MIT Class of 2019 EA Results Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/690/690/10
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2180- Took it once fall of junior year
ACT (breakdown): didn’t send the scores. Let’s not talk about this :wink:
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 780, Physics: 730
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.54
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/490
AP (place score in parentheses): World History (4), Music Theory (5), Computer Science (5), Statistics (5), Calculus AB (5), US History (5), English Language and Composition (5), Calc BC (TBD), Physics C: Mechanics (TBD)
IB (place score in parentheses): Computer Science SL (7), Music SL (6), English HL (TBD), German SL (TBD), Physics SL (TBD), Mathematics SL (TBD), History HL (TBD), Music HL (TBD),
**Senior Year Course Load: (All IB/AP classes, skipping prefixes): **Music HL, Theory of Knowledge (Philosophy), German SL, Contemporary History HL, Calc BC, Physics SL, English HL
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 2 (?)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 3 time state placer for girl’s wrestling- 9th grade- 3rd, 10th grade- 1st, 11th grade 3rd
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):
AP Scholar with Distinction (2014)
AP Scholar (2013)
1st Place Historical Paper at District Social Studies Fair (10th grade)
School Academic Achievement Award (9th-11th)
Personal Progress Award (I’m a Mormon and this is an award for completing the Young Women’s program- requires 46 completed assignments, 70 hours of service projects and reading the entire Book Mormon)</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Church- every Sunday 3 hour meeting, Youth Activities every week for 1.5 hours (6-12th grade),seminary (scripture study) every morning before school from 6 to 6:50 at my church (90%+ attendance every year of high school).11th-12th grade- Stake Youth Council member - meet once a month and coordinate with Stake
Leaders to plan Youth Conference, dances and activities for over 100 youth in the area
Wrestling- 2 hour practice every day after school, wrestling meet every Saturday, 9th/10th- only girl on team,12th grade- I am trying to start an official girls wrestling team at my school (Now we have 7 girls total!)
Band Marching band all 4 years, trumpet section leader and brass captain senior year</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:None
Volunteer/Community Service: Band librarian for 4 years took about 70 hours of work per year. In charge of copying, indexing, and conducting inventory for a 2,000+ piece music library
Summer Experience: Band camp, visit grandfather/do yard work, girl’s camp(church activity), wrestling club practices twice a week, volunteer trumpet tutor for elementary students, 8th-11th: I took online high school classes for fun (Chinese, Spanish, AP Computer Science, AP Statistics)</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details): Idk… I think they were good. I read a book on how to approach the essays which helped me avoid cliches and see what makes a “good” essay. I had 2 English teachers help me revise my essays.
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: wrote about why I like wrestling
Department at MIT: wrote about how I like the CS department (named specific classes, etc)
Trait Most Proud Of: wrote about taking classes online for fun and being self-motivated
World You Come From: wrote about how small my world is because my ECs and school pretty much define my life (in a good way) but I’m ready to move on
Significant Challenge: wrote about losing in the semi-finals at states and eating at a Japanese place afterward
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: English teacher that I was close with- she wrote a really nice letter
Teacher Recommendation #2: my math/computer science/ physics teacher I have had for three years- I think he wrote a good letter
Counselor Rec: should be good
Additional Info/Rec: none
Interview: I got my interview done early. Its the only interview I have had so I don’t know how I did. It seemed like a good conversation. I didn’t really practice or anything beforehand. I just tried to be myself.
Art Supplement: none.</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: October 31
U.S. State/Territory or Country: South-east USA
School Type: 2000+ student public high school with an IB program, sends maybe 1 or 2 people to top 30 schools a year
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none?</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: unique combination of extra-curriculars that I excel in, good relationships with my teachers, worked hard on the application
Weaknesses: I only took my SATs once
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: :neutral_face: I’d rather not pretend to speak like I have any idea what went through the committee’s mind when they decided to admit me
What would you have done differently?: I have no regrets. I never did anything because “it would look good on an application” (I actually quit some clubs this year like NHS because they didn’t do anything and I didn’t feel the need to put a million things on my application- quality over quantity). I did everything I loved to the best of my ability and I pursued my interests. Even if I got rejected/deferred I would not be beating myself up over what I could have done.
Where else did you apply? I have applied to two schools that I am pretty sure I will get into. Not sure if I want to finish other applications.
**Other Factors: ** none?</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
-College admissions is not some type of game you win or lose. It is not a lottery. It is not an intense strategy game that one must obsess over starting 9th grade year. It does not define your life.
-Really examine why you want to go to the schools you are applying to- if you can try to visit. E-mail groups that you may be interested in joining at said college and ask what its like to participate in said activity at said college.
-Chance threads have no value. None. If you look at a college and what the general SAT scores and GPAs of accepted people have and you have them, you have a shot. Even if you aren’t perfectly in the 50th percentile or above (I wasn’t in everything) don’t let that be a 100% deal breaker but be realistic. The only way to have a 0% chance of getting in is to not apply.
-Just be yourself and pursue your interests and do your best everyday. Be a good person. Work hard but relaxing and taking a break once in a while is healthy. And I promise that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. Remember: You define yourself - a college acceptance/rejection does not define you.

  • From personal experience for mental sanity I suggest limiting use of college confidential. Maybe try Quora?
    [/noparse] </p>
22

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2400/ 11
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2400
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math II 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA: 4.51
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/450
AP (place score in parentheses): 4: Chem, Human Geography, US History; 5: Stats, Physics, Lang, Calc AB, Calc BC, World History
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Micro, Engineering Class, AP Lit, Biomedical Innovations, AP Bio, Political Science, Discrete Math (took multivariable calc junior year)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 3? MIT has never taken anyone from our school.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Statewide Piano Competition 1st places?
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, AP National Scholar, Honor Roll, Varsity Tennis Team 3rd in State, Math team top 10 in State, Piano Stuff</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Student Council, 9-12
NHS, 11-12
Math Team, Captain, 9-12
Piano, Since I was like 5
Varsity Tennis, 9-12
Link Crew (helps freshmen), 12
Choir Accompanist, 10-12</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Taught/ Teaching Piano
Volunteer/Community Service: >200 Hours at Children’s Museum, >50 Hours Volunteer Tennis Coach, >200 NHS Hours (Tutoring, etc.)
Summer Experience: Research Intern; wrote paper on titanium nanoparticles as battery anodes</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays: I can’t rate my essays but I can say I spent a huge amount of time writing/ getting opinions from others
What You Do For Pleasure: Piano, Wrote about its effect it has on my life
Department at MIT: Talked about engineering/ UROP
Trait Most Proud Of: Perseverance
World You Come From: A multitude of different ones that conflict, clash, and ultimately come to define who I am
Significant Challenge: Awful Sophomore Year
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Physics teacher ;likes me, really really nice guy
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Lang teacher; worked my butt off in her class so she probs wrote me an OK one at least
Counselor Rec: She knows me pretty well
Additional Info/Rec: Research Mentor
Interview: Went OK.
Art Supplement: Should have (but didn’t) turn in something for piano</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 11/1
U.S. State/Territory or Country: MN
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: >150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Lol </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Typical Asian Strengths
Weaknesses: Being a typical Asian
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Being a typical Asian
What would you have done differently?: Not much. I’m proud of who I am. Start earlier would be biggest issue.
Where else did you apply? </p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice: I never expected anything but a deferral. Nonetheless, it still stung. Good luck to those applying, congrats to those who got in (please please just start your own companies already so us plebeians can get a chance), and for those deferred/ rejected… keep your head up!
[/noparse]</p>

