<p>I have a couple of questions about my MIT application that I hoped some of you might be able to help me with. </p>
<p>How far over on the word limit for the 2 short essays is acceptable? 1 of mine is 20 and the other round 50.</p>
<p>For the section that asks you to list AP's and scores, should I list the classes I'm taking, or the tests? I'm taking the AB calculus class since that's all my school offers but taking the BC test and I'm also taking both Physics C tests at the end of the year without a class since my school only offers B, which I took last year.</p>
<p>Do things such as NHS, Spanish NHS, Science NHS, Tri-M Music Honor Society, etc, count as national or school level awards/honors?</p>
<p>Does having a one hour after school detention count as serious disciplinary action? </p>
<p>If I took 2 years of chemistry, physics, and biology would I put the first or the last year when they ask what years those classes were taken?</p>
<p>Is the "anything we should know about your schools grading system" spot appropriate to explain getting put into a level 2/CP class because of a scheduling conflict, or how the grading on my independent study works?</p>
<p>Is it appropriate to explain some of my ec's in the extra information parts if the given 40 words isn't enough?</p>
<p>The word limits on the essays are guidelines - try to not be too far over the limit, but a few words isn't going to kill you. I thought that the two short essays were allowed 100 words each, though, so aren't you okay?</p>
<p>I would list the tests that you're taking, as your transcript will show the classes you're taking. You could explain in the additional information section that you're taking the AP tests without taking the classes if you're concerned about confusion.</p>
<p>National honor societies are considered national-level awards, I believe, or at least that's what I would put them down as. I didn't apply for NHS at my school ^^;</p>
<p>If getting a detention counts as serious disciplinary action, I definitely lied on my application. I think that it's generally for getting suspended or something like that, and your detention is probably fine.</p>
<p>When I filled out my application, I put down the last year that I had taken each class, but I don't think that this is horribly criticial because it should show on your transcript which classes you've taken and in which year.</p>
<p>I think that your counselor would be able to explain on the school form how the grading on your independent study works. You probably shouldn't worry about the level 2 class due to a scheduling conflict. One class isn't going to make or break your application.</p>
<p>If you would like to use your extra 500 words to explain one of your extracurriculars, the additional information section would be a good place to do it. Personally, I would still try to make sure that the information in this section was written as a cohesive extra essay, though, not just a list of credentials.</p>
<p>If someone would like to correct me on any of this information, that would be fabulous - it's been almost a full year since I've had to fill out the MIT application! :)</p>
<p>I think 50 words is a little much. That's 50% of what the essay is supposed to be. The problem with going over is not that they will be counting your words, the problem is that with long essays, your reader may get bored, which is detrimental to your application.</p>
<p>Ohhh I totally thought you were talking about the regular essay (in which case 50 words over would be fine). I think 50 is a bit much.</p>
<p>Also, DO NOT use the "extra" space to talk about your ECs. There's a REASON they only give you n slots and y words to talk about them. Same for the word limit on the short essays. The point is to make you pick something and make a point, and move on.</p>
<p>Yes but i feel 40 words is just barely enough to go as in depth as saying "I played trumpet. I've been first trumpet since junior year. I am now president." and that's it. so I'm thinking of just writing an optional essay on the impact of music in my life since all my ec's that I'd like to elaborate on are music related. Do you think that would be more appropriate?</p>
<p>I disagree, 40 words is plenty. Sure it's hard work getting it into 40 words, but I think you can do it. One thing that you may have to do is make you're EC's more specific. For example: I first put Art: Music and 3d CGI. I couldn't fit that all it, so I scrapped 3d cgi, and just focused on music. Also, don't talk about details, just list your biggest accomplishments, and maybe a brief (<10 words) history, and MAYBE (<10 words) your feelings on it. But spend about 20 on what you do in the activity.</p>
<p>Also, I think your second optional topic is fine. It's not just talking about your activities, it's talking about music, not just what you've done, but how it makes you FEEL.</p>
