<p>As I was completing the MIT application, the job/employment sectioned gloomed very ominously.</p>
<p>In other words, I really have no paying jobs what so ever, but worked many hours as a volunteer(and an intern) in different places.</p>
<p>Is employment a necessary component in getting into top college like MIT?</p>
<p>no. i'd only had one summer job, the summer before i applied, and it almost counted as more research than job. i had a few years' worth of a volunteer position, a senior service project, and the explanation that attending my high school made holding down a steady job extremely hard (boarding school, only free on saturdays, no car), instead.</p>