MIT Class of 2019 RD Results Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

With MIT results around the corner, now is the perfect time to start this thread. To those of you who get in, congratulations! To those unfortunately denied, as tough as it may be, life moves on, and I only wish that this will be the worst thing that happens in life and it’s only uphill from here. No matter what results you get, however, please share them below in the following format.

Pick one:
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size]**

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays:
Teacher Recommendation:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Short Answer Questions:
Interview:

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection:

Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Notes:
Make sure to remove the ‘a’ after the brackets in the bold, size and color in your decision.
Please use this thread only for results. All discussion should be made either via pm or on the discussion thread.

2

UNBELIEVABLY POOR TIMING outage at our server farm

working on it

3

Just a reminder, this is a no-chat thread, and all non-decision posts will be deleted. (I used to be able to move them to the chat thread, but in the new CC system I don’t think I have that power. Sorry.)

Unless you’re Petey, in which case I’ll let this one slide.

4

**Decision: Rejected/b
Objective:

SAT I (breakdown):2200 (730 R, 670 M, 800 W)
ACT (breakdown):34 (34 E, 34 M, 34 R, 35 S, 11 Essay)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 710 Bio-E, 760 US
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Biology (5), AP European History (5), AP U.S. History (5), AP Human Geography (5), AP English Language (5), AP Macroeconomics (4, Self Study), AP Microeconomics (4, Self Study), AP Environmental Science (4, Self Study)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish, AP English Literature, AP Chemistry, Ceramics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Questbridge College Prep. Scholar, Questbridge National College Match Finalist, National Merit Commended, National AP Scholar, Gates Millenium Scholarship Finalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Speech & Debate (10-12), Key Club (11-12), Quiz Bowl (11-12), Science Olympiad (11-12), Liberty in North Korea Club (11-12, President), Columnist for a Science website (11-12)
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at local library and Key Club events (80 hours)
Summer Activities: Boy’s State California 2014, Publishing articles about science for a website
Essays: Questbridge Biographical (9), Questbridge 2nd Essay (7)
Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t read, probably great (9?)
Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, probably great
Additional Rec: N/A
Short Answer Questions: N/A
Interview: Went pretty well as far as I could tell, but interviews don’t usually play a huge role in decisions.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large Public
Ethnicity: Korean
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $30,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Personal life circumstances/unexpected events?

Reflection:

Strengths: Scores?
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Questbridge?
Weaknesses: No significant accomplishments in fields of math/science
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: There are only so many spots, congrats to those accepted!
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: UC Irvine (Regent’s), UCSD (Regent’s), UCLA (Likely)

5

Decision: Waitlist

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 660 CR, 800 M, 640 W
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 750 M2, 710 BioE
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): calcBC (5), senior year: bio, eng, ush (only aps offered)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: most rigourous
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nope

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): varsity swim, tennis (capn)
Job/Work Experience: minimal (tutoring)
Volunteer/Community service: minimal
Summer Activities: nothing notewarothy, tutoring a bit
Essays: decent i beleive, wrote them honestly, probably the only thing that dindt get me outright rejected
Teacher Recommendation: decent, not too spectacular
Counselor Rec: decent i assume
Additional Rec: nope
Short Answer Questions: decent
Interview: the interviewer seemed more interested in numbers, seemed like a real qucik-fire interview, i wasnt too pleased with myself

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yep
Intended Major: econ
State (if domestic applicant): ny
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: new, small public
Ethnicity: south e asian
Gender: m
Income Bracket: 70kish
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): orm i think

Reflection:

Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses: cr sat score, i actually didnt study for the sats at all, i ddint know people took it so seriously
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: accepted to all publics, still waiting on a couple
Notes: I think i couldve done much, much more, and shouldve started the app process earlier and researched more. I only have myself to blame. But its ok, the statistics were daunting no matter what my credentials were.
Im going to stay on the waitlist for now… but Im definitely not going to enjoy the wait till mid-may… oh well… perhaps one of my other top choices will take me.

Make sure to remove the ‘a’ after the brackets in the bold, size and color in your decision.
Please use this thread only for results. All discussion should be made either via pm or on the discussion thread.

