MIT EA 2023 Results

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Put your result, stats, ECs, etc. here to help future applicants. Use this format:

PLEASE REPLACE THE [* BELOW WITH JUST [ BEFORE POSTING
[B][size=4][color=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size][/b]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted 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 (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

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

Reflections:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments (if any):

2

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): NA
ACT (breakdown): 34C (34E,35M,35R,32S)
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Physics (650) - I hadn’t taken an AP science or equivalent, so this was full self-study and I made that clear.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88UW (only 1 B in an academic class though)
Weighted GPA: 4.17
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 67/475, I transferred schools so my weighted GPA/rank mean nothing due to me not having a weighted GPA for most of high school.
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB(4), Calc BC(3), Lang(3), Stats(2 didn’t send)- I didn’t have access to APs for most of HS. I take dual enrollment instead of APs for the most part.
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, AP Lit, Civics Honors, College Physics 2 Lecture, College Physics 2 Lab, Spanish 3 Honors, AP Chem
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None :frowning:

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Did materials science/chemistry research and have published a poster and am working on publishing a full paper.
Shadowing surgeries, specifically heart and neurosurgeries.
Science Olympiad/Math Team for 3 years. I mentor a freshman on the JV team who has autism.
Tutoring math/science through youtube and in person after school.
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: My brother has a major disease and cannot walk/talk, and I volunteer at many programs he attends. It has been a huge part of my life and was a major source of inspiration for my essays, and I think it is the most important part of my app.
Summer Activities:
Visited MIT
Took college physics 1 lecture+lab at a local university
Got scuba/Lifeguard certified
Started working on research
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Pleasure: wrote about how I enjoy spending time with my brother. 8/10
Department: wrote about how I liked the MIT energy initiative and how the mission statement related to my medical ambitions. 7/10 - 8/10
Community: wrote in-depth about participating in events with my brother, and the disabled community in general. 8/10
World: Wrote about how I grew up across the country, and the time I spent in a small town in the midwest. 9/10 - 10/10
Challenge: Super personal essay about getting past my father’s death and the depression associated with it. 9/10
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Got my junior year English teacher. He liked me a lot, and it is probably a good rec. 8/10
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Got my physics professor. He knew I was a top student but didn’t know me that well personally. 7/10
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Didn’t know me that well, but we talked a few times. She liked me and knew I have ambition and would enjoy MIT. Her daughter went to MIT. 7/10
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Got a rec from my research mentor who knows me pretty well, and definitely wrote a solid rec. 8/10
Got a rec from my tutor. He is MIT alumni and taught calc at Westpoint. He let me read it, and it is very good. 9/10 - 10/10
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
The interview was good. I asked a lot of questions about the culture at MIT, and how we talked about how BME is becoming the face of MIT instead of CS/EE. 7/10 - 8/10

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chemistry/Premed
State (if domestic applicant): NC
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Good public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflections: Thought I was going to be rejected due to 650 in physics, lack of awards, and because it’s MIT. Pleasantly surprised after being rejected from my ED that my application is still competitive for other schools.
Strengths: GPA and ACT are good, recs, essays, research experience and meaningful ECs
Weaknesses: Physics SAT 2, no awards, lack of leadership, and weak AP scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think MIT really liked my volunteering/multicultural experiences, but due to a lack of leadership+awards, they couldn’t accept me. My reasoning behind doing badly on the Physics test must’ve been good enough for them to give me a second chance.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ECU - accepted, Duke - Rejected

General Comments (if any): I know deferred generally equals rejection with MIT, but I am happy to see that my application is competitive for T20s. After being rejected from my ED school (I had legacy+competitive app) I was wondering whether there was something wrong with my app. I am hopeful that I can get accepted in March after doing a great update form.

