I plan on applying to MIT this October and as such have to complete the “essay” (if you can call them that) portion of the application. My problem is that the reason that I want to go to MIT is not only for their exceptional math and science programs (I want to be a physics major) but when I toured the campus this summer it was the only college/university where I felt the same passion that I have for math and science. I don’t exactly know how to convey this feeling in written language and as such, I was wondering if anyone had any insight on how to accurately convey my shared sense of passion without sounding like a pre-teen at a boyband concert?
I LOVE your last sentence, especially “without sounding like a pre-teen at a boyband concert” part. Seems to me that might be a good opening for an essay ; )
Try this as an exercise: Write a pursuasive essay “proving” that you have passion for math and science. Imagine you are trying to convince someone who doesn’t know you and has no reason to trust you when you say you have passion. How would you convince them? I’m not saying this will end up being your eventual essay, but it should start you thinking about how you SHOW not just passion, but YOUR passion.
For this exercise, you don’t need to be creative or clever. Don’t try to find one perfect anecdote and don’t worry about any word limit. Just be as pursuasive as you can using all the evidence you have. This is NOT your college essay. It is just meant to spark your thoughts for your college essay.
Will do, appreciate the feedback. @gallentjill
Might actually try that, would probably help in the humanization of my essay. @momofsenior1
Hit my inbox? @Huddah not entirely familiar with that phrase
Ah okay, I assumed it was that just wanted to clarify. @Huddah
I actually like the “without sounding like a pre-teen at a boyband concert” part. It’s funny.
What at MIT made you feel passion about math & science ?
@Publisher I think the best way to convey it is to use my own personal experience, so when I do math or science, (something complex and not just busy work) I get hyper I guess to an extent (my friends say it drives them nuts) where I not only solve the problem correctly but enjoy the process of solving the problem and as a result have a higher energy level as someone does when they are doing something they love doing. I’ve toured Rice, Princeton, and some other top schools and at all those schools from the tour guides and their descriptions of the school and its culture I just got a plain and simple sense of boredom. While in contrast after my MIT tour I wanted to get in a lab somewhere or sit down and solve something, anything I guess I picked up a sense of passion from MIT because in my experience the description of the culture from the tour guide and information session boosted my own passion and drive in a way that I haven’t seen short of just having a problem I really wanted to solve.
@MatthewB11235: Although I understand, you are not conveying your passion in an effective manner.
Read & try to follow the guidance offered in the first paragraph of post #2 in this thread.
Imagine being courted by three different beautiful girls, but you only felt a deep attraction to one even though the other two girls, Rice & Princeton, won as many or more beauty pageants as did Miss MIT. What made Miss MIT so attractive to you while Miss Rice & Miss Princeton were not ?
@Publisher Okay so in response of #2’s post I’ve compiled a list of the major things that would effectively show my passion for math and science
- I taught myself AP Calculus BC over the summer just for the fun of it (Served no value as now I’m also enrolled in the class)
- I compete in 3 separate math competitions which sum up to about 9 meets a year all of which have no monetary incentive and I just do them for the fun of it.
- I compete in 1 science competition which has 3 meets a year all of which have no monetary incentive and once again I just do it for the fun of it.
- My school refused to let me into AP Physics E&M despite me winning the science department award at my school the year prior (1/3000) and being the only student at my school who has ever scored a 5 on the AP Physics 1 exam, after all this I decided to teach myself AP Physics E&M even though I will not receive class credit for it and probably won't receive college credit as I am planning on being a physics major so I'll still have to take the courses.
- I create video tutorials over AP Math and AP Science courses both because I enjoy it and because it helps those less fortunate both academically and socioeconomically than me (ie some may not have access to the courses I had access too) other than enjoyment this offers no incentive for me
- I created/run a website where people can ask me questions and I help them with math/science problems it's completely free so it offers no incentive other than just being able to solve more problems
- I sometimes will spend hours on weekends coming up with formulas and equations that describe certain series or functions and can solve for the sum of all values over an interval of a given series.
- I typically watch about 1hr/day of math and science content that I am currently to dumb to understand from sources such as PBS space-time and 3blue1brown simply because I find them intriguing.
as for what makes Miss MIT so attractive is a list of things, first off as someone who is not overly fond of English I appreciate how MIT actually bothered to do the research on if college letters make a difference in the performance of their applicants and it turns out it doesn’t so they opt for short answer responses to their questions. This leads me to believe that I won’t be wasting my time on pointless tasks there. They require you to learn how to swim which is a skill that everyone who invests so much time into their intellect should possess as it’s a waste of energy and resources for them to die by drowning, this requirement leads me to assume that MIT accounts for the commonly overlooked, which I appreciate. During the tour they stated how even some of their freshman professors were Nobel prize winning, I did not find this anywhere else. The whole spirit of practical jokes or as they call it “hacking” as I’ve been doing this stuff my whole life, ex. In the 6th grade, I put a program on my home computer which connected to my I Pod touch from which I could type and control the mouse, would mess with my parents (not harmful obviously). MIT alums created Texas Instruments, (I love my N-Spire CX- CAS) and created memex which literally inspired the creation of the internet. These and many more innovations were groundbreaking and they’re something I want to be a part of in the future. They have among the most if not the most challenging STEM courses and honestly, if I’m not doing something challenging I’m wasting my time. So I guess the sense of passion I get from them comes from the innovation that spurs out of there or maybe I only get a sense of passion from there because I feel as if it is a place where I belong if that makes any sense.