6

Writing about my son what I know:

Rejected

Objective:

SAT I 2260 (breakdown):
ACT 35 (breakdown):
SAT II: Physics 800, Math 800
Unweighted GPA: 3.87
Rank (top 20%, school does not rank, top 3 national public STEM schools):
AP (15 or 14 APs, 9 5s and 4s, 5 more taking this year):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: several dual enrollment classes with local university, all APs or gifted
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of a regional chapter of international non-profit, Founding officer of his TSA chapter in his school, active in many clubs, got $12000 for a start up with his 2 friends in a local Launch Pad competition, hackathons
Job/Work Experience: internship with NCR junior year, school award for his NCR project, internships with IT start ups
Volunteer/Community service: tutors math for a local non-profit, internationl/peace non-profit vounteer and leader,
Summer Activities: Samsung App Program, State Honors Summer Residential program in Math
Essays: NA
Teacher Recommendation:NA
Counselor Rec:NA
Additional Rec:NA
Short Answer Questions:
Interview: went well in son’s opinion

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major: CS, Math
State (if domestic applicant): GA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity: Cauc
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection:

Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

7

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 800 math,760 cr, 800 writing
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 math II, 790 physics, 790 US History
Unweighted GPA: transcript only shows weighted (104.37 at time of submission I think) approximately 98 or 99 unweighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank but salutatotorian out of 300
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History, US History, Bio, English Language and Composition, Russian (all 5s)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Macro, AP Chem
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Ballroom Dance national title

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Ballroom Dance, Humans of (my school) (founder), Student Organization (Senior Vice-President), Junior Statesmen of America (Northeast State Director of Public Relations, Chapter Board), Jewish Club (President), Debate Team (VP), Business Club (VP), Math Team, Swimming Team
Job/Work Experience: Tutor
Volunteer/Community service: Every Sunday at the local Russian Jewish Community Center teaching kids elementary Hebrew
Summer Activities: Camp Rising Sun (international leadership program) 2012
Internship at KKWC law firm 2013
Internship at Borough Hall 2014
Congressional Campaign 2014
Essays: ranging from 6/10 to 8/10
nine were horrible but none were amazing
Teacher Recommendation: haven’t seen them, but I know them well and am pretty sure they wrote good ones 9/10
Counselor Rec: Don’t really know her and expect she just used my resume for it. 7/10
Additional Rec: N/A
Short Answer Questions: same as essays
Interview: 10/10 my first one. Went really well and I really enjoyed it. Interviewer told me he fully expected me to get in and he would ask MIT to give me a generous financial package. So much for that lol

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: double between electrical engineering and business
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: large, but selective, public school
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: 100k-150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection:

Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: high grades, high test scores, initiative in a variety of extracurriculars, ballroom dance as a unique actovoty
Weaknesses: essays weren’t that great in my opinion, and applied for an engineering degree without getting too involved in STEM while in high school
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: there were better applicants
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: accepted to University of Rochester and SUNY Stony Brook Honors College
Notes: oh well, looking forward to the end of march and the rest of the decisions now

8

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 800 c/ 800 m/ 790 w
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 math 2, 800 physics, 770 bio m, 750 US
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): physics B, Calc BC, Stat, World History, US, Comp sci, Enviro Sci -5s; lang-4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: multivariable, differential eq, ap gov, ap lit, ap comp gov, ap physc c, spanish
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USAMTS Bronze, AIME x2, National AP scholar, US Pres scholar Candidate

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Piano (MTNA state winner, International Young Artist Finalist and 4th Place), Performed at the US State Department for an Arts Festival (woo hoo), math club (VP), comp sci - flash programming (Sec), intramural basketball (captain lol), quizbowl, swimming
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: summer camp (120 hrs)
Summer Activities: college courses, volunteering
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 7/10 on all of them
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Math solid
Teacher Rec #2: History solid
Counselor Rec: solid
Additional Rec:n/a
Interview: none

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: math
State (if domestic applicant): pa
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: asian :frowning:
Gender: XY
Income Bracket: >100000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection

Strengths: test scores/awards?
Weaknesses: idk, not special enough
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: affirmative action, crappy essays
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accept Georgia Tech, waitlist Caltech

General Comments: too competitive/ affirmative action

9

Hope this helps future CC’ers.

Decision: Rejected

ACT 33
SAT subject test - math2 800 phy 800
AP - 5’s in 2 subjects
Class rank 2 in 186
Predicted external exam year 12 97.5%
Year 10 external exam 96%
Essays and supplements solid
9-12 grades almost all subjects have straight A’s
International Male Student
My ec’s are-
Programming in 3 languages outside school curriculum
Web designing
Internship at Tata associates
Community Service Volunteer at two associations tons of service hours
Ethical Hacking
TIE Young Entrepreneurs program really changed my mindset centred many essays around this
B.R.A.T.S. Robotics course
Chief Secretary of Computer club headed an event that crossed international borders
Technical Head of Literarture club
Public speaking- master of ceremonies in many events
Guitar course
Times of India merit awards
Olympiads and intra school events
Awards for academic excellence

I am from India AP is not offered in my school I just took the exams by reading books without the help of any teacher.