3

Decision: Deferred
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
730 ERBW, 800 Math, 6/6/6 Essay
ACT (breakdown):
N/A
SAT II:
800 Math II, 730 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
3.95
Weighted GPA:
5.01
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
3/157 (did not report because my GC said we don’t do rank?)
AP (place score in parenthesis):
AP CSA (5), AP Statistics (3), AP Calc BC (4, 5 AB), APUSH (5), AP CSP (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
N/A
Senior Year Course Load:
CC Multivariable (S1), CC Linear Algebra (S2), AP Physics C, UConn ECE Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
N/A

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Martial Arts (Senior-most student/teacher aide),
Boy Scouts (Webmaster, Star Scout), Math Team (Captain, MVP), Programming Club (President),
NHS member, SNHS member, Mu Alpha Theta (Founder, president)
I did not write about honor societies in my application, however.
Job/Work Experience:
140 hour paid summer internship in STEM
Volunteer/Community service:
400 hours for organization that coaches kids for math/science competitions
Summer Activities:
Internships + library volunteering
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Culture: respect for elders as part of my religion (7/10)
Pleasure: LEGOs (6/10)
Department: passion for programming, mentioned MIT at the very end (5/10)
Community: organization I volunteered with (8/10)
Challenge: earning my black belt (6/10)
Optional: my internship experience

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
PLTW engineering teacher (I’ve taken 5 PLTW courses) - I’m his favorite student (9/10)
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
English teacher (2 years) - I’ve done well in his class and he seems to like me (7/10)
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Always impressed by me so I guess that’s good (8/10)
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Employer - mentioned projects I worked on and how I adapted well to an office (9/10)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Never got a request

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:
Yes
Intended Major:
Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant):
CT
Country (if international applicant):
USA
School Type:
Small-ish magnet/STEM focused school
Ethnicity:
Asian
Gender:
Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
N/A

Reflections:
I couldn’t mention my Mu Alpha Theta founding because it’s technically still in progress
I didn’t mention other honor societies either because we barely do anything.
Strengths:
I submitted a Maker Portfolio with some of the random projects I liked working on (like an app-controlled robot) because I thought MIT would like it.
SAT/AP scores are also pretty good IMO, obviously not perfect.
Physics test could have been better but I only took UConn ECE Physics 1201Q (AP Physics 1)
I’ve taken a bunch of engineering classes and I am also taking community college classes this year
Weaknesses:
I feel like my essays could have been better
Probably didn’t have a good enough topic for the challenge essay
I probably didn’t mention enough leadership positions
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
I had the stats and ok ECs, just not the awards (only school stuff and the AP Scholar w/ Distinction award)
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
I only applied MIT early

General Comments (if any):
I know this is the MIT part of the forum, but I also really liked Penn and their AI program so I hope I get in there RD.

4

Decision: Deferred

Press F. Really sad and conflicted right now.

GPA: 4.7 W (salutatorian) 4.0 UW; SAT: 1530 (800M, 730RW, 24/24 essay); Subject tests: 800 Math II, 800 BioE (also got 740 BioM, 720 Math II and accidentally sent those RIP); APs: all 5s: Bio, Lang, USH, Envi Sci, Calc BC, Chem. Taking Phys C: Mech, Econ, Lit, and Euro this year.
Awards: all writing awards are on SCIENCE-focused pieces, really weird topics too: like elephant testicles to psychological procrastination

1st place in a national essay contest on journalism, arguably my biggest accomplishment, especially since I won this during my freshman year.

My science writing has appeared in the local news, the state newspaper, New York Times, NY Daily News, and Boston Globe

Winner (there were no place designations) in a NYT international contest - out of 1000+ entries, published in NYT.

Runner-up in two other New York Times international contests

NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing Certificate of Superior Writing

Scholastic Awards, a bunch of Gold, Silver keys, blah

2x Gold Medal in that essay contest I mention in my ECs section, not a big deal since its more or less just a “grade” rather than a competition between essays

State essay contest winner

Lots of small stuff

ECs:

Blog writer at a student-run online science magazine

Leadership position in a literary journal that focuses on artsy science-y content

Founder of a local honor society

Founded and am leading a grant project for my high school that increases educational supplies (in a very specific area) for my high school. First in the country to integrate this scientific technology for classroom discussion/experimentation at the secondary school level.