<p>Yeah, 40 words is plenty, the point is to make you choose the important stuff. You can't actually tell them your ENTIRE life story on the application. There are tons of cool things about me that I think probably would have illustrated my personality, ambitions, etc, that didn't make it into my application. They know that. They picked me anyway, based on what I did say.</p>
<p>Also, to clarify- it's fine to submit an optional essay about a particular EC that's important to you. What's NOT fine is to use the extra space to rant about ALL of them, basically just in an attempt to work around the limited space you're given in the first place. As I said, that space is there for a reason.</p>
<p>I'm just curios, I used the 500 words of extra space to write two 250 word essays, one about my love of 'openness', and the other on my willingness to go where I need to, to get a good education. Is that inappropriate?</p>
<p>Hmm I cut down my 100 word essaysd to 120 each. I hope that's going to be better. </p>
<p>So for the first optional essay I was going to talk about my independent study class this year since i had to design the class, get it approved by the administration, get my teacher to do it, write up a course syllabus, pick a top 10 list of experiments (I'm studying historically important scientific experiments and if possible recreating them), etc. Do you guys think that falls under "something you've created" ? </p>
<p>And also should I be following a theme on my application or not repeating stuff? Since the most important non academic thing to me is music so most of my ec's are music related and so is my "for fun" essay, but since I'm also writing an optional essay on music its going to be about a lot of the same things i already mentioned in my app just going in depth so that's ok right?</p>
<p>Oh one other question. What do i do for the hours/weeks if it varies. For example in the beginning of play practices we might have maybe two 2 hour practices a week. After a few weeks we add 3-4 hour practices on Saturdays and another after weekday one and by the week or 2 before the show we're there for a good 20 hours a week.</p>
<p>I tried to take the average. Also, if it's one of those activities which I spend a LOT of time on in just a few weeks of the year, I put a big number on my hours/week, and a small number on my weeks/year.</p>
<p>I am an international applicant and this is really urgent... </p>
<p>I was wondering how MIT looks at my grades in the context of my school and country? My school does not calculate GPA, and although I rank in the top 5% of my class from a really prestigious school, my grades do not <em>look</em> stellar on a 100-point scale (there are plenty of 70s and 80s in maths and sciences, pretty much no 90s) because the school does not put a lot of effort into calculating final grades (you're fine as long as you pass with a 60, so that's all they really care about.) This is the way the educational system is in my country...it's kind of confusing. And there are a lot of differences between schools and even your teachers, too. How does MIT use my grades?</p>
<p>Should I tell my school to convert into GPA or whatever...? Because if they do, I have about 2.8... My teacher has already told me that she will mention my ranking and overall performance in her rec, but will that be enough?</p>
<p>Please help!! Thank you so much in advance.</p>
<p>I can't really help you much with these questions, seeing as I'm filling out the app myself...^^ but I'm attaching a resume in the additional information section where I basically list some of my ECAs and give a little bit more detail.. that's it tho</p>
<p>how about if ur describing an internship, 3 summer programs that are career-oriented, and ECs that dont fit 40 words... 40 words isnt enough... i used about 100 words each to clarify how I started, what is the purpose of each thing, what ive done in each thing... If u want, just reference the additional information section... i wrote max i can in common application activities list</p>
<p>20 hours a week???... i use to do boxing and we trained 5 times a week, for 2 hours... what activity are u doing that consists of 20 hours??... thats like 5 hours on one day, and 3 hours on other days.... make sure ur timings make sense bro...</p>
<p>The last week before the play were there for 3-5 hours a day every day. That's why i asked the question since at the beginning we have like 2 hours a week and gradually work our way up as the play gets nearer LOL.</p>
<p>One more question LOL. So if I use the optional 500 words to do a short essay, how would I separate that from a very short bullet or 2 clarifying a response on a different part of the app or something like that?</p>