<p>I've actually asked this elsewhere (but it was off-topic), so, my apologies that I'm asking again...</p>
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<li><p>Can I indicate a double major on the "which course... most..." short answer? I'm also rather worried that I wouldn't have enough words to explain this... anyone took this approach before?</p></li>
<li><p>I'm also quite confused about the phrasing - it asks for "which course... at MIT" - am I supposed to talk about my appreciation of that field per se, or my appreciation of the quality of that program at MIT specifically? I know my answer in either case, and I can always go for a mix of both, but it would result in at least a doubly unsubstantiated answer... so it would be nice to have a view on this.</p></li>
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<p>The actual MIT students on here probably aren’t looking at the application (I know I’m not). If you want an answer, you might want to think about posting the actual question O.O</p>
<p>Did you copy and paste the right one? I don’t see “which course” or “most” in that.</p>
<p>In any case, it seems fine to me to talk about both what fascinates you about the major and what in particular you like about MIT’s department in that major (though when I applied, I didn’t know all that much about the second). I don’t see anything particularly wrong with mentioning a double major (except that you’d seem like every frosh who thinks they’re going to double major :D). If you’re unsure about your major, don’t be afraid to say that. I know people who wrote that on their application, and it’s perfectly find to talk about two fields that interest you but not be quite sure exactly how you’re going to pursue them yet.</p>
<p>You’re cruelly particular, haha. All right, I paraphrased…</p>
<p>OK, you’ve pointed out what I needed to know. It’s very comforting to know that I can say something with less certainty and unawareness of MIT’s departments. I decided I’ll just write what fascinates me about the 2 fields.</p>
<p>The problem is, I’ve never noticed, but when I summed up the hours and activities, I realized that I pursued a lot in both areas, which are somehow very unrelated (not like {6, 8, 18; choose 2}, which could still be written in a way that concentrated in one field without looking suicidal, in my opinion)! So it would look pretty odd if I only wrote about my interest in 1 field. Then the ~1000 hours and inevitable mentions of the other area on my teacher evaluations will seem like a cameo appearance on the rest of my application!</p>
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<p>^^ I figure there’s a correlation here with the popularity of history class amongst MIT freshmen.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to come across snarky or anything like that - apologies if I did. I’m kind of a literalist :D</p>
<p>I’m not going to pull up the actual quote because I’m lazy, but either Matt or Ben once noted that they accept all types - very pointy people, very well-rounded people. Your breadth in activities isn’t a fault as long as it comes from your own interests.</p>
<p>If it’s any comfort to you, I flew planes before college - but I’m not Course 16. I like ham radio - but I’m not 6-1. I’m going to learn more Python over IAP - but I’m not 6-3. I’m a biologist. Breadth of interest is not a fault ^.^</p>
<p>Definitely not. It’s quite a pleasant symmetry with someone else I know from MIT.</p>
<p>Okay, no problem. I’ll just write my application with my fullest honesty, and leave it to them to do the assessment, although I wonder if I’m even considered well-rounded.</p>
<p>I’m envious… your interests are fun (uh, except biology…) and kudos for daring to manage them all at the same time. If I had to do something for IAP, I’d probably end up pioneering a novel way of nonconstructive sleep. I’ve done programming but I never ventured near Python… I was planning to learn ROOT though. Radio, not really… community service by jamming mobile phones, yes. I guess I’m more haphazard than well-rounded.</p>