<p>Okay I’m super excited because I just learned how to quote on CC!! I have a few things to say: </p>
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I completed grade 1-10 in my home country and finished the last two years of HS in the US (I, too, applied as an international). By “primarily your high school experience,” Chris (MIT Admissions) means the final 4 years of your secondary education. I provided the grades and relevant info from my grade 9-10 at the previous school (and I explained in detail the grading system and the general academic atmosphere in that school—simply because I was pretty sure that I was the only person who attended that particular school who applied to MIT) AND the transcript for grade 11-12, among other things (extracurriculars, awards, etc), from my US school. You do not NEED to provide any info/grades/whatever for anything below grade 9. After you’ve submitted these things, MIT will evaluate your performance and potential in the context of BOTH learning environments – whether you have challenged yourself and taken full (or close to full) advantage of the resources/opportunities AVAILABLE to you. </p>
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I took a gap year myself, and I personally know of at least 8 internationals in my class who took one or multiple gap years (the most interesting case is someone who graduated from HS 5 years ago! =D). So the act of having taken gap years itself does not hurt you, as long as you can elaborate on the things you’ve done since graduation nicely in your essay. I wrote a 400-word essay describing my rewarding gapping experience. </p>
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This is completely fine. If this helps, I took only ONE AP class my junior year–and I didn’t even get a 5 on that particular subject’s AP exam. Do not overly self-pity (or dramatize) your having-to-learn-English-as-a-second-language situation though! Many international admits have done exactly the same thing, and also many U.S. applicants have learned to speak a foreign language fluently. Know that MIT requires a TOEFL iBT score above 90 (although I highly recommend trying to get a 100+ score). </p>
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This is understandable and MIT thoroughly realizes that. I went to school from 7AM to 5PM every day and 6 days a week back in my home country and had virtually no time for any extracurriculars (I played volleyball for fun and played keyboard in a band that practiced like once a week), whereas I engaged in ~5 clubs/teams while in the US. You do not need to explain the lack of your EC’s back in Israel in your app. </p>
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Totally up to you. Two of the most important criteria for recommendations are “specific and storied.” A teacher who can elaborate on your merits and character with supporting detail and specific stories is much better than one who can’t say much about you beyond your academic performance (which is already available to Admissions on transcript anyway). All but one of my recommenders were Americans. (For the record, I had 5 recs submitted on my behalf… but you definitely don’t need that many letters UNLESS all the recommenders have completely different things to say about you while NOT contradicting each other. The 5 people who recommended me were: AP Lang teacher, AP Bio teacher, my counselor, my research mentor/director, and my gap year job’s employer). </p>
<p>Chris answered your 3 questions very nicely. So… any other questions?</p>