23

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2340 (740/800/800) i dont know how i screwed up math lol
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2400
ACT (breakdown): none
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): Physics 800, Math II 800, US History 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.7
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/800ish
AP (place score in parentheses): 10 tests, four 4s, six 5s, self studied 3
IB (place score in parentheses): nope
Senior Year Course Load: all AP, one honors
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 2 that i know, both deferred :frowning:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): I wish…
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Awards, lots of FBLA ones, county honor bands, top 1% graduate in county…nothing special</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Local FBLA pres, clarinet section leader in marching band, TEDx organizer, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Interned at laser diode firm, chamber of commerce
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience: Research at Claremont Colleges</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Music 7
Department at MIT: EE 8
Trait Most Proud Of: Perseverance, super generic now that i read it 6
World You Come From: Childhood memories, very personal 10
Significant Challenge: Public speaking, 9
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: didnt read 6-7
Teacher Recommendation #2: didnt read 9-10
Counselor Rec: not rlly close, so idk
Additional Info/Rec: professor i did research with, 8-9
Interview: OH GOD IT WAS SO…well, i think this put the nail in the coffin. Interviewer was disinterested at times although I tried. I had several amazing interviews so idk why this one went so badly :frowning:
Art Supplement: Research paper (idk if it goes here but oh well)</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App:
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Cali
School Type: Medium Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket Range: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Asian male in STEM needing aid (antihook)</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Stats (except AP scores lol, so many 4s), rlly big on clubs/band
Weaknesses: Im pretty weak on STEM
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Wasn’t expecting acceptance rlly, im just not that desirable/qualified
What would you have done differently?: Definitely focus on STEM more, didnt even do research until summer before senior
Where else did you apply? Caltech (deferred too, today’s a sad day), Rose Hulman (accepted, YAY)</p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice: MIT has been my dream school for so long…oh well, guess it’s time to move on, it was fun when it lasted. Well i guess there’s still a slim chance…
[/noparse]</p>

24

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):2190(800/660 :(/730/9)
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):33(34M/34E/32R/32S)
SAT II (subject, score):740 MII 750 Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.96
Weighted GPA:5.28
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):14/460
AP (place score in parentheses):Bio(4) Stat(4) Eng(4) USH(5) World History(5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:AP Calc BC/AP Spanish V/AP Economics/AP Chem/AP Physics/AP Lit/
Number of other EA applicants in your school:4+ Idk
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Research Award
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, National Achievement</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Vice President, Treasure, Secretary of
BPA HOSA NTHS, varsity soccer
Job/Work Experience: Held some jobs over high school
Volunteer/Community Service: A lot
Summer Experience: Research at Medical School, Pathology Research at State school</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Working Out, 6
Department at MIT:Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 6
Trait Most Proud Of: Curiosity, 7
World You Come From: Immigrant Family, 6
Significant Challenge: Getting denied from program, 6
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Precal, 8
Teacher Recommendation #2:English, 7, kinda short
Counselor Rec:8
Additional Info/Rec: Research Mentor, 9, Really good
Interview:7, He liked me
Art Supplement:</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/11
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Houston, Texas
School Type:Suburban
Ethnicity:Black/African American
Gender:Male
Income Bracket Range:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): First Generation, URM</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Went to a program at MIT in October and that may have helped, Research, pursued things outside of what was right in front of me
Weaknesses:Essays, relatively test scores, rank
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: URM, Research, recommendations, Did well on SAT I math which I heard they look at the most, Course Load
What would you have done differently?: Added more flare to my essays
Where else did you apply? </p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice: Looking on college confidential is great up until senior year, then stop. It’s already been said and done. Hard work pays off, and I feel blessed. Do things over the summer. Oh, and take essays seriously, I feel like that was the weakest part of my application. But It worked out anyway
[/noparse]</p>

25

<p>**Decision: Deferred ** </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2190, 2200
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 750/770/780/9 (2300)
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): Math II- 760, Physics- 770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Go to school outside of the US so my grades are 93.2%, 95% and 90.3% (~3.74 GPA I think)
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/120ish
AP (place score in parentheses): All self studied for in the summer of my junior year- Environmental Science (5), English Language and Composition (5), Biology (4), Physics (4), Chemistry (3, but was sick on that day)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: National Curriculum (fixed set of subjects- Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Got 4th and 8th state ranks in math and science national/multinational olympiads privately conducted if that counts (?)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, NMSF</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
**Art **- represented my school in quite a few regional competitions and won awards in them. I’ve been painting pretty much all my life and so I submitted an art portfolio.
Public Speaking- Model UN, elocution and debate. Represented my school and won awards. Chaired a few MUNs and won awards like Best Delegate in national-level school and college level MUNs
Student Council- prefect for 2 years. In charge of the activities of 1/4th of my school (School follows house system like in Harry Potter and I"m in charge for one of them)
Alumni FB page- Run a fb page to connect the school’s alumni with current students and give students’ points of view on school affairs
Co-Founder and General Manager of a student-run organization that aims at providing rising NGOs a platform to interact with students and gain awareness through our established network. Worked with nationally renowned NGOs (~15), was reached out by one in Kenya and was featured in an online national magazine. We launched another page which is a 100% anonymous confessions site for bullies and bystanders! Really proud of this.</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Internship at a general operations theater in a hospital for a week</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community Service: Teaching at government school and organizing a literacy camp through the organization I co-founded.</p>

<p>Summer Experience: Classical Singing Camp, Entrepreneurship course and competition (invited to globals but couldn’t because of prior commitments)</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Watch talent show auditions on YouTube (6)
Department at MIT: Biomedical Engineering or Physics (5)
Trait Most Proud Of: Creating opportunities for myself (8)
World You Come From: Moving back to my native country… pretty funny story actually (9)
Significant Challenge: Hardships at home (8)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: About how my own goals align with MIT’s basically (9)
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Biology Teacher- didn’t read but should be strong
Teacher Recommendation #2: Spanish Teacher- same as the above
Counselor Rec: Coordinator and Chemistry Teacher- same as the above
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Went all right actually. He asked me pretty generic questions but I ended up being really glad that he did.
Art Supplement: Visual arts</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/31/2014
U.S. State/Territory or Country: India (US Citizen)
School Type: International School
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: not sure, but need financial aid
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: I think my ECs on the whole are pretty unique. 3 of my essays were pretty good in my opinion.
Weaknesses: My grades probably.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I honestly think that I was deferred because of my grades, so I’m going to work super hard for my exams and make sure I prove to them that I can handle MIT coursework. I’m going to make sure I give my best shot next round :slight_smile:
What would you have done differently?: Worked harder in 11th grade, I guess.
Where else did you apply?: UC Berkeley so far.</p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
Believe it or not I’m actually pretty happy I got Deferred. It’s really shocked me out of my senioritis and motivated me to finish high school strong and finish up the things I’ve been meaning to do. MIT’s my dream school and I still really hope that I get in RD, but right now I sort of feel like this was meant to happen and for a good reason. Good luck to all my fellow applicants :slight_smile: Congrats to everyone that’s gotten it :smiley: In or not we should all be proud that we took the risk, At least we get a story to tell our kids one day from all of this!</p>