Science League

Debate Team

I run a local proctoring of a national essay contest (kind of like the Latin Exam but for a different foreign language) and get a sizable amount of the language students at my school to participate

Varsity Jazz Band

Taking online courses in biology/humanities

Member of a journalists’ association

Summers:

Freshman: lol

Sophomore: bio research, 300 hours, nothing substantive

Junior: doing a really awesome (its a newer program so its not prestigious or anything) program this year that combines science and writing, loved it! I got my mentor to write me a rec. As a part of the research process for an article I was writing as a part of the program I sought out and interviewed a Harvard biologist and the editor-in-chief of a large research journal.

ESSAYS: I tried to make this really unique and personal to me 10/10 or so I thought :(((

Other:

Recs: These are complete guesses since I haven’t read any of them. Envi sci teacher: 8/10, she said she wrote that I’m someone she aspires to be when she ‘grows up’. English teacher: 5/10, lol she didn’t know me that well, prob used a template. English teacher 2: 9/10 most wholesome amazing human being I’ve ever met and her writing ability is tremendous. Seriously one of the best people I met in high school and probably in life, we have a great bond. Counselor: 7/10, for once a really nice counselor, though I don’t know how well this turned out.

Applying for financial aid?: HELLA yes

State: NYC-area state :frowning:

School Type: fringe rural public, above average, generally upper middle, Levittown-esque high school, not one of those crazy competitive publics around here tho lol

Ethnicity: White/Pinoy <3

Gender: Male

Income Bracket: VERY complicated and I don’t really wanna address it here

Weaknesses: Test scores, no volunteering, limited work experience, recommendations, NYC-area :frowning:

Hooks: First gen. Filipino? Unique interest/fit for MIT?

Major: Course 21W, Science Writing Option (aka Writing Major)

5

[B][size=4][color=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size][/b]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 800 Maths, 710 EBRW, essay 5/5/7
SAT II: Maths-II 800, Physics 800
TOEFL: 117
GPA (Italy): 9.08/10

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Cosmic rays club, Chinese class, swimming club
Job/Work Experience: waitress (15 hours/week)
Volunteer/Community service: 1 month of volunteering (teaching English) in Sri Lanka
Summer Activities: Student exchange, STEM internships, reading
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Culture: university city, travelling
Pleasure: swimming
Department: passion for aerospace engineering, falling in love with is at NASA when I was 7
Community: volunteering in Sri Lanka
Challenge: dealing with my dad
Optional: information about the Italian school system relevant to the application

Recommendations:
Teacher Rec #1 science teacher, haven’t read it:
Teacher Rec #2 English teacher, (7/10 in my opinion):
Additional Rec (if any): NO
Interview (if any): I haven’t been offered one

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: aerospace engineering
Country (if international applicant): Italy
School Type: STEM-focused high school (public)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): no

Reflections: I knew even if MIT is super competitive, I did have a slight chance of getting in and I honestly think my application reflected the best parts of me, both personally and academically.
Strengths: Academics, extracurriculars
Weaknesses: Portfolio (I submitted one, maybe I should not have done so…)
Why you think you were rejected: The essay about culture was not original, I did not stand out as a whole.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to UIC so far

General Comments (if any): congrats to everyone who got in! I hope you will live four of the best years of your life at MIT.

6

Sorry to hear about your result. You have a pretty strong resume and I’m very confident there is a great place waiting for you where you can pursue your dreams. All the best!

