<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I was wondering, how many MIT admits did research, and got to semifinalists or finalists in Intel STS, or got awards in Siemens competition or Intel ISEF?</p>
<p>Just wondering how important or how common that is</p>
<p>i didn't...</p>
<p>I didn't either</p>
<p>Not me. .</p>
<p>Or me.</p>
<p>Small sample size, but I think we may have answered your question to a certain degree. It's clearly not necessary whatsoever. =)</p>
<p>I did them both; only got semifinalist.</p>
<p>I didn't :p</p>
<p>My Son did not.</p>
<p>I did. The majority of applicants and admits did not.</p>
<p>the thing is I'm doing research over the summer, possibly applying for Intel STS. Someone told me everyone does that...and I wont be able to distinguish myself.
So it seems like the majority doesn't...so doing science research over the summer would still be able to "stand out"?
especially I'm an international student? (most of them strive in olympiads, but few do actual lab research)</p>
<p>I didn't.</p>
<p>The vast majority of applicants and admits have not done formal research. Most admits, however, do fit most of these</a> qualities</p>
<p>I'm led to believe that most admits have 'something' that makes them stand out against other applicants, though. It certainly helps if you do.</p>
<p>I was a national finalist for the Siemens competition, and at ISEF 06. </p>
<p>I think that the competitions aren't as important as the actual work you've done, and I don't think just doing something for a month or two is very impressive (spending hours everyday for close to a year is more... I think it convinces them it's not just you dabbling but diving in head first).</p>
<p>Whatever you do, you should try and excel at it, which is hard to do if you don't like it... so enjoy what you do!</p>
<p>I'm doing it for 7~8 weeks over summer at a university.
Considering I'm an international student, I can't really do much follow-up work, and my high school doesn't have the equipment to par up w/ the university's.
Colleges will understand I only get 7 weeks right?</p>
<p>There's other indirect benefits to doing research, some of which will effect your college admissions, and some of which will make you a better college student.</p>
<p>1) You may have a keener interest in your course work after the summer because it may seem more relevant.</p>
<p>2) You make have a better sense of how knowledge is constructed, and that may cause you to be more interested in the background behind the science you learn. You may start to ask: How was this first discovered? What experiments were used? What were the competing theories at the time?</p>
<p>3) Grappling with something hard and time consuming will build both perserverence and stamina. Good in both school and life!</p>
<p>4) You will meet interesting people. They may write recommendations for you, or they may become friends and mentors.</p>
<p>Good luck and have fun with it.</p>
<p>Although it does not specifically answer the question of how many MIT admits were involved in research, Stu Schmill, Deputy Director of Admissions, mentioned in a recent meeting that about 16% of MIT admits had won some national award in science and math competitions (USAMO finalist, Siemens or Intel finalists, etc..) according to an independent faculty review. That is about 245 from the total of 1533 admits in 2007. A lot more certainly participated in competitions or were involved in independent research. </p>
<p>On another point, he also mentioned that 49% of admits from schools that rank students were valedictorians in their class. Obviously, many schools don't rank, so it is not clear how many valedictorians were actually admitted, but it does indicate the importance of GPA in admissions.</p>
<p>I didn't =D But I'm sure you already knew that, OP.</p>
<p>Like I said to you before, it's your attitude and your overall package that matter, not just a solitary award (although it may help).</p>
<p>I understand. </p>
<p>just that our school is really good at preparing students to go to LACs, but NEVER got anyone into a top-notch engineering school (MIT, Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley).
I hope to show how dedicated I am by doing summer research, which no one has ever done before.</p>
<p>I know doing research is nothing special since a lot of people do it, but it certainly is hard for someone coming from my background (international student going to a boarding school)
Besides,I was the first ever boarder of my school (we have both boarders and day students) to ever participate in a local science fair (I went to regionals, but didn't go to ISEF). I know by itself it's not something extraordinary, but for my school it is (considering my school was established in 1893). Will MIT know it? I'm sure they wont, but how should I let them know it without bragging putting too much emphasis on it?</p>
<p>talk about it briefly in your essays. it's all about the way you word it. there's a fine line between bragging and being honest about your achievements.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Stu Schmill, Deputy Director of Admissions, mentioned in a recent meeting that about 16% of MIT admits had won some national award in science and math competitions (USAMO finalist, Siemens or Intel finalists, etc..) according to an independent faculty review. That is about 245 from the total of 1533 admits in 2007.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That is comparable to the proportion of Harvard applicants accepted for purely academic reasons (10-15 percent) and is apparently the MIT equivalent. However, 245 sounds rather high if by "national award" you mean actually reaching the finalist level. For example, USAMO finalist (i.e., those declared winners from among the several hundred who qualify for the exam) is about 10 people, not all of whom are graduating high school that year. Thus there are at most about 30-40 people who reach that level in mathematics, another 15-20 in physics, similar numbers in computer science and biology and engineering... --- but it doesn't add up to 250. </p>
<p>So I think "national award" may have meant reaching the national level of competition (national math/physics qualifier) rather than being on the list of winners. Either that, or there are many more national competitions than I have heard of.</p>
<p>I know there's 300 semi-finalists for intel STS,
and probably tens of people getting regional finalists in Siemens
and maybe close to hundred participating in ISEF.(estimation)</p>
<p>I just dont know how to let colleges know that although the things I do seems very common and below average on CC, it is actually a big deal for my background and high school (since my high school SUCKS at math and science)</p>