<p>[/noparse]</p>

26

<p>For the sake of college statistic lovers…</p>

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 700/750/670 (didn’t send)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): took once
ACT (breakdown): 29 english, 35 math, 36 reading, 35 science
ACT superscore (breakdown): 34
SAT II (subject, score): Math 1 680, Physics 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: No idea!
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/190
AP (place score in parentheses): Lang & Comp 4, Lit & Comp taking
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus (AB I think), Physics, Electronics III, Honors Government, AP English, Work study
Number of other EA applicants in your school: Ridin’ Solo…
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Nope…
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Honor roll, NHS membership. Not much here :(</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Bowling team - 3 years
BPA - 2 years (went to nationals for Fundamentals of Web Design competition)
NHS - 2 years
National Ski Patrol - 2 years
Hobbies - forever it seems
Job/Work Experience: Work for my dad part time. Do a bunch of stuff, organize files, do insurance, re-seal a skylight… lol it’s not too exciting.
Volunteer/Community Service: Do a little in NHS and BPA (~40hrs/yr), Ski Patrol (>200 hrs/yr), Church stuff
Summer Experience: Whaaaa? Build websites, sell some stuff online</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays: AAAAAH!
What You Do For Pleasure: Build stuff (7, its ok)
Department at MIT: Aeronautics. Not sure if I came across as too undecided about my major on this one.
Trait Most Proud Of: Determination (ehhh 6, not my best, it doesn’t sound like what I meant)
World You Come From: rural Idaho. Original, right? (I’d say 6. It has a good ending, but I talk a little about how my parents pushed me to go to college. I’ve decided that as well, but it might sound like I just applied for my parents sake. MIT, if you are reading this, I spent hours on my app, of my own free will :slight_smile: )
Significant Challenge: Ski patrol training (8, pretty decent I think)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: Wrote a bit about homeschooling and about mission trips
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: IDK, English teacher knows me fairly well and likes me, just not sure if it followed what MIT wants or was more generic
Teacher Recommendation #2: Same as English teacher. I don’t think any of my recs wrote much about what I do outside of school.
Counselor Rec: IDK
Additional Info/Rec: BPA advisor, should’ve been pretty good. Not sure if BPA was a worthy letter, but it gave off a better vibe about my ECs I feel
Interview: Ok! Could’ve been better had I known more about MIT at the time, or more about myself.
Art Supplement: N/A</p>

<p>Submitted Maker portfolio.</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/29/14 :smiley:
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Idaho
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ehhh you don’t need to know, random college people.
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): White, parents went to college, don’t play sports outside of bowling, kept up my GPA all 4 years. I’m hook-less, lol :D</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Dedicated, quirky
Weaknesses: Not a leader in EC’s (and didn’t use addt’l info section to explain, I just didn’t want the stress senior year… :frowning: ), could’ve done more.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Lack of leadership, sometimes iffy essays, not too compelling ECs, not a whole lot of hours put into ECs, took the Math 1 subject test when I’ve done pre-calc and really should’ve taken the Math 2 instead… not too sure, but it was likely more than 1 thing.
What would you have done differently?: Done a lot more leadership stuff, taken more opportunities. I’d stress a bit less too.
Where else did you apply? Purdue, UMich, UIUC, USC are the top on my list. </p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
Be yourself, get involved, be a leader! And don’t let MIT stress you out too bad. Or any school, for that matter.
[/noparse]</p>

27

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36E/36M/34R/36S)
ACT superscore (breakdown): Only took once
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 750 Bio E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97 (one B in Spanish)
Weighted GPA: 4.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5) English Lang (5) US History (4) World History (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Spanish 4, AP Statistics (I took multivariable calc sophomore year), AP Physics C
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 3
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Math: USAMO Honorable Mention (score of 28), Blue MOP, member of United States IMO Team Selection Test group. Debate: Qualified to NFL Nationals, also qualified to the TOC (both in Public Forum debate)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Semifinalist</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): math (9-12), debate (9-12), chess (9-12, cofounder and captain), tennis (9-12).
Job/Work Experience: Math Tutor for two years, will TA at the AwesomeMath Summer Program next summer.
Volunteer/Community Service: None
Summer Experience: Ross Mathematics Program (2012), AwesomeMath Summer Program (2013), MOP (2014) as well as traveling to England, Scotland, Italy, Russia, New York and Boston.</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Talked about reading epic fantasy, the word limit made it tough (6)
Department at MIT: Math, was extremely honest about why MIT has the strongest undergraduate class (9)
Trait Most Proud Of: Hard-Work/Persistence, was extremely honest (8)
World You Come From: I talked about going to the best Policy debate school in the country… and not doing Policy debate (5)
Significant Challenge: I discussed the long road to MOP (7)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: N/A
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details): Didn’t write</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: A math teacher and math team coach, I have no idea what he wrote (8)
Teacher Recommendation #2: My debate coach, no idea again (8)
Counselor Rec: I don’t really know him (5)
Additional Info/Rec: N/A
Interview: Went relatively well, we talked more about debate than math interestingly (7)
Art Supplement: N/A</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/15/14
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Illinois
School Type: Large Public
Ethnicity: White/Jewish
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: High enough so I won’t get fin aid.
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): My awards and the fact that I’m likely the only student ever to have represented the US in an international math competition (APMO) and qualified to both NFL Nats and the TOC.</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Awards, test scores
Weaknesses: Essays
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Awards
What would you have done differently?: Nothing
Where else did you apply? Caltech (deferred, go figure), Uchicago, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale CMU</p>

<p>**Other Factors: ** MIT accepts almost all MOPpers so luckily I was not an exception :)</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice: Do things you love, work hard, and show excellence.
[/noparse]</p>

28

<p>Deferred</p>

<p>Objective
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2300 750,760,790,11 (i think that’s what the essay was)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): MathII 780, Physics 720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.23
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): at least top 10%, probably 5%
AP (place score in parentheses):5 tests, 3-5s, 2- 4s,
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: CalcBC, APEnglish, APChem, APLatin, APGov’t,Symphonic Band, TA APPhysics
Number of other EA applicants in your school:?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):honor society, ap scholar w/ distinction, hs subject award, scholar athlete, a bunch of sports medals (swimming, cross-country), president service award- gold 250+ hours</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):4 years in an STEM lab
Job/Work Experience: I tutor local kids every summer for $
Volunteer/Community Service: I teach URM computer science and math
Summer Experience: I tutor and attend an a selective academic program every summer</p>

<p>[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ /b]</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: I spent some time and effort on these. Essays were reviewed by AP English teacher, attorneys and a UC reader. They said that they were strong. If they were bad/boring/deficient there’s nothing I can do about it. They were me.
Department at MIT:
Trait Most Proud Of: I’m entertaining
World You Come From: No significant problems
Significant Challenge: This was hard because I am lucky not to have any
Additional Essay/QB Essays: Discussed the outreach work I do with URM and girls
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: i assume strong
Teacher Recommendation #2: i assume strong
Counselor Rec: i assume strong
Additional Info/Rec: from the head of a major tech company, from head of a university program
Interview: fine
Art Supplement: Maker Portfolio</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/25
U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: no aid
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: everything (grades, stats) was in the zone to be worthy of applying. very strong EC, and volunteering. i’m also an athlete and musician, and work at a major research university
Weaknesses: none really, maybe that there are THOUSANDS of talented guys who want to be engineers and attend MIT? What else could I do? Fit more APs than the 10 I took? Raise my SAT 100 points to 2400? Incrementally increase the SATII scores? I’m already volunteering 250+ hours AND participating in sports AND band AND doing robotic competitions.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: <strong>see above</strong>
What would you have done differently?: nothing. i did the best that i could. no regrets
Where else did you apply? 7 University of CA schools, Harvey Mudd, Caltech and the Ivies </p>