8

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1590 (800 Math, 790 English, 21 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 (Math II), 800 (Physics)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7122/4.33 (we have it weird, where A+ = 4.33)
Weighted GPA: 5.299 (A+ in honors = 6.33, but the actual theoretical maximum is 6.05)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Eh maybe top 10%
AP:
5 - Chem, Physics 1, Physics C Mech, Lang, Calc BC, AB Subscore, World History
4 - US History
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, Applied Calc (Like Multivariable), AP Spanish, AP Physics 2, Wind Ensemble, Electronics, Phys Ed
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • Gold Medalist at the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL)
  • 5-time AIME Qualifier, max score 8 (10th grade), AMC Score 136.5, 11th grade
  • USAMTS Bronze Medalist
  • ARML Tiebreaker Round Participant
  • All-Eastern Tuba Player (however, at the time of application, this had not come out yet, so I put All-State Tubist for 2 years)
    Some minor awards with math/band

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math League, Columbia Science Honors Program (SHP), Balavihar (a religious Sunday school), Sanskrit Class (SAFL)
Job/Work Experience: Have my own business where I tutor younger students in mathematics, geared towards AMC/AIME
Volunteer/Community service: Not much. Volunteered at Camp Invention for 2 summers, helped out here and there for Balavihar, taught math at my sister’s school math club
Summer Activities: Going to the IOL (11th), Working on a project regarding the extension of a WordNet Database (10th grade), Volunteering for Camp Invention, some vacations (I was advised to put this !?)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/10 - to the point, but writing skills are weak
Meaningful Activity - chose band, alright 7/10
Department Appealing - I took a risk and wrote about UROP (mentioned my previous research) idk 8/10
Contributing to Community - I wrote about my desire to teach the younger generations about problem solving, which I found many students lacked 9/10
World I Grew Up In - Wrote about the contrast between my supportive family and toxic school 8/10 (could be taken badly)
Conflict - Kind of weak, discussed a choice I had to make in 7th grade 7/10

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 8/10 Chemistry Teacher, don’t know. She knows I am smart, but I didn’t do much in her class to demonstrate character. Plus, 10th grade teacher
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): Either 9/10 or 2/10. My English teacher seemed to like my antics in class, and told me that my openness was like “a breath of fresh air” as opposed to a bunch of suck-ups. Not sure if sarcastic or not.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 6.5/10 I get the impression that she dislikes me
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 9/10, recommendation from an IOL coach/professor at MTSU. Was very good, and offered a unique perspective of how I act when my parents aren’t there, watching.
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 7.5/10; for an hour, but sometimes it was awkward. Didn’t really know what to ask/talk about.

Supplements:
Research - I feel it is a bit weak, due to the project itself; however, I did travel to Singapore to present, and got a recommendation from a Princeton professor
Music - My resume is solid, and so is the rec from my band director. However, the piece I chose was extremely hard (would be repertoire for a senior studying music in college), and I feel it was very good but not exceptional.

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science /Linguistics
State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey
School Type: Large, Competitive Public
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not much, but I did receive a personalized note from Chris Peterson, along with some extra booklets. That boosted my hopes too much.
I could have included my participation in Science Bowl in 11th grade, but I was never really committed. However, at this point I am unofficially a vice captain and I take some of the burden of running the club.
Reflections: I think I was a bit overconfident when I applied to MIT, especially after getting the gold medal at the IOL and receiving the personalized note; the deferral put me to Earth.
When I applied to MIT, I was comparing my application to that of a current undergraduate at MIT from my school. He made Physics Camp, as opposed to my IOL gold; I had a much better GPA/SAT scores; while he was a USAMO qualifier, I qualified for AIME more frequently than him; and as opposed to leadership in multiple science-related clubs, I had band. I feel like the third one was really the one that destroyed my chances?
Strengths: By far my major achievements. SAT, AP scores were high as well
Weaknesses: GPA, Rec letters (maybe), and lack of leadership. Essays weren’t stellar
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: The weaknesses were too glaring?
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted into UMass Amherst, UIUC, and OSU; rejected from Caltech

General Comments (if any): Hope All-Eastern Band/adding Science Bowl can add anything to my application. Will hope for an RD Accept. Still a bit shook and disappointed, but I think I understand why MIT deferred me.