Grades-
English-ICSE NH 96
Mathematics-ICSE NH 100
Social Science-ICSE NH 94
Science-ICSE NH 98
Hindi-ICSE NH 95
Computer Applications-ICSE NH 100

Grade 10-
Social Science ICSE NH 94
English ICSE NH 92
Mathematics ICSE NH 98
Science ICSE NH 94
Computer Applications ICSE NH 98
Hindi NH 92

Grade 11-
Mathematics- ISC NH 98
English- ISC NH 96
Physics-ISC NH 98
Chemistry-ISC NH 95
Computer Science-ISC NH 100

Grade 12 (predicted by school)
English 90
Physics 97
Chemistry 95
Mathematics 98
Computer Science 100

10

On behalf of my son

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): W:800 M:770 R: 800 (first and only attempt)
ACT (breakdown): 36 across the board (first and only attempt)
SAT II: Math II: 800 Chemistry: 770
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/81
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 in AP Chem (without having taken an AP class – few APs offered)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Honors, a few AP, heavy on science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF, US Dept of Education Presidential Scholar Candidate, Gold Medal National Latin Exam

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Scholar Bowl (co captain), Math team (captain), NETwork Against Malaria (co-president), student council, science club
Job/Work Experience: Mathnasium
Volunteer/Community service: Hospital volunteer, after school tutor
Summer Activities: work, scholar bowl camp, small amount of research
Essays:9’10
Teacher Recommendation: 10/10
Counselor Rec: 9/10
Additional Rec:
Short Answer Questions: ?
Interview: He thought it went well

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: neuroscience
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: small, Catholic
Ethnicity: W
Gender: M
Income Bracket: upper? middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): published a novel?

Reflection: Disappointed for my son, but knew it was very likely since he was deferred from EA. Not sure what else to say. That is life and he has other great options. He has a full scholarship to Vanderbilt, a potential full scholarship to USC and admitted EA to U Chicago with very promising FA and (I think) in the running for scholarships. Good luck to all wherever you go.

Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses: Not conducting brain surgery or splitting atoms?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Not enough to stand out, I guess
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Notes:
Make sure to remove the ‘a’ after the brackets in the bold, size and color in your decision.
Please use this thread only for results. All discussion should be made either via pm or on the discussion thread.

11

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 530 CR 690M 580 WR
ACT (breakdown):N/A
SAT II: 750 M2 710 CHEM
Unweighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): TOP 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis):N[/A
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Really rigorous
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nope

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): [Leadership] Student Govt.
Job/Work Experience: Ambassador for World Scholar’s Cup
Volunteer/Community service: Yeah at Mama Childrens’ Home in Kisumu, Kenya
Summer Activities: Global Scholar’s Program at ALA
Essays: Ranging from 6-9 out of 10
Teacher Recommendation: I haven’t seen them, but I know them well and am pretty sure they wrote good ones 9/10
Counselor Rec:I presume he gave me something higher than an 8 out of 10
Additional Rec:N/A
Short Answer Questions:
Interview: It was okay I guess.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: Computer Sci
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Kenya
School Type: Large public boys’ school
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $30000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection:

Strengths: GPA and extracurricular activities
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses: SAT
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Better applicants
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Trinity ALA
Notes:

12

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I: 2400
GPA: 4.0/4.0 unweighted, 6.0/6.0 weighted
rank: 1/404
SAT II: Math II and Physics: 800
AP’s: Lang and Comp, Microecon, Physics, and Calc AB: 5; Bio and Macroecon: 4
Senior classes: Engineering, AP Literature and Composition, AP Chemistry, World Cultures, AP Statistics, AP Latin IV, AP Calculus BC
Awards and acheivements: NJ GSET 2014, AP scholar whatever, National Merit Finalist, US Presidential Scholar Candidate, National Latin Exam silver/gold/gold, Math league high scorer 10th and 12th grade, most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse (school superlative), solved 102 Project Euler problems, creating a programming language (although that has not gotten far yet).
Clubs and activities: Math league (high scorer 10th and 12th grade, president 12th grade), Latin club, NHS, Robotics club (software lead and team won chairman’s this year), Karate for 8 years (black belt), Origami for 10 years (designed over 100 models and taught at national convention), self taught programming in six languages
Work experience: none

Subjective:
Volunteering: mostly at the library
Essays: I can’t rate these
Recommendations: I can’t rate these
Interview: I think it went well.