<p>[ b]General Comments & Advice:[ /b] Participate in what you like to do, not to get you into college. Because if you don’t get in then you’ve wasted your time.
[/noparse]</p>

29

<p>**Decision: AdMITted!!! **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 33 (35 English, 29 Math, 34 Reading, 34 Science)
ACT superscore (breakdown): 34 (35/31/34/34)
SAT II (subject, score): Math II, 720//Chemistry, 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A (school does not do this)
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (school does not do this, thank goodness. this ranking business is ridiculous)
AP (place score in parentheses): N/A (school does not have AP classes, besides AP Calc)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, Physics: Harmonic Motion//Electricity, Conceptual Art Courses, US Constitution, US Cold War, Advanced Research in the Biological Sciences, Independent Research Project, etc. (my school has unconventional scheduling and classes)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: At least 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Only scholastic art awards.
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): School does not give out these awards.</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Editor-In-Chief of Literary Magazine, iGEM, Music (recording, independent artist, performing), Art (all kinds!!), Panel Discussion with the Dalai Lama, Board Member on my school’s Board of Trustees
Job/Work Experience: Babysitter, Phone-a-thon Caller for Fundraisers, Free-lance selling my art/music
Volunteer/Community Service: Women’s Shelters, Sustainable Farming
Summer Experience: Research Intern in Synthetic Biology Lab at Harvard Medical School, Traveling hehe, Music Camp, Research at Tufts</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Finding compositions and beauty in “ordinary” places.
Department at MIT: Biological engineering. Also talked about MIT culture of the love of making and making a difference, collaboration, creativity
Trait Most Proud Of: Ability to find and form connections among disparate worlds. About being able to see the underlying concepts, leading to a pleasure to connect both people and academic ideas.
World You Come From: Too personal to post here. But I really put a lot of love into this essay.
Significant Challenge: Told a story around an inability to create a work of art that I had a crisp mental image of. Wanted to give up but my community urged me to continue trying and believed in my vision. Talks a lot about combatting self-doubt and also about the difficulty of reification of idea (without stating those things bluntly, of course)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: </p>

<p>Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Biology teacher, ridiculously smart and articulate. Knows me well
Teacher Recommendation #2: History teacher. I love her so much and she has advocated for me consistently, is smart, quirky, thoughtful. Probably wrote passionately and convincingly.
Counselor Rec: He is a sweetheart. Knows me well
Additional Info/Rec: Supplemental Rec from PI of Harvard lab where I interned
Interview: Went very well. We had a really fun time talking about life, MIT, and our research.
Art Supplement: Spent a lot of time on my portfolio. I think it showed a lot of my ideas and personality.
Maker Portfolio: Submitted a few projects, including sculptural clothing made of food waste and a synthesizer I coded with MAX and arduino.
Research Supplement: Submitted a poster and other information about my research</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: November 1, the deadline.
U.S. State/Territory or Country: MA
School Type: Independent
Ethnicity: Mixed Race
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: N/A
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: I have a very strong personality and am extremely passionate about everything that I do. I spent a lot of time and care on the essays.
Weaknesses: I hate standardized tests. Don’t care for APs (restricted coursework)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: MIT clearly cares more about the work that I have done than whether or not I have perfect test scores or loads of APs. Thank you so much MIT!
What would you have done differently?: I can always improve, of course, but I am very very happy and worked for months on the application.
Where else did you apply? UC Berkeley, UCLA, UMichigan. Going to apply to Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, and Brown. (Need to have some illusion that it might be possible to leave MA?)</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
Do things because you really care about them.
Try not to become too involved in the test scores or whether you’ve checked all of the boxes.
I wish all of you the best possible journey and hope that you can put the college process and decisions into the larger context of your lives. I truly believe that whatever needs to happen for us all to grow as people, will happen. </p>

30

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 31 C (31 E, 34 M, 30 R, 30 S, 8 Essay)
ACT superscore (breakdown): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): Math Level 2 (800), Chemistry (770), Physics (780)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.91
Weighted GPA: N/A (school doesn’t weight)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (school hasn’t released rankings)
AP (place score in parentheses):
Sophmore Year: AP US History (3), AP Chemistry (5)
Junior Year: AP Physics C Mech. (5), AP Physics E&M (5)
Senior Year: AP Environmental Science, AP Psychology
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
College Dual Enrollment or Guest Student Classes:
Oakland Community College: Calculus 1 (A), Calculus 2 (A-)
Lawrence Technological University: Calculus 3 (A), Differential Equations (A), Modern [a.k.a. Abstract] Algebra (next semester), Organic Chemistry 1 (A-), Physical Chemistry 1 (A), Physical Chemistry 1 Lab (A), Physical Chemistry 2 (Currently Taking), Independent Study in Chemistry: Statistical Mechanics (Currently Taking, graduate level but univ. doesn’t offer graduate-level science so it ended up being IS), Contemporary Physics (Currently Taking), Intro to Nanotechnology (Currently Taking), Engineering Materials (A), Materials Lab (A), Statics (A), [Engineering] Thermodynamics (A-), Principles of Economics (A, my school doesn’t offer AP Econ)
At Oakland University through their Summer Math Program: Number Theory with Cryptology (3.8), Linear Algebra (3.5), Intro to Advanced Mathematical Thinking (Summer 2015), Linear and Integer Optimization (Summer 2015)</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load:
Health (A, >100% but teacher didn’t give A+)
Essay Writing (A+)
AP Psychology (1st tri: A+, 2nd: currently taking)
AP Environmental Science <a href=“2nd%20&%203rd%20tri,%20currently%20taking”>IS</a>
World History (2nd & 3rd tri, currently taking)
Novels (3rd tri)
Sociology (3rd tri, had Engineering & Inventions but it was dropped due to low enrollment)
Intro to Computer Science & Programming (3rd Tri)
Physical Chemistry 2, Contemporary Physics, IS in Statistical Mechanics, Intro to Nanotech, Modern Algebra</p>

<p>Number of other EA applicants in your school: Not Sure but probably about 7
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None but competed in Siemens this year, took F=ma exam last year, and will be taking F=ma exam again and take local Chemistry Olympiad exam
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, Honor Roll (High School), Dean’s Honor Roll (at Lawrence Tech. Univ.)</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): JV Soccer (10th), Robotics (11th and 12th), Boy Scouts (6th-12th plus 3rd to 5th of Cub Scouts, I’ve been Senior Patrol Leader which is top position in troop)
Job/Work Experience: worked very occasionally at my Dad’s Carpet Store, student assistant for Lawrence Tech’s Natural Science Labs for Fall 2013 and helped run their Extreme Science Saturday Program (Fall 2013-Present) and Forensic Science Summer Institute (2013, 2014), Art of Problem Solving Grader (happened a couple weeks after I submitted EA application)
Volunteer/Community Service: A decent amount but mostly through Boy Scouts
Summer Experience: Philmont Scout Ranch, Took Calculus 1&2, Oakland University Summer Math Institute 2014, Thermodynamics class </p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays: I think they were pretty good, the department, world, and pleasure ones probably were the best.
Interview: The interviewer was pretty bad at interviewing (even the 3 people who I’ve talked to about it agreed and they probably did well regardless) which made me uncomfortable so probably not all that good.</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Probably very good, from my AP Chemistry (and half of regular chemistry) teacher
Teacher Recommendation #2: Probably good, from my Psychology 1 teacher and Varsity Soccer Coach (he’s had some experience with me through soccer)
Counselor Rec: Probably very good, she thinks extremely well of me
Additional Info/Rec: From teacher of IS Statistical Mechanics, P. Chem 1 + Lab. He’s one of my mentors and has helped look over essays so I’m sure he wrote a good one. He’s taught at UPenn, Dartmouth, UChicago, etc.</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: October 31st (I think)
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Michigan
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 50k-60k or 80-90k is my dad (my parents are divorced) is included
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): None</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Extensive Dual Enrollment, Research (See in Other)
Weaknesses: ACT, lack of major awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Probably due to combination of ACT, not-so-good interview, and lack of major awards
What would you have done differently?: Prepared more for interview so I didn’t get caught off guard due to bad interviewer
Where else did you apply?:
Early: Lawrence Tech, Oakland University, Michigan Tech, MIT, Caltech
Regular: UPenn, Harvard, Northwestern, Brown, University of Michigan, Stanford</p>