9

[size=4]Decision: Deferred[*/size]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1560 (790M, 770E)
ACT (breakdown):36 superscore
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.69
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1, targeted to be valedictorian
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP Calculus BC, engineering 4, AP Latin, Senior Seminar, , Government, American Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, National Latin Exam awards

NHS Pres, Science Olympiad president and coach, community youth leadership council, Quiz Bowl captain, Varsity basketball 4 years, captain my senior year.

great recommendations and I thought essay was pretty darn good.

white
male
no hooks

10

[B][size=4][color=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size][/b]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 750 RW, 780 Math
SAT II: 800 Math, 770 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85 (Note that GPAs are highly school dependent.)
Weighted GPA: 4.25
AP (place score in parenthesis): BC Calc 5, Physics 5, CS 4
Senior Year Course Load: E&M Physics, Multivariable Calc, AP Econ, AP Bio, AP Stat, Honors English (no AP available)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): MATE ROV, Fencing, Ulitmate
Volunteer/Community service: Ran middle school maker club for four years
Summer Activities: Physics research internships at CERN, paper published in physics journal

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Seemed to go fine, but felt I carried the conversation, and the interviewer didn’t say as much

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: EECS
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Independent
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): legacy

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Got B’s freshman year
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted EA at UIUC

General Comments (if any): Submitted both a strong research and an average maker portfolio

11

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1570, 800 Reading+Writing, 770 Math
ACT (breakdown): NA
SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89
Weighted GPA: 4.61
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~350
AP (place score in parenthesis): Spanish Lang (4), Statistics (5), APUSH (5), Lang (5), HuGAP (5), APES (5), Seminar (5), Art History (5), Calc AB (5), Computer Science A (5), APES (5), Chem (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): None
Senior Year Course Load: AP Psych, CS III, Dual Credit Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Bio, AP Physics Mechanics, AP Research, AP Gov/Macroeconomics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None really, I placed in a Lockheed Martin coding contest as well as HP’s coding contest.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of Key Club, social chair in choir, on the computer science team
Job/Work Experience: Worked as a swim instructor, lifeguard
Volunteer/Community service: ~1000 hours
Summer Activities: Attended WTP!
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Wrote about what I truly love doing. Right after I submitted, I actually felt that my essays seemed a little too liberal artsy…but it worked out in the end. Really write about yourself!

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: MechE, Material Science
State (if domestic applicant): NY/TX
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Mixed
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Honestly, probably because of the WTP program

General Comments (if any): I’m still in shock.

12

Congrats! Good Luck!
Thank you for sharing --it is helpful for students applying to RD and also for future applicants!

13

mcfamilyof4 - please share what was the intended major?

Also, I am not able to differentiate between Accepted and Deferred? Should I assume that the essays are a huge part of admission since most numbers on common tests etc. are very similar?

what are your thoughts …would like to hear from others who applied EA but got deferred. Thank you.

14

@kg2013 Nuclear Engineering

15

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):800 Math 700 CR
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:800 Math 2 750 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA:4.55
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):2nd/ 350
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics C, AP Stat, AP Bio, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Into Philosophy, AP Micro. , International Business, Macroeconomics, Unix Operating System, History of Rock and Roll
(I took 10 college classes)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Into Philosophy, Unix Operating System, AP Stat, AP Bio.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Started two websites for my school clubs. Made a large impact here.
Job/Work Experience: Started my own eBay business: sold over 200 items
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer with underserved Kids
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):10/10 talked about my family (don’t feel comfortable going into further detail)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):Calculus Teacher 10/10 I loved Calculus and I was his favorite student in the last 4/5 years
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):Lit Teacher 8/10 I was able to show my work ethic in this class. I am not great at lit, but I still got the A.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):10/10 She has known me since I was 12 and knows my family really well.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 7-8/10 It was ok. I really showed what I did in high school and what I loved.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Math, Economics, CS
State (if domestic applicant): (don’t feel comfortable telling)
School Type: non private school
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Athlete

Reflections:
Strengths: Athlete, Recs, Showing I really stretched myself in high school. I took the most difficult course load and I could have graduated last year, but this year I am only taking 2 classes at my high school the rest at local colleges.
Weaknesses: SAT scores
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Athlete and again really showed how much I could take on and how I showed initiative in my school clubs.