Other:
Intended major: computer science
State: NJ
School type: public
Demographic: white male (oooh I see now)
Income bracket: 100000
Hooks: origami?

Reflection:
Strengths: academics are perfect, origami
Weaknesses: white? male?
Why do you think you were rejected?: probably by mistake / didn’t cure cancer

Comments:
I seriously have no idea how I could have even improved.

13

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1840 Super Score (don’t remember break down)
ACT (breakdown): 29 ENG 34 MATH 32 READING 32 SCIENCE
SAT II: 780 MATH II, 640 PHYSICS
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 12 (Top 5%)
AP (place score in parenthesis):World History (3) Stats (4) Spanish (5), Calc BC, Physics I, Environmental Science
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics I, AP Environmental Science, GOV/ECON, Brit Lit, Entrepreneurship
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Junior Marshal, Georgia Certificate of Merit

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Tennis (Strong EC) team captain, International player
Job/Work Experience: Stein Mart
Volunteer/Community service: Lots through Beta Club, NHS, NSHS, NHES, NHTS
Summer Activities: Trained for Tennis in Mexico
Essays: Good, not sure if great, but definitely good
Teacher Recommendation: Physics (Strong) English (Strong)
Counselor Rec: Excellent
Additional Rec: N/A
Short Answer Questions: Good
Interview: EXCELLENT (I AM CONVINCED THIS IS WHAT GOT ME ACCEPTED)

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: YES
Intended Major: Undecided Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): GA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Medium Public School (great school)
Ethnicity: Mexican
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Lived in Mexico for 10 years, Multicultural

Reflection:

Strengths: Diversity, Grades, Interview, Social Skills
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: My cultural background
Weaknesses: Scores :confused: Yikes!
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: INTERVIEW, ESSAYS, DIVERSITY
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: ACCEPTED: Georgia Tech, UGA REJECTED: Caltech, UT Austin

14

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2220
ACT (breakdown): 32
SAT II: Math II 800 Physics 800
Unweighted GPA: 98.something
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/569
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography-4, Euro History -4, Physics B-5, Calculus AB-5, English Comp-5
IB (place score in parenthesis): Spanish SL-6
Senior Year Course Load: IB Math SL (only course offered), IB Computer Science SL/AP Computer Science, IB Physics HL/AP Physics C, IB HOA HL, Ib English HL, AP Calculus AB, AP Economics

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Texas All-State Trombone for two years, ‘tenure’ in the American Southwest Honor Band, National Merit Commended, 2nd place in Southwest STEM Challenge, AP Scholar with distinction(is this really a major award???)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Band/Symphony Orchestra, self teaching math, High-Q, UIL Math/Science, Physics Club, Student Lecture club, NHS, Robotics Club, Spanish Club
Job/Work Experience: Self Employed (lawn care, model engine cleaning services)
Volunteer/Community service: 6 years at a local food pantry, member of a local children’s museum board, CAS
Summer Activities: studying math, practicing trombone
Essays: decent, not the best, but not terrible
Teacher Recommendation: should have been pretty good
Counselor Rec: great from what i understand
Additional Rec: should also have been pretty good
Short Answer Questions: Can’t, or don’t want to remember
Interview: I thought it went alright

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mathematics (and maybe music)
State (if domestic applicant): TX
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: White/Korean
Gender: male
Income Bracket: 180000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): texas all-state trombonist??

Reflection:

Strengths:
very passionate about math, have self taught material from a junior and senior level (university)
decent test scores, but definitely could have been better
shown dedication/work ethic in band/orch
good grades

Weaknesses:

essay quality… i can’t say for sure that they were insufficient, but i can’t exactly recall anything memorable from them either
my ethnicity probably isn’t helping, but that aside, its just seems to be a crap shoot…

Notes: Its only a couple weeks to Stanford, Princeton, UCLA, and Berkeley now, but if any of those don’t work out I’ve still got UT Austin Honors to fall back on

15

Decision: Rejected

Since I don’t get in anyway, allow me to let out some of the small details.

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1950
ACT (breakdown): 31 (single setting), 32 (superscore)
SAT II: Physics 780, Math II 780
Unweighted GPA: 3.7 or 3.8 something
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): in the 25%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics C Mech (5), Physics C E&M (5), Chem (4) (I self-studied both of the Phy C)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): QuestBridge Finalist, AP Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): None
Job/Work Experience: Work as somewhat a semi-manager or manager’s assistant in a restaurant for 3.5~4 year
Volunteer/Community service: None
Summer Activities: Work

Essays: (QuestBridge) 5/10 do it kind of in the last minute back then when applying to QuestBridge, I then submitted a revised version of the essay to MIT as a supplement, but I guess MIT don’t like this idea very much.