<p>Other Factors:
Submitted Mathematical Biology Research paper
Submitted through Slideshare an abstract to Chemistry research project</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
Being deferred from both MIT and Caltech ruined my day yesterday. For everyone else who’s been deferred, don’t let it get to you (after giving yourself a day like I did yesterday). Use it as motivation to push on and earn the acceptance I’m sure most of you deserve. For those who got rejected, don’t give up, I’m sure you’ll find a college that’s right for you. Lastly for those who were admitted, good job!
[/noparse][/noparse]</p>

31

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Did not take
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown): 34 composite, 33 English, 34 Math, 32 Reading, 36 Science, 8 Writing
ACT superscore (breakdown): 34 Composite, 35 Math, everything else is same
SAT II (subject, score): 790 Math II, 750 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 23/441
AP (place score in parentheses): Calculus BC (4) AB Subsection (5), Biology (4) APUSH (3), Ind. Study Physics C: Mech (4), Eng lang (4), Euro (3), Stats (5).
IB (place score in parentheses): My school doesn’t offer
Senior Year Course Load: Dual Enrollment German 4, AP Computer Science, Research Paper, Wind Ensemble (Highest band in my school), AP Chem, Honors Phsyics, AP Macro, 1 trimester of Gym, Independent Study Psychology, UMTYMP Calculus 3 (Historically high acceptance rate into MIT, honors accelerated, proof based multivariable calc at University of Minnesota)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar With distinction, NHS, various academic awards from my school, letters in almost everything.</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:[ /b]
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Lacrosse (9-12) Captain, Science Olympiad (10-12) Captain, Marching Band (10-12) Section Leader, Math Team (10-12) No student leadership positions at my school, Quiz bowl (9) did not put, NHS (12).
Job/Work Experience: Subway junior year during the year, Local car wash during summer into senior year
Volunteer/Community Service: NHS, tutoring, helping out with eagle projects, lacrosse fundraisers
Summer Experience: IMA Math modeling camp, GAPP foreign exchange (German)</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Cubing, 8
Department at MIT: Quantum Engineering, 9
Trait Most Proud Of: Determination, 7
World You Come From: Charity around me, 7
Significant Challenge: Spent a night alone in Iceland, 8
Additional Essay/QB Essays: Explained why I couldn’t take AP Lit. And why I got a P in gym freshman year (Injured all trimester and still got credit)</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Probably really good. 4 year German teacher, went to Williams College
Teacher Recommendation #2: Probably incredible, oversaw independent study AP Physics, got into MIT
Counselor Rec: Probably pretty generic. Still good though
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: I felt it went pretty well
Maker’s Portfolio: I am helping design the new Fabrication Laboratory at my school after they got a huge grant</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: Oct. 31
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Minnesota
School Type: Public, will be magnet next year
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: The top one
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): letter of support from lacrosse coach.</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Courseload, maker portfolio, athletics
Weaknesses: Class rank maybe
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No major awards maybe,? I didn’t know about them and no one at my school has done any of those and I think one student ever has done any of the major awards. I’m not quite sure. Anyone with ideas let me know!
What would you have done differently?: Scheduled my interview earlier
Where else did you apply? University of Minnesota (Accepted) Colorado School of Mines (Accepted), UC Berkeley, Illinois Urbana Champaign</p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
Start early and work consistently
[/noparse]</p>

32

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):730/650/600
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1980
ACT (breakdown): Math:32/ Reading:31/ English:28/ Science:29
ACT superscore (breakdown): 30
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 740 Chemistry:720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.40
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1-3/410
AP (place score in parentheses): WH:4/ Psychology:5/ Calc AB: 5/ English Language: 5
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP English Literature, AP Macroecon, AP Physics, Journalism, 3D animation,Academic Decathlon
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar award, Overall Acdemic Excellence, Community Achievement Award</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Co-founded/ Co-president of International News Club, Co-founded/ Co-President of Computer Science Club, Vice President of UNICEF club, Football, Academic Decathlon, World-View writer for school newspaper.
Job/Work Experience: Cashier at small market, Courtesy Clerk at large retail store.
Volunteer/Community Service: Assisted senior Citizens, Library</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays: Quest Bridge Essays: About a club that I co-founded (8), Background with education (9)
Teacher Recommendations: Hoping they were good
Counselor Rec: Good
Interview: Humorous, very loose interview, just being myself</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: October 30th
U.S. State/Territory or Country: California
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
Gender:Male
Income Bracket Range: Low Income</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Essays, Activities, GPA
Weaknesses: SAT and ACT score (obviously), </p>

<p>General Comments & Advice: Don’t be afraid to apply because of any certain area that you don’t feel strong in. Focus on your strengths, and don’t let your weaknesses plague you. Scores aren’t the only thing that matter.</p>

33

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/760/800/10
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2360 single sitting
ACT (breakdown): na
ACT superscore (breakdown): na
SAT II (subject, score): 800 math II, 790 chem, 780 bio-e, 700 physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9ish
Weighted GPA: 4.448 / 5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8
AP (place score in parentheses): 5 on all: psych, comp sci a, calc bc, chem, bio, lang, stat, microecon
IB (place score in parentheses): na
Senior Year Course Load: ap us govt, ap lit, ap macroecon, ap physics mech, honors discrete math, honors anatomy, honors business practice firm, gym
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): lol
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): national ap scholar, ap scholar with distinction, honor roll, national merit semifinalist (finalist pending), national honor society, mu alpha theta math national honor society, FIRST Dean’s list semifinalist, National German Exam Gold Certificate (92nd percentile)</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): FRC robotics, 9-12, Committee Chairman of Programming & Electronics(10-12), successful school robotics team
Biology Student Scholars Club, 11-12, founding member, meet approx. monthly for biology related labs
NJ Regional Science Bowl, 11-12, member on team, part of the first team at my high school to compete
Boy scouts, 9, asst patrol leader, webmaster, it’s boy scouts lol
Drama club lighting crew, 11-12, none, participated in production of school play/musical and shows put on by clubs
Job/Work Experience: Data entry
Volunteer/Community Service: library summer reading program, library delivery driver to senior center
Summer Experience: online courses i.e. coursera and edx</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: programming. maybe 6. i had to cut it down and it sounds kind of choppy.
Department at MIT: chem-bio engineering, double major with comp sci, potential premed. low 8, I described my childhood love for experimenting and hands on learning
Trait Most Proud Of: curiosity, 7, parts of it sound a little contrived, but overall I think it was great
World You Come From: about how I was encouraged to learn and question everything and am lucky to live in a diverse area, about an 8
Significant Challenge: reprogramming team’s robot in a new language to prove that I could handle the job as committee chairman, 7, more of a narration than about “how i managed the situation”
Additional Essay/QB Essays: extra info: enumerated the online classes i have taken/am taking/will take (anatomy/physiology, german language and culture, functional programming, harvard intro to comp sci, etc) and a community college course (fund. of computer architecture)
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: ap comp sci teacher and robotics team coach, 10, he loves me and has written a number of different letters for me
Teacher Recommendation #2: ap lang teacher, 8.5, she loved me too, we had great conversations in that class that exposed a different side of me than the other recommendation. might not be as great ebcause she took a job at another school this summer and has been a little busy adjusting in and writing so many letters for other students
Counselor Rec: though wwe don;t talk often, she seems to know generally about me and what I do, and I gave her a brag sheet with all the relevant info on it.
Additional Info/Rec: na
Interview: it went alright, the interviewer was half an hour late and it was his first year doing it. he seemed to want to steer me away from a premed interest and boxed me into engineering only. claimed that MIT was looking for people who already know what they want and not people who lack clear focus.
Art Supplement: na</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: Oct 31
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Public, up and coming (sort of transitioning from fully low income black/latino to having higher income, competitive, indian kids)
Ethnicity: indian
Gender: male
Income Bracket Range: about $150K
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: strong robotics EC
Weaknesses: low number of overall/quality ECs
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: not enough spots. weak ECs. kinda weakish essays.
What would you have done differently?: better ECs throughout high school. more volunteering. more interest (I visited but not officially), I wish I had known about opportunities for experience and for major awards
Where else did you apply? UMich, purdue, case western, gatech, rutgers, UIUC, UMD</p>