General Comments (if any): It is not all about SAT scores.

16

" Should I assume that the essays are a huge part of admission " Probably not more or less than other aspects. Actual achievements and what you’ve accomplished is important and the essay provides some context within which to understand the achievement, etc… They are looking for fit in terms of…everything including values and work ethic, etc.

17

Also, to those saying deferral is the same as rejection-nope. Tons of current MIT students were initially deferred. I’ve not calculated it recently but when I did, it did turn our that applying early is associated with a considerably higher acceptance rate-if you calculate the % who applied early and got in at any point.

18

lostaccount --thanks for your comments.

Just looking at this thread for the last two days…Accepted and Deferred Students numbers and ECs are NOT significantly different…so would that not indicate that essays made the difference between the two groups?

I did not explain myself clearly before —meant to ask - if essays were the difference if all the other things were so close between the two groups - Accepted and Deferred?

19

^ I’m not sure what the confusion is. MIT Admissions - and many other top schools - are very clear: deferred (and even rejected, in most cases) does not mean unqualified. With a limited number of spots and a highly qualified applicant pool, it is to be expected that the deferred applicants would be fully qualified for admissions.

Essays, LORs, and supplemental materials may all make a difference. Beyond that, it may come down to.building a class that works well together - the 1000 people climbing a mountain analogy.

20

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 790 Math, 730 English, 6/4/6 essay
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 math II, 750 bio-M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): My school doesn’t do unweighted GPAs
Weighted GPA: ~5.1/5.33
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/220
AP (place score in parenthesis): European history (5), US history (5), Spanish language (5), Physics I (5), Biology (5), English language (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Literary approaches to drama (dual enrollment), writing to inform and explain (dual enrollment), AP calc BC, anatomy & physiology (H), AP physics C, AP chemistry, AP psychology, honors bioethics (online), honors symphony orchestra (after school), honors vocal jazz ensemble (after school)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): All-state orchestra past 4 years, All-state chorus past 3 years, gold ranking in national Spanish exam 9th, 10th, and 11th, national honor society, Rensselaer medalist award, seal of biliteracy in Spanish

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): pit orchestra (concertmaster), drama productions in and outside of school (having two classes after school makes extracurriculars kinda hard)
Job/Work Experience: cashier at local grocery store
Volunteer/Community service: 3 Octobers in a row I’ve helped sell pumpkins at a local church to benefit our local homeless shelter and the Native Americans that grew them
Summer Activities: intern at an orchestra for children, member of an adult community orchestra
Essays (rating 1-10, details):

  1. 6/10, I talked about drama but I don’t think it really stood out
  2. 8/10, I don’t think the essay talking about what you want to major in can be that good or bad
  3. 9/10, I doubt they had many essays about selling pumpkins
  4. 5/10, my hometown isn’t that special or unique
  5. 7/10, not excellent but not that bad either - I failed at something, then I worked harder and got it
    Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 8/10, my AP biology teacher, she really highlighted how I love learning
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9/10, my APUSH teacher who talked about how I helped elevate the level of class discussions (and she also said to me not to talk about the letter because she might not have written something as nice for other people)
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 7/10, it was very objective and nice but I don’t think it added anything
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 7/10, not excellent but by no means awful. It was at a local coffee shop and it lasted a half hour. I asked a lot of questions about what it was like to be a student at MIT and he tried to convince me a lot that it was a good fit. I told him about some stuff I do and that was about it (also the fire alarm kept going off for no reason and that was funny).