Teacher Recommendation: one from my chemistry/physics teacher, who know me extremely well (10/10); the other from my AP chemistry teacher, but I doubt what he can put in the letter… (7/10)
Counselor Rec: (6/10) I don’t do anything particularly impressive in school, I wonder if he really know anything about me

Additional Rec: (?/10) I send in an additional one from my ESL teacher, but I doubt if it really add anything to my profile (I have read the rec myself)

Short Answer Questions: 8/10 I guess I did better on short answers than the essay

Interview: 3/10 My first college interview (and perhaps the last), the interviewer is very nice but I just blow up the whole thing no matter what…

Other: I mentioned I self-studied quite some physics just for my own interests, and I basically finished all the freshman courses I needed, and about half of the sophomore courses, and I am working on QM

Applied for Financial Aid?: yeah yeah
Intended Major: Course 8 – Physics
State (if domestic applicant): LA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation immigrant, first generation college

Reflection:

Strengths:

What you tried to focus on in your application -

Weaknesses: Basically everything. Thinking back about my application now, I think it would be better if I just trash my QuestBridge application and start all over to apply for MIT, since I am not doing the College Match thing anyway and my QB app look so bad.

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: some of the state schools, and anywhere else I don’t know yet

Notes: Special thanks to the QuestBridge program for making me wanted to try regardless of how weak I am as an applicant. And congratulation to everyone who got in.

16

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2350 (R: 790, M: 800, W: 760 (8)), single-sitting/took it once
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Physics (800), Chemistry (800), Latin (760)
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/285
AP (place score in parenthesis): Latin, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Human Geography, Biology, Statistics, English Language and Composition, US History, Physics B - all 5s
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Theatre I, AP Microeconomics, AP Environmental Science, AP Computer Science A, AP English Literature and Composition, AP US Government and Politics, Data Structures (college class), Computer Organization (college class)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AMC 12 Distinguished Honor Roll and AIME Qualifier 3x, Math Prize for Girls Honorable Mention (national competition, 17th place), Math Prize for Girls Olympiad Bronze medalist, National Latin Exam Gold Medalist 4x, Math League 1st place in state 2x, two research papers/presentations at national/international conferences, National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar, NHS

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Envirothon (president), a few state team awards 9-12; youth orchestra principal cellist 6-12; Math Honor Society (president 11-12) 9-12; Latin Club (president 11, secretary 10) 9-12; Science Honor Society 10-12; Varsity Scholastic Bowl 9-12
Job/Work Experience: tutoring?
Volunteer/Community service: Mathcounts coach 9-12; perform music with string trio at local events 8-12
Summer Activities: CTY, college orchestra program, Yale Ivy Scholars Program (now Young Global Scholars), VA Governor’s Latin Academy, undergraduate research program on Big Data
Essays: 9/10 I was pretty proud of them. I think they provided a fairly complete view of who I am. They focused a lot on math (a joke here or there/basing the essay structure off of certain mathematical concepts) while covering a lot of topics :slight_smile:
Teacher Recommendation: I didn’t see them, but they should be very good.
Counselor Rec: I didn’t see it either.
Additional Rec: written by Envirothon coach 7/10
Interview: …not so hot. It was with my third interviewer after the first two hadn’t responded for several weeks each. My interviewer did not respond for two weeks, but just as I was about to give up, he emailed me and asked me if we could do an interview by Skype that same day. This translated into lots of technical difficulties, panic, awkwardness, etc, and he didn’t seem amused or impressed at all during the interview. Maybe it was just how he treats most applicants, but it sure was intimidating! Nevertheless, I think I answered his questions to the best of my abilities.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Mathematics with Computer Science (18C)
State (if domestic applicant): VA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: medium, public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: F
Income Bracket: above average for area
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): STEM girl?

Reflection:

Strengths: test scores, grades and classes, research/math competitions (especially Math Prize for Girls since it was held at/affiliated with MIT to an extent), female
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: For those of you familiar with Virginia terminology, I’m from SOVA, not NOVA :stuck_out_tongue: Therefore, we don’t have as many resources, and I tried to focus on how my accomplishments in competition math were based solely on myself (no teachers/coaches/friends/rivals)
Weaknesses: late, mediocre interview (honestly, I am not sure if he submitted the form), no cool jokes on the FUN form, ECs are a bit weak and unfocused
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’m not sure?
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted to Princeton and UVA (early)
Notes: Congratulations to everyone who was accepted! I’m honestly quite surprised at my decision. Also, I haven’t been checking in the MIT section of CC recently, but based on the applicants group on Facebook, I was impressed and amazed at how people are so supportive of each other and always open to intellectual discussions about various theories in math and science. Therefore, I think that it is the passion that matters the most, regardless of where you end up :slight_smile:
Feel free to PM me to talk about essays and other stuff!