34

<p>Decision: Deferred </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2390 - 800M, 800CR, 790W (took once)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2390
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (subject, score): 800s on math2/physics/chem, 790 lit, 780 bio, 760 us hist & spanish
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: not sure, as high as it can be in my school
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parentheses): 5s on Physics E&M, Physics Mech, Chem, Bio, Lit, US Hist, World Hist, Env. Sci, Spanish Lang, Calc AB/BC, and APCS.
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Spanish Lang, AP Euro, AP Stats, AP Lang, Organic Chem, Modern/Atomic Physics, Linear Algebra, CS Data Structures/Algorithms (online class)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: around 10
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 2x AIME, USAJMO and USAMO qualifier, USAPhO honorable mention 2x, 2x USACO silver, bunch of other math/cs competitions. Bunch of state level chess tournament wins,no science fair stuff though
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): NHS, Science NHS, athlete awards, music awards, the ap things</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:[ /b]
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Varsity & team captain for swimming/polo, somewhat recruited. One of the top chess players in the state, a lot of tournament play. President/founder of CS cub; a lot of cs teaching and competitions, president of Math Club, music performing, and volunteering/leadership stuff below
Job/Work Experience: 2 summers at a math camp
Volunteer/Community Service: 4 years leading and organizing stem cell donation drives, started an organization to teach children computer science for free, started an organization to teach/perform music for charity</p>

<p>Summer Experience: Internship at a CS startup, multiple college courses (CS/discrete math/psych), working as at a math summer camp</p>

<p>[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ /b]</p>

<p>Essays: I don’t want to rate them, but I spent a ton of time on them
What You Do For Pleasure: playing bullet chess
Department at MIT: 6-7, CS & Biology, talked about how MIT creates new science through combining bio & machine learning
Trait Most Proud Of: Tenacity, swimming
World You Come From: about stem cell drives, CS, and swimming, linked everything
Significant Challenge: having to change/give up my “calculus mindset” while teaching basic math to rowdy 10 year olds over the summer
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: good from CS teacher
Teacher Recommendation #2: amazing from english
Counselor Rec: our counselor doesn’t write recs bc big school
Additional Info/Rec: One from internship (pretty good), Another from swim coach (2+ pages, reallly heartfelt/personal)
Interview: really good</p>

<p>[ b]Other[ /b]
Date Submitted App: Oct 29
U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: male
Income Bracket Range: 200k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): USAMO? idk
I submitted a maker portfolio as well as linked 2 websites I designed, and the swim coach said he would advocate for me. </p>

<p>Reflection
I wasn’t too bummed after getting deferred, but I was getting sad as i wrote this :frowning:
Where else did you apply? Admitted to caltech, purdue, ut austin</p>

35

<p>[ size=4][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color][/size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:[ /b]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Nope
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Nope
ACT (breakdown): 35 (34E, 35R, 35M, 34S)
ACT superscore (breakdown): 35 (35, 35, 35, 35) 9W
SAT II (subject, score): M2 (760), Chem (660), USH (580…lol)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: Nope
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/34
AP (place score in parentheses): Don’t even have AP
IB (place score in parentheses): Definitely not
Senior Year Course Load: Instrumental Music, Intro to Business/Leadership and Management, <em>Parenting Decisions/Personal Finance/Home Maintenance (shop)</em>, Independent Study Calculus (Actually, all types of math I didn’t get the chance to learn, and then also Calc, and whatever I want to learn with my teacher, only person in school history to do this kind of thing, since I was the 1st to take Calc as a junior), <em>Critical Issues/Government</em>, Physics, <em>Career Prep Writing/Literature</em>…** means a required class for graduation…
Number of other EA applicants in your school: “What is MIT?” was the 75% answer of my entire class
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Lol
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): High Honor Roll (all As), tons of FBLA awards (including 5th place and 6th place nationally in two different competitions, and national champion in the Fall Stock Market Game), just some general ones.</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:[ /b]
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Cross Country (9-12, captain 10-12, two-time state medalist, all of the school records)
Track and Field (9-12, state medalist, two school records)
FBLA (9-12, Nebraska State Vice President, Mountain Plains Regional Executive Board Vice President’s Assistant, Three-time local officer)
Speech (9-12, several events, no significant achievements, just love it!)
Science Club (11-12)
Science Bowl (9-12)
Quiz Bowl (9-12)
Math Bowl (10-12)
Student Council (9-12)
Job/Work Experience: Detasseling (6 years and counting…), work for my dad (owns his business, builds and restores windmills), own a tutoring business
Volunteer/Community Service: Town Historical Society (museum), various community events, project I am working on through FBLA and town historical society
Summer Experience: I ran for national office (Mountain Plains Region Vice President) for FBLA (got runner up, meh), nothing big because I live in the sticks</p>

<p>[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ /b]</p>

<p>Essays: I thought they went really well, the trait one was probably most generic, though:
What You Do For Pleasure: Puzzles, brainteasers, just in general loving patterns and figuring things out
Department at MIT: I think I kind of muffed this one, but I want to go into Renewable energy and I talked about a program that I read about on the MIT site that I see nobody else talking about, so maybe it was a graduate program, lol
Trait Most Proud Of: Perseverance, or something of that nature
World You Come From: How I live in a town of 250 people
Significant Challenge: Running (XC and Track)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: Built upon something I had mentioned in another essay
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Chemistry and Physics teacher, I am sure it was great, she loves me, neighbors (well, the equivalent in the country)
Teacher Recommendation #2: English teacher, XC coach, probably pretty good as he is very well versed
Counselor Rec: Great, neighbors and family friends too
Additional Info/Rec: My FBLA adviser
Interview: AWESOME. It lasted 2.5 hours or so, and she wrote like 6 or 7 pages of large legal pad notes about all of what we talked about. We even talked about how her daughter uses the same textbook as I do in literature class, and I told her the Parson’s tale from the Canterbury Tales
Art Supplement: ha</p>