When I read your post, I immediately also think of Caltech, Harvey Mudd, RPI, School of Mines, VA Tech, Michigan Tech, Rose Hulman, etc. There are plenty of schools full of students who are passionate about math and science. Even MIT AOs know there are a lot of great schools in these areas -it doesn’t seem impressive to be that starry eyed about them.
Also, your love of MIT isn’t a reason for them to admit you. Everyone who applies is excited about those subjects and excited about MIT. The question is, what in your experiences so far in life indicate that you being something they want to campus?
@intparent I appreciate the suggestion of those other schools, I will definitely look into them further. As for how my life experiences will allow for me to be something useful on campus I have one that seems to be most useful in my life. When I was in elementary school I was bright from the day I started it, especially in math, competing in competitions from as young as age 9 or so. However, around the 6th grade, I became more interested in building a social life in part because of the constant worry of always being considered a nerd. As such I purposefully did worse in my class by answering questions wrong on purpose and acting stupid and eventually, I became as dumb as I had wanted to be. This trend continued up until about 10th grade where I had an enlightenment of sorts in which I realized how foolish it was to throw away my intelligence. And from then until the present I have completely dominated in math and science courses at my school. This experience while I first assumed was completely disadvantageous had, in fact, had its advantages chief among which is that I can communicate with people who are not per say geniuses which is a trait many people of high intelligence lack. This is to my advantage as people with lower natural intelligence cannot come up to that of someone who has higher than normal intellect and as such the only way to effectively communicate is to bring yourself down to their level and since the distributions of intelligence are a bell curve it is significantly beneficial to have the ability to bring yourself down as that is where the vast majority of people reside. That skill would be what I say makes me beneficial to MIT as I can effectively communicate with both super intelligent people and your average joe.
(Hopefully, this didn’t come across as arrogant or rude, I know those who are born with intelligence did nothing to deserve it and it’s just kinda luck of the draw)
@MatthewB11235 That came off as very arrogant. Do you realize that anyone who is qualified for MIT is intelligent? Also, speaking about people like they are below you is a great way to get yourself denied. This is also very cliche. It is the typical story of getting better in school. It makes it worse that you would consider telling them that the reason for a subpar grade is that you dumbed yourself down to fit in. They do not want in-the-box type of people… it is MIT. I would highly recommend not writing about that. I am not sure how the others would feel about that.
Well. You are competing for admission with many people who didn’t play dumb for several years, and still can get along with people at varying levels of intelligence. I suspect that would not be a winning essay topic.
@ab2002 Okay thanks, I have Asperger’s syndrome so sometimes it’s hard to tell if I come across as arrogant or not, also trust me, it was not just one subpar grade it was a whole year worth of B’s and C’s in contrast to my GPA of a 105 (weighted) for 10th and 11th grade. Also, I want to clarify on the whole thinking less of people thing which I can 100% understand how you got that from my post. I would be an idiot to not realize I am smarter than the vast majority of people but I do not in anyway think less or more of people based on their intelligence. In fact my best friend only barely got above a 1000 SAT (even though I do not feel like it represents how smart he is) I intended for the post to come across more as the people with high intelligence that I personally know sometimes refuse to even give people the time of day because they see them as inferior while as I am able to make friendships and such with them. Sorry for the misunderstanding, and thanks for pointing it out to me!
(also if for some reason this came across as ungenuine or something I really meant everything I said in this, always have to clarify because of my AS)
@intparent Okay thanks, I guess my personal experience with people who are very smart is not very typical. Also you’re right on how it’s probably not the best play to point out the weaknesses in my application.
@MatthewB11235 That does not show any passion at all. That says that you conformed to the “norm” and dumbed yourself down. You did not overcome a challenge. You decided that it might not be a good idea to dumb yourself down. You need to focus less on grades and test scores and more about passion. I can assure you that if you write an essay on that, you will be denied from MIT and other top schools.
@MatthewB11235 Intelligence manifests itself in many ways. While you are clearly intelligent, you appear a bit naive. While being able to swim is a skill everyone should have, it’s not nearly as important as the ability to communicate effectively. I can’t help but find myself holding my breath while reading your posts. I think it’s because you write as if spewing your thoughts in a stream of consciousness. I understand your concern regarding your ability to express yourself in a way that will help you gain admission to the school that makes your pulse quicken. However, I’m not sure that’s a story I’d want to communicate to MIT admissions.