17

Decision: Rejected
Initially DEFERRED EA

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (800 W 800 CR 770 M)
ACT (breakdown): None
SAT II: Math II 790 Biology E 800
Unweighted GPA: Do not know unweighted, 4.17 weighted. Dragged down by a PE class in 10th grade that my school counts for some reason.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3rd (1 if not for PE, mentioned in counselor review)
AP (place score in parenthesis): Comp Science A 5 Biology 5 US History 5
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Honors Physics, AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, AP Scholar, not really much else.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Violin for six years, youth orchestra for most of those years, founded 3D printing club at my school, track for two years, building things on my 3D printer in spare time, black belt in martial arts, some others I don’t recall right now.
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: A couple months helping sort donations at my local thrift store, and two years helping at local library tutoring elementary school kids.
Summer Activities: Lots of travelling, a full scholarship trip to Washington DC for a student group conference on the Constitution I applied to thanks to my history teacher, Engineering class at UCSD (Got an A), Russian college level accelerated class at SDSU (Also got an A)
Essays: For Fun: Wrote about hiking and seeing a ton of newts. Major: Aerospace Engineering, essay a bit generic but not bad. Challenge: My least favorite, just wrote about the Russian language class I took over the summer. Pretty generic, if I could rewrite one it would be this. At the same time it was NOT horrible. World you came from: Exploration, and how I always have loved to seek out new knowledge. Wrote about my past interests up to now with my 3D printer.
Teacher Recommendation: History and Science teachers. I haven’t read either but I know that the History one was really good because he offered to let me read it after (I declined, I would prefer not to read my recommendations). The other was probably good too.
Counselor Rec: Again, didn’t read it, but I think it would have been good because he talked to the teacher that helps me with my club to get more content for it.
Additional Rec: I had one from my violin teacher as part of a Music supplement.
Short Answer Questions:
Interview: This was my third out of four interviews. It went very well (just slightly worse than the later Harvard one). Talked about my interests a lot, lasted a little under an hour.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yeah.
Intended Major: Aerospace/Astronautics
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Very small private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not especially. I did submit a Maker Portfolio after the EA Deferral which included a ton of projects I’ve built (3D printer modifications/fixes, a homemade laser meant to ignite things, an automatic bitcoin miner that also serves as a small water heater). I thought that was a great addition to the application, and I really enjoyed writing it.

Reflection:

Strengths: SAT (Although it’s MIT so probably doesn’t matter), Maker Portfolio, Music Portfolio on Violin.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: I tried to emphasize my love for new knowledge, discovery, and exploration.
Weaknesses: Tiny school means barely any opportunities, no Calculus or Physics until Senior year, no math or science opportunities at my school outside of classes except for the club I founded. Barely any APs. Also, my Challenge essay could have been much better I think.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: It’s always essays, isn’t it?
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Caltech EA Deferred, then Rejected. WUSTL Waitlisted, Cal Poly SLO/Baylor/UCSD Engineering all accepted.
Notes:
Congratulations to the lucky few who got in. I always knew that I would most likely be rejected, I just never fully realized it until last night with Caltech. When you apply the decision is so distant. Also goes to show that near perfect SAT doesn’t do much for you here. One thing that gets on my nerves is that MIT defers SO MANY PEOPLE. I realize that the applicant pool is all competitive, but I still feel like there needs to be a way to narrow it down to at least 20% for deferral.

I’m also glad that I didn’t really care about college at all until almost exactly a year ago, other than just getting good grades. So I only did things that I was actually interested in, not things to get into a good school only that I didn’t really care about. I recommend this path to anyone else, because even if you don’t get in, you didn’t waste any time on your activities in high school, even if you may have wasted time on the application itself.