<p>[ b]Other[ /b]
Date Submitted App: 10/29 or so
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Nebraska
School Type: Tiny public (~30 per class)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 130,000?
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development):</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection[ /b]
Strengths: ACT score, took pride in my community even though most would discount a community so small, had some good ECs as far as general.
Weaknesses: No STEM ECs or exposure (for lack of a better word), Chemistry and USH test score on SATII (our history teacher teaches history in real time like no lie)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: See above
What would you have done differently?: Nothing really, I have had a pretty good ride with some great accomplishments, MIT can’t take that away.
Where else did you apply? Colorado School of Mines (accepted), Iowa State (accepted), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (accepted), will apply to a few more RD</p>

<p>[ b]Other Factors: [ /b]</p>

<p>[ b]General Comments & Advice: I am fine with being deferred, I wasn’t really expecting to be accepted. This just gives me more drive to prove myself! [ /b]
[/noparse]</p>

36

<p>SAT: 2300 (single-sitting)
SAT Subject: 770 MathII, 740 Chem, 700 Physics
AP Testing: 5s in Euro Hist., Calc AB, Lang, Human Geo, Macro Econ, Micro Econ, U.S. Hist, 4 in Physics B…3 in French LOL
I.B. testing: SL Econ 6, SL French 5…evidement, je suck at francaise
Junior Year Courseload: AP Lang, AP Calc, APPhysics B, AP US, I.B. SL Econ, I.B. S.L. French, I.B. SL Theory of Knowledge…all weighted
GPA: 3.98ish (B in calc first semester)
Senior Year Courseload: HL Chem, AP Chem, SL Math (not interesting at all after calc…prolly why I have a B), Ceramics , HL Hist of Americas, HL English</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (what I put)
Basketball 4 yrs, 12hrs/wk…captain/MVP/Defensive Player of the Year/Emp League Scholar-Athlete, 2 Varsity Letters
Lacrosse 3 yrs, 12hrs/wk, captain/Offensive Player of the Year, Emp League Scholar-Athlete, 3 Varsity Letters
Secretary of Advisory Board at Library 3hrs/wk, yr around (I explained this more)
FIRST Robotics, this yr only…cool stuff…elaborated on this too
Writing Club: published short story
Speech and Debate: Founder/Pres…</p>

<p>Summer Activites:
Caltech STEM/Hoops…getting recruited
CAD
Research in Econ
TAB
Building
Writing novel</p>

<p>Essays:
Pleasure: Writing…I love writing! 9/10
World You Come From: idk forgot 8/10
Sig Challenge: sports 5/10
Personal Trait: spiritedness, though you probably can’t tell rn…SUPER tired
Major: Mech E</p>

<p>Gender: F
Ethnicity: Asian/Indian
Income Bracket: middle middle-class lol</p>

37

<p>[ size=4][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color][/size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:[ /b]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t Send
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t Send
ACT (breakdown): 34 One sitting
ACT superscore (breakdown): 35E 35M 31R 36S 10 Essay
SAT II (subject, score): Math II 800 Chem 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.70
Weighted GPA: 5.26 out of 6.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 10/371
AP (place score in parentheses): 5 (Calc AB, US History, US Government) 4 (Chemistry, English Language)
IB (place score in parentheses): None
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Computer Science, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Biology Lecture, AP Biology Lab, AP English Literature, AP European History, AP Physics C E&M (self-study), Honors Economics, Health 11/12 (Graduation Requirement)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: Just me
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Numerous Lacrosse and Football Academic Accolades
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Principal’s List a lot of times, Honor Roll all four years, numerous Academic-Athletic awards</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:[ /b]
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Varsity Football, Varsity Lacrosse, President of National Honor Society, Run Stick Club which seeks to integrate young children in need with lacrosse. Only listing five since MIT only wants 5.
Job/Work Experience: Bussed Tables, Researched at Johns Hopkins
Volunteer/Community Service: National Honor Society leads community service within the community.
Summer Experience: Lacrosse, Football, Research, see above</p>

<p>[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ /b]</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: Fantasy Football, 8, felt that this was very unique and showed a lot about myself. Wrote about my fantasy football draft with my friends.
Department at MIT: Bioengineering, 8, felt that it was near impossible not to be cliche on this essay so had some trouble. By the end I got my idea down and it came out well and showed why I wanted to do bioengineering
Trait Most Proud Of: Ability to think very quickly, 10, Wrote about an interaction with a corporate researcher while I was presenting my work.
World You Come From: My Biology lab group, 10+, Easily the best essay I’ve ever written. Wrote about my friends and I in biology class when we have to do group work.
Significant Challenge: Varsity Football, 7, Wrote about not being able to play my senior year because of injury but I still got to tutor and Coach the team.
Additional Essay/QB Essays:None
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: NHS advisor, AP Euro teacher, loves me, read the letter, thought it was amazing. 9
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Chem teacher, loves me, read the letter, thought it was amazing. 9
Counselor Rec: Ehh I don’t know how this one went, I talked to her beforehand so I hope it came out well. 7
Additional Info/Rec: AP Government teacher, loves me, read the letter, thought it was amazing. 9
Interview: Went really well in my opinion, lasted longer than was intended. Had a lot to talk about. Hope he liked me. 7
Art Supplement: Research Supplement. Came out ok. Definitely my application regret. 5</p>

<p>[ b]Other[ /b]
Date Submitted App: October 31st
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Maryland
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ~80k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Recruited athlete for lacrosse.</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection[ /b]
Strengths: Lacrosse, Uniqueness in terms of MIT applicant pool, Essays
Weaknesses: GPA
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Most athletes get deferred and then admitted in RA because the EA pool is so small.
What would you have done differently?: Research supplement, tried a lot harder freshman year.
Where else did you apply? Princeton, Stanford, Penn, Hopkins all RA. Michigan, Georgia Tech and College Park all EA.</p>

<p>[ b]Other Factors: [ /b]</p>

<p>[ b]General Comments & Advice:[ /b]
Be as unique as you can. Really show them who you are. Find something you like and stick with it and become absurdly passionate about it. Have fun and don’t worry about what happens, everything happens for a reason. Good luck to whoever is reading this!
[/noparse]</p>

38

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): M: 760 CR: 740, Writing: 740
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 2240
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 800 Chemistry: 730
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parentheses): World History(5), Chem(4), Euro(4), Chinese(5), Calc BC(5), AB subscore (5), Physics C:EM(4), Physics C: M(4), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): HL English, HL Music
Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, AP Spanish Lang, AP Stats, AP CS, IBHL music, IBHL Eng
Number of other EA applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar (x2), honor roll, NHS, AMC</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): robotics team(won various competitions/awards), individual robotics projects, math team captain (4 year), pianist (12 year)
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service: tutor younger students, fundraisers for local hospitals and orphanages
Summer Experience: siemens internship, long-d biking/running, cs courses, robotics</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: piano, composing
Department at MIT: 6, 18
Trait Most Proud Of: diligence, persistence
World You Come From:traditional farming community, doctor parents, family split up for me to pursue better education
Significant Challenge: time management, living conditions
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: math, helped me bc i skipped 2 years (math only) ahead
Teacher Recommendation #2: eng, taught me 3 years
Counselor Rec: didn’t see, pretty close with counselor
Additional Info/Rec: music, taught me 4 years
Interview: talked until shop closed, had a great time, he said he was impressed 10
Art Supplement: music</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/28
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type: private
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: female
Income Bracket Range: middle-low
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: essays, interview, activities
Weaknesses: no major awards, abysmally low gpa, sat and ap scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: low scores
What would you have done differently?: study harder, submit research paper
Where else did you apply? cmu, columbia, gatech, nyu, uc’s</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
work hard
[/noparse]</p>

