MIT EA 2024 Results

**For activities, please only list whatever you put on your application

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

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown): 35 C, 36 M, 36 R, 34 S, 35 E Note: Not all same test
SAT II: 800 M2, 700 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Weighted GPA: 4.52
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Phys 1 - 3, AP CSA - 5, AP Euro - 5, AP Lang - 5, APUSH - 4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Phys C Mech, AP Calc BC, AP Comp Princ, AP Gov, AP Microecon, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, The George Washington University Book Award, Department of CS Award, VEX Design Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Deacon at DKM (local church), School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, VEX Robotics Leadership Council, Science National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: SNHS
Summer Activities: Research Internship, Volunteering at church outreach, Ethiopian Soccer Tournament
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Culture Essay (10): Talked about how my Ethiopian and American cultures collide but can combine beneficial aspects to achieve success
Do for Fun Essay (10): Talked about how I play basketball to relieve my stress from school, through a play-through of a basketball game
Why MIT Essay (9): Talked about why I liked CS, Course 6-3, and talked about StartMIT entrepreneurship program with Sandbox Innovation Fund to pay for it
Help the Community Essay (10): Talked about why I joined my church outreach program and how I help it to achieve its goals
Describe your World Essay (5): Talked about my parents’ background as refugees, my separate world in academia, and how both inspired me to do CS and research
Significant Challenge (9): Talked about how I wanted to try out for basketball but had asthma. I overcame my mental limits of running until I couldn’t breathe and I finally was able to run a full mile and got on the team.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10. My CS teacher wrote this rec and she said she was perfecting it up until the deadline. Always have done well in her class and helped out others.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9. My AP Euro teacher wrote this one and I excelled in her class and always participated.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 9. My counselor had notes from meetings to write about.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 10. My SSMV teacher submitted a rec explaining the program with a SSR. Always participated and she knew about my research projects.
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 9. We went 20 mins over the 1 hour mark but we talked about different topics. Was not awkward at all.

Other: Submitted research supplement where I created a Python platform to teach high school students programming
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Course 6-3. CS and Engineering. Double major in Course 2 - Mechanical Engineering.
State (if domestic applicant): TN
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Magnet Public school
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first-gen, deacon

Reflections: I was surprised that I got in because of how low my SAT physics score was but I kind of knew that I had a chance because of how unique my application was.
Strengths: Essays (except for the world one), Recs, Interview, Activities
Weaknesses: SAT physics score, world essay, AP Physics score
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think I was accepted because I displayed a unique part of myself that not a lot of people possess, including being Ethiopian and a deacon at my church. I also wrote my essays in a way that was engaging and not superficial.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Lipscomb, waiