<p>We are the country that will forever debate abortion and still secretly believe contraceptives are sinful. Depending on the school you apply to some of the states they’re in may not even try to teach safe sex. Just trust me sex is a big taboo and considered an immature topic for perverted teens around here.</p>
<p>o.O when MIT asks about what you do in your free time. They want to know about how you challenge yourself and expand you knowledge outside of school…</p>
<p>@boysx3: Its just for MIT. They have a separate admissions process. Its real tough getting in. Might as well try something different. Anyways MIT and the other schools I am applying to are safeties. My first choice is to get into an IIT somewhere near my home. Going 10,000 miles away in a strange place doesn’t really fascinate me. MIT has an acceptance rate of around 9%. Acceptance rates for getting into ECE at a good IIT are somewhere around 0.25%. So you see MIT and the Ivies seem welcoming.</p>
<p>Dude, not only are you being plain stupid for putting that into your essays…</p>
<p>You’re cocky in thinking ivies + mit are “safeties”</p>
<p>BTW, sex and other things like that are still taboo in polite company and the professional lives of Americans. Even our video game and movie ratings boards are much more lenient with violence than sex. Parents are more likely to let their kids watch a violent movie than a sexually suggestive one, same with video games. People are in no way overly religious about it and still do talk about it with friends and such, but you here it is a completely unexpected conversation with a stranger or someone you don’t know.</p>
<p>good lord ccuser95!! seriously? :
What is wrong with you man. You don’t know me, just read some post and go so far as to completely diss me and wish that I don’t get anywhere? How would you like to come to India if there was some institute as good as MIT here and leave your home, friends, family, your life and everything else? In a completely different place where people don’t understand your culture, don’t speak your language, don’t abide by your principles and even treat you as a foreigner, as an intruder? How would you like to go to a place where you have no relatives and has extreme visa regulations? How would you like to come to this place which asks you to pay 240,000 dollars for four years when you will compete your engineering at home in just around 1000 dollars? How would you like to take all this pain when you can almost get as good an education right at your door step with all the perks that come with studying in your home country? And that set aside comparing acceptance rates, MIT and the Ivies are indeed welcoming. Back home there are simply too many people fighting for too little. And its all about my personal choice. First I want to get into an IIT. Then the Ivies. Then MIT. Then other colleges in India. The list goes on.
I am not being cocky. You are.</p>
<p>
You were talking to sensible people.</p>
<p>From your post #26, above, it actually sounds like you don’t want to come to the US for university - so maybe you used the essay (that you already submiited) to sabotage your chances…</p>
<p>Why worry about the essay? You have already submitted it, so it doesn’t at this point matter if it was a good or bad idea - it’s done. For the rest of your applications, write about something else.</p>
<p>@tocollege: hahaha…yeah i too think they were sensible now. I guess I have been watching too much Hollywood lately!!</p>
<p>Sorry, RayanMajid, but you’re the one being cocky.</p>
<p>You come onto this board, onto College Confidential, where the consensus is that MIT and Ivies are NEVER safeties, and you expect everyone to agree with your views.</p>
<p>Although 9% may be higher than 0.25%, it’s still not a high acceptance rate in absolute terms. </p>
<p>You accuse us of not seeing things from your view but I hope you can try to see from ours. By coming to a forum primarily dealing with American universities and saying that the top American universities, that many Americans can only dream of attending, are your “safeties” is practically asking to be called cocky.</p>
<p>Your original question about sex shows that you don’t really understand American culture. Americans are “open” about sex in that we will talk about it with friends or even coworkers at a bar, or a party, or in any informal setting. Talking about sex is taboo in any professional setting, for example talking to your boss or during any application process such as a job application or a COLLEGE application.</p>
<p>Again you also misunderstand the general understanding here in America about MIT/Ivies which is that they are NEVER considered safeties besides in exceptionally rare circumstances.</p>
<p>That’s a terrible idea.</p>
<p>@Blckmgc: I completely agree with you. The Ivies are dream colleges for anyone. And yeah I do know real little about the US. But I think you misunderstood me. I guess I used the wrong word. Instead of ‘safeties’ I should have used ‘my personal choice’ and I made it pretty clear why that is in my previous post. </p>
<p>And if you see my case in perspective, I wasn’t trying to imply that I can easily get in but that I am trying trying for the IIT’s and if I don’t make make it then my second choice will be the Ivies and so on and forth. That’s what I originally said. That after the inappropriate short question answer that I gave, even if I don’t make it to MIT it won’t really matter. Its not my first choice. And trust me I will make it to the IIT’s. Admission is not holistic and is based on a one time exam. And I know how to grind problems in math and the sciences better than you can imagine. I have a 2400 on the SAT’s and after the intensive coaching I have been taking for the last seven years to crack the IIT exam, it was a walk in the park. I was there for the IMO this year in Mar dal Plata.The only scenario in which I wont make it to the IIT’s is if I suffer from an accident on exam day. And in that case I have the Ivies as my backup plan. And I wasn’t accusing anyone of anything. Just got a little angry at ccuser95. </p>
<p>Tell me if you still think that I was being cocky.</p>
<p>I do. Ivies are never a “back-up plan”, because you can never count on being admitted. No one can.</p>
<p>@iluvbooks94: I am not counting on getting in. How many times do I have to make that clear!! It is just one of my “backup plans”.
And I am done trying to justify myself to complete strangers. It’s getting pretty lame.</p>
<p>Rayan, here’s your problem. In the context of university admissions, in America both “safety” and “back-up” plan mean “an option, usually a less desirable one, that I’ll use if my better options don’t work out.”</p>
<p>You seem to mean that you’re going to make an attempt at getting into MIT and some Ivies, and see what happens. The idiom you’re looking for, if I have understood you correctly, might be “reach” or “long shot.”</p>
<p>I’m in the college essay writing process right now and I have read in numerous places that risky essays are sometimes the best. You may get an admissions person who will find you immature for writing about such a thing, but in full honesty I think they might find the blunt honesty refreshing. As long as it’s obvious from the rest of your transcripts that you’re a good student and a good fit for the college I think you’ll be okay. Good luck 
And don’t listen to the negativity. The college admissions process is completely random. There isn’t a secret formula to essay writing. And I’m sure the school gets tired of reading about people who spend their free time doing community service.</p>
<p>This OP is definitely a ■■■■■ or just ignorant, but I’m going with the later. </p>
<p>Colleges want creative, fun essays, but they want to know about you and what you add. Adding STDs and babies to the campus isn’t what they want.</p>
<p>He never said anything about spreading STDs or impregnating women. You don’t know how well written his essay was, you just know the basis of it. And he already sent it so why not look at the positive side instead of making him feel bad? I honestly think that this isn’t that big of a deal. Sex is part of our culture and I’m sure that some admissions people will look down on a essay that mentions sex, but I’m sure there are just as many people who won’t.</p>
<p>It’s the “most helpful” because it’s what you want to hear.</p>
<p>@graceclassof2013: I think your post has been the most helpful. I have already sent the application. There is no use regretting it now. Better hope for the best. Don’t know why I even started this thread. Panic, I guess. </p>
<p>PS: If any CC official is reading this, you have a pretty dumb option available for users. We can actually rate our own threads! I think you should change that.</p>