39

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Did not take/submit
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Did not take/submit
ACT (breakdown): 33 C, 35 M, 35 E, 27 R, 33 S, 9 W
ACT superscore (breakdown): 33 C, 36 M, 35 E, 27 R, 33 S, 10 W
SAT II (subject, score): Physics 790, Math II 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.075
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/316
AP (place score in parentheses): Calculus BC (5), Microeconomics (4), AP US Government (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 2, AP Biology, AP Statistics, AP English Lit, AP Spanish Lang, various music electives
Number of other EA applicants in your school: None, as far as I know!
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, High Honor Roll, National Honor Society</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): </p>

<p>Madrigal Singers (most advanced music ensemble in school), President
Percussion Ensemble, President
Marching Band, Section Leader of Percussion
WYSE Team (competitive testing in STEM subjects)
Math Team
Kolla Voce (All-male choral group)
Music Stage Productions</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Private Piano Teacher (Established my own business freshman year), Private Math Tutor
Volunteer/Community Service: Music Therapy at the local hospital (play piano for stressed families in a surgery waiting room), Volunteer math and science tutor at local library
Summer Experience:</p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: My various musical interests (7)
Department at MIT: Mechanical engineering, specific research projects that I am interested in (8)
Trait Most Proud Of: Independence (9)
World You Come From: Freedom to pursue interests, the shift from music to STEM (9)
Significant Challenge: Integrity problem that arose in my Calculus class last year (10)
Additional Essay/QB Essays:
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: Calculus teacher, reinforced the situation I wrote about in my essay (8)
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP English Lit teacher (10)
Counselor Rec: I have gotten to know her really well over the years, and she realizes the goals I have as a student (7)
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Yes (went fairly well, I kept in contact with my interviewer even after I had the interview)
Art Supplement: Submitted two music supplements, one for piano and one for tenor voice; I didn’t read the rec letter from my choral director, but he has written a letter for me before and it was fantastic. My band director’s letter was average.</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/26 (unsure, I’d have to go back and look)
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Illinois, US
School Type: Average, public school
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: About $90,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): First generation</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Essays and recommendation letters, senior course load
Weaknesses: My ACT composite was on the lower end, and my reading score was very low, slight lack of STEM activities (no research background, etc.)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My music supplement must have been a hook for the music department, because I don’t see anything else in my application that would have stuck out much over other applicants
What would you have done differently?: Nothing!
Where else did you apply? Caltech, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, CWRU, various other smaller schools, and will apply to CMU</p>

<p>**Other Factors: **</p>

<p>None really, I continue to believe that my music supplement was the greatest factor. In addition to the supplement, I also sent a very detailed emailed to the music department explaining my passion and my intent to continue music at MIT. They said that they would forward the email to admissions.</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:</p>

<p>All I can say is, WOW!! I was mentally preparing for the worst, and I still can’t believe that I got accepted. The best advice I can give is to follow your passions; even if it isn’t STEM-related, MIT wants to hear about it. They consider the person, not just the numbers. </p>

<p>[/noparse]</p>

40

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I: 2400 (800/800/800/10)
ACT: none
SAT II: biology (800), math II (800), physics (800)
Weighted GPA: 4.38?
Rank: not officially reported, but probably top 3
AP: Physics C Mechanics, Physics C E&M, Calculus BC, Computer Science A, Biology, English Language & Composition, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics (all 5)
IB: none
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature & Composition, AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP Psychology; Honors Chinese (not an AP course because that’s too easy given where I live); art appreciation (which I just discovered I forgot to write on my app). No math courses, which is explained in the additional info.</p>

<p>Number of other EA applicants in your school: 3
Major Awards (the ones that I had room to list): IMO 2012 gold, APMO 2014 silver, IOI 2014 gold, first-place team at a national programming competition, 4th place team at regional 2014 World Scholar’s Cup. (Under “non-scholastic” because I don’t know,) 2014 Internet Problem Solving Contest, 1st HS team.
(Didn’t choose to make room for this, but IMO 2011 silver is alluded to in an essay.)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
School clubs: a cappella, debate team, Global Issues Network.
School newsletter translator.
Wrote three puzzles and maybe 1000 lines of code on the 2014 MIT Mystery Hunt winning team preparing for next year (I’m practically a Randomite already)</p>

<p>No leadership positions of any kind whatsoever, though.</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Presented a 3-hour lesson introducing algorithms and programming competitions to a class of 15 at a weekend interdisciplinary class.
Volunteer/Community service:
Graded solutions at a 2012 elementary and middle-school math competition.
(School newsletter translating, mentioned above. Taught a 3-hour combinatorics class at olympiad math enrichment camp, although I didn’t have room for this so I just mentioned the name as a summer activity. Also, does Global Issues Network fundraising count?)
Summer Activities: Tournament of Towns Summer Conference, International olympiads already mentioned, the solution-grading, oly-math-camp teaching, trips to Japan and Penghu.</p>

<p>**Writing:<a href=“I%20don’t%20know%20how%20to%20rate%20them.%20They%20are%20just%20pretty%20honest%20and%20mundanely%20written,%20except%20for%20perhaps%20the%20World%20essay,%20which%20I%20hope%20is%20a%20bit%20deeper.”>/b</a></p>

<p>What You Do For Pleasure: singing (emotions, nerdy songs, list songs as inspired by a MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle and the stereotype analyzed in my World essay)
Department at MIT: course 18/18C, or math, “a borderline religious experience”
Trait Most Proud Of: resilience, with mention of 2014 IOI selection process, hospital life, and me accidentally throwing away an expensive water heater.
World You Come From: my personal educational world, which nurtured my interests, versus the wider educational world, which focused on “tests and memorizaton and cramming”, from which I conclude I dream of bringing about a world where everybody can self-actualize
Significant Challenge: dealing with leukemia in high school, which, in particular (and very conveniently, for narrative purposes), overlapped with IMO 2011 (silver).</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation #1: university math professor, probably good
Teacher Recommendation #2: 11th grade English teacher, probably good
Counselor Rec: pretty good, I suppose
Additional Info/Rec: all about completing high-school math courses, through calculus, on an accelerated schedule in elementary school, and dabbling with university mathematics later, auditing some courses at first but then pausing for the whole leukemia thing and then finding a university math professor for monthly meetings (the one who wrote my rec).
Interview: pretty cool, although I said a lot of silly things like how I hated chemistry and may have come off as faintly overly concerned with the food</p>

<p>Other
Date Submitted App: 10/28 part 1, 10/30 part 2
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Taiwan
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: male
Income Bracket Range: really, really low, trust me
Hooks: [insert Young tableaux pun here]</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: medals, life story, grades, test scores, well-roundedness, excessive Mystery Hunt involvement
Weaknesses: zero leadership, slightly underwhelming volunteering
Why you think you were accepted: I suppose the olympiad medals are the most obvious grab
What would you have done differently?: exercise more
Where else did you apply?: Caltech for now</p>

<p>General Comments & Advice:
I can’t think of anything to say that doesn’t sound hypocritical or unempathetic; I’m sorry.</p>