18

Decision: Deferred->Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (800 Math, 800 Reading, 740 Writing) - Took spring of sophomore year
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t take
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry, 770 Physics
Unweighted GPA: 4.00
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/388
AP (place score in parenthesis): 19 different tests by senior year: World History (5), Computer Science (5), Calculus AB (5), Calculus BC (5), Physics B (5), Chemistry (5), Biology (5), U.S. History (5), English Lang (5), U.S. Government (5). Self-studied: Physics C Mech (5), Physics C E&M (5), Psychology (5), Statistics (5), Comparative Gov (4), Microeconomics (5), Macroeconomics (4), French Language (3), Chinese Language (3). Would have taken more but had scheduling conflicts with IB lol.
IB (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry SL (6), Physics HL (7), English HL (6), Biology SL (5), French a.b. (6), History (of the Americas) (5), Further Math HL (5).
Senior Year Course Load: IB Further Mathematics HL II, University of Washington History/English, Chamber Choir, Metals, Internship at UW Quantum Computing Lab. Online classes from Stanford OHSx - Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Light and Heat (junior year), Differential Equations, Modern Physics, Modern Algebra, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis…
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USACO Silver - missed Gold by 6 points due to a trivial mistake :’(. AIME Qualifier sophomore year. Northwest regional Science Bowl - 3rd place. Eagle Scout. 3rd place in a regional programming contest’s Advanced Division. Also got 8th place out of more than 8,000 entries in Microsoft’s first global company hackathon. Worked with my team to build a talking football that tracks throw metrics.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): UW Quantum Computing Lab intern - wrote code to run experiments and arranged experimental setup. Theater - starred in several plays. Programming Club (founder and president 3 years). iPhone/Android app development - created plenty of different apps and published them to the App Store. Played C/JV basketball for the school team (helped run summer camp for middle schoolers), played on a soccer league - got 2nd place in league junior year, 3rd place senior year. Boy Scouts (Senior Patrol Leader, Philmont Expedition Leader, Troop Guide) - earned Eagle Scout. Tried out some other clubs - Robotics Club, Chemistry Club, Physics Club, Science National Honor Society, Rap Club, Hip-Hop Club (lol), Knowledge Bowl, but didn’t really invest in them.
Job/Work Experience: Worked as a tutor for probably 300-400 hours between 9th and 11th grade. Worked at Microsoft Research as a summer intern. Now working as a mobile application developer at a local startup.

Volunteer/Community service: Helped lead a summer basketball camp for middle schoolers, coached a middle school girl’s basketball team, fed the homeless (Boy Scouts), built a trail in the state park right next to my house (Eagle Scout project), assisted at a Chinese-American cultural foundation event with my friend.
Summer Activities: Interned at Microsoft Research, self-studied math, CS, and physics, and created iPhone apps. Also went to Boy Scout camp/Philmont and got to go to Hawaii with my friend :smiley:

Essays: I honestly think these all deserve a 10. I wrote honestly and passionately, and only had my mom review them. Maybe I should have had someone else review them, but they were genuine and I thought MIT would appreciate that. Anyway, here are the topics I wrote about:
-Pleasure: Wrote about how I love climbing trees haha :smiley:
-Department or program: Quantum Computing division of the Center of Theoretical Physics. Wrote about how quantum computing has virtually infinite potential to help the world.
-Attribute of your personality: Tenacity. Wrote about how I built a Chladni plate generator from thrift shop speakers even after three or four exploded. “I will never, ever give up.”
-World you come from: Wrote about how every world I come from is a team - theater, Programming Club, soccer, tutoring, and ultimately this world is a team.
-Challenge: Family struggles - growing up without a father.
Teacher Recommendation:
Theory of Knowledge (IB class): 8 - very glowing and positive.
IB Further Math: 10 - Only had this teacher senior year, but we became very close. Incredible, described how I was her reason for coming back to teach in the midst of chemotherapy and how I was her brightest student in 26 years of teaching at East Coast magnet schools.
Counselor Rec: 7 - Not really sure. My mom got in an argument with the counselor right before this was due, but my counselor said not to worry about it :neutral_face:
Additional Rec: 8 - From my mentor at Microsoft Research. Short and sweet.
Interview: 7.5 - I wore a metal necklace that said “MIT” that I plasma cut. The interviewer had an excellent poker face. I thought it went fairly well, but it was my first college interview and perhaps I could have said some things more eloquently. I don’t think my interviewer and I really ‘clicked,’ but the interview went fine by all means.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant): WA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: IB/AP
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection:

Strengths: Test scores, ECs, essays, recommendations, basically everything.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Expressed my love for quantum computing, it will change the world. Strong focus on CS and STEM. Submitted a research abstract describing my work at Microsoft Research.
Weaknesses: Very difficult for white males to get in. Also, was super close to awards like USACO Gold that might have pushed me over the edge, but missed it barely.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Not sure. It’s really disappointing though.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Caltech (waitlisted), UChicago (waitlisted).
Notes: It’s their loss. This isn’t going to stop me from changing the world. Ultimately, it’s just another person’s judgment of what you have accomplished. I’m just really hoping that Stanford or Harvard will give me a chance.