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: biochemistry
State (if domestic applicant): RI
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: public, coed
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections: it was a long shot and I wasn’t realizing that. They flat-out say that they have 3 times as many qualified applicants as they have available spots
Strengths: I like STEM and I’m really involved in music and stuff, and I’ve taken a college class directly from my local university
Weaknesses: I didn’t do as well on the SAT English as I wanted to, and I also don’t have any research
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: maybe it was because some of my scores were on the low end, maybe my essays didn’t stand out, maybe it’s because I had very few extracurriculars (even though I explained why), or maybe there are just too few spots.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I only applied EA to MIT

General Comments (if any):

21

Decision: Rejected
Edit: sorry this isn’t EA, it’s RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1570 (800M / 770E)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: 800 Chemistry 800 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.7
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): like 3/700 but idk
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chemistry (5) AP Calculus AB (5) AP Calculus BC/AB Subscore (5/5) AP US History (5) AP Computer Science A (5) AP Language (4) AP World History (4) AP Studio Art 2D (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): not offered at my school
Senior Year Course Load: Multi variable calculus (taken at college), AP Physics, AP Biology, Honors Anatomy, AP Government, ERWC
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I did chemistry Olympiads for two years and I placed third in a local math competition in my county. I had other small awards like national ap scholar and commended student.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
VP/Project Manager of CS Club
VP/Secretary of Math Club
Piano (worked with CHILD to raise money for immigrants by hosting concerts)
Lots of religious volunteering
Job/Work Experience:
I tutor independently and I also work at a tutoring company
I also am lab certified and have done research
Volunteer/Community service:
Mostly religious volunteering. I also volunteered at a tutoring center at my school for NHS.
Summer Activities: Took classes at a local college. I also got my lab certification during the summer.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Honestly I thought that they were good. I wrote about coming to America as a refugee and how education for people of my religion was forbidden in my home country. I talked about how much I loved learning and that I was determined to learn and get an education no matter what. I guess they weren’t as good as I thought.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):Humanities: 4/10 he accidentally referred to me as a “he” even though I am a girl. Showed that he had copied and pasted the rec. Wrote nice stuff though
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):Science: 10/10 said I was the single smartest student that she has ever met, but that I was also willing to help everyone out.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): Counselor: 10/10 she personally knows me and wrote about how I was one of the most outstanding people she knew. She talked about my dad’s mental illness, which I hadn’t talked about in my application
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): none
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 6/10 it was short, and we didn’t have similar interests. He was really into sports and asked me a bit about that, and I could only talk about how I used to figure skate. Looked bad on my part because I had quit figure skating in sophomore year. I also forgot to send him a thank you email afterwards.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: CS
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Even though I am a refugee both of my parents have degrees. My mom even has a masters so idk

Reflections:
Strengths: my test scores
Weaknesses: probably my essays and interview. I really thought that my essays were good this time, but I guess not.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: because they didn’t like my personality? idk man
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected: Stanford and Caltech
Accepted: SDSU (Honors), UCI (Honors), UCSB (Chancellors), Cal Poly SLO (invite to Honors but I haven’t applied yet)

General Comments (if any): They say that the decision isn’t a judgement of you as a person, but it’s really starting to feel like it is. I don’t know what else I could have done in high school to improve my application without hurting my own health. I had the test scores, a few good awards, and decent extracurriculars. It’s really starting to look like the thing that is holding me back is just me as a person. Maybe I didn’t write enough about how I moved to America, or maybe I should’ve talked about my home situation with my dad more. I didn’t though because I was naive enough to think that I didn’t have to exploit all of my personal problems to get accepted. I thought that my hard work would show for itself and that if I got accepted somewhere, it would have been because of what I did, not because of all of the “hooks” that I could have had. It isn’t just getting rejected by MIT, it’s that I know I will get rejected from the Ivy’s I applied to also because I didn’t write enough about my history that really gets me. So ya, the thing that I’m getting away from this is that my personality sucks.