eyebrow or two. There is a short answer question about that where such musings would fit perfectly - the essay is much more useful for explaining an interesting aspect of one's personality or life story, either indirectly (through a story) or sometimes more directly (through expository writing).</p>
<p>I chose the indirect route for my essay, where I wrote about an illness my dad suffered and nearly died from, and the subsequent lessons that taught me about family, the value of life, etc. Cliche? Maybe, though I didn't realize that at the time. Heartfelt? Definitely.</p>
<p>(I also wrote an essay about my research and a club I started at my high school, but those were the optional ones, not the main ones.)</p>
<p>While sort of on the topic, I also want to say this: MIT isn't looking for a laundry list of awards, clubs joined, etc. Dedication is shown not by how many clubs you can fit into your schedule, but what you actually achieve as a member of those clubs and activities.</p>
<p>Likewise, leadership is not shown simply by getting yourself elected president of your class or a club - again, what matters is what you achieve. Gaining a position or title ought to be indicative of leadership already shown or qualities already exhibited - a position, itself, is <i>not</i> leadership.</p>