MIT was my dream school since 5th grade, until I got deferred. Okay seriously, what else does MIT expect me to have done???

19

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 690 CR 800 M 700 WR
ACT (breakdown): 34 E 36 M 35 R 34 S
SAT II: 800 Math 2 800 Chem 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA: 3.92/4
Weighted GPA: 4.70/5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/366
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem (5) Physics B (5) Calc AB (5) Eng Lang (5) Bio (5) Spanish Lang (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Spanish Lit, AP Eng Lit, Journalism, Bilingual Peer Tutor, taking macroeconomics, calc 2 and 3 at local community college
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Swimming 4 years (top group, 20 hours a week), Boy Scout (Eagle Scout), Future Business Leaders of America (VP), and Asian Culture Association (Treasurer), Varsity Swim (just Varsity all 4 years)
Job/Work Experience: Full-time Open Water lifeguard this past summer
Volunteer/Community service: 200 hours at County Regional Parks division where I helped set up community events. 100 hours as Intern at County Information Services Department
Summer Activities: Swimming and work
Essays: All very connected thematically yet very diverse
Teacher Recommendation: Both were excellent
Counselor Rec: Good also
Additional Rec: nope
Short Answer Questions: tied into essays somewhat
Interview: was my first-ever interview so it was rough, but I had a lot in common with my interviewer so that saved me

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 80,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation college. Was a big part of my application with being very determined to make college a possibility myself because I never really got familial support

Reflection:

Strengths: thematic essay that conveyed my purpose and personality. Be super open on the FUN Form!!! I was super casual and wrote about my interest in journalism and some of the topics I covered (supplied a link) and had a quote from Lil B who delivered a lecture at MIT. Just be happy on that form and sound like you are a decent person not just a person overly-dedicated to school.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: independent person who is willing to go for anything appealing
Weaknesses: not much in the way of math/science background other than winning a couple math competitions and my courseload
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: It came across that I really wanted to contribute to society using MIT’s opportunities
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: So far, rejected from Caltech :(, accepted to UCSB (regents) and got a “likely” letter from UCLA
Notes: I wrote an additional essay in the optional section. Definitely worth doing.

20

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2360 (790CR, 770M, 800W)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Bio M (800), US History (790), Chem (780), Math 2 (760)
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~4%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro History, Bio, APUSH, Lang, CS, Calc BC (all 5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: college classes (linear algebra, political science), AP Psych, Orchestra, AP Comp Sci, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): No major ones

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Started a youth organization for young composers, composed music for performance at a couple music festivals, membership at several orchestras (principal / asst. principal at all), etc.
Job/Work Experience: Did a paid internship doing work for JPL
Volunteer/Community service: Eagle Scout stuff, various other things
Summer Activities: summer camp for music, various other camps and stuff, nothing major
Essays: Fairly good, I’d say most ranged 7-8/10, not masterpieces though
Teacher Recommendation: One very good (from an APUSH teacher), one lukewarm (AP CS)
Counselor Rec: Not good, but she has a lot of students and she was hired very very recently
Additional Rec: Very good, probably 10/10, from my music composition teacher
Short Answer Questions: Isn’t that the same?
Interview: 7/10, first interview and wasn’t entirely comfortable yet, but I think I did a fairly decent job at it

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Music
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection: I’m the artsy type of person - I focus on music, and it’s been a while since I was really into science. I can understand the rejection, since I’m not exactly the ideal MIT applicant.

Strengths: Very good art supplement, creative, pretty sure I have the potential to go far in my field of study - but, again, that’s not exactly MIT’s cup of tea (to be sure, they do have some very good faculty, and to work in the Media Lab would be a real joy, but again, I guess they’re looking for people who are more interested in science).
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Eh
Weaknesses: Unimpressive EC’s, bad fit
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’ve gotta admit, I probably wouldn’t do well at MIT. I applied on a whim, and I was impressed with their program, but when I really sit down and think about it, the science classes would slaughter me, and it wouldn’t give me much of a chance to really focus on my music, so…
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at UC Berkeley, UCSD, UC Davis, USC, Cal Arts, SUNY Purchase, SUNY Buffalo, LL from Columbia
Notes: Hopefully this’ll be useful to someone. I’m not too torn up about it - if I were applying for engineering or science, then yeah, this would sting a lot, but again, MIT was not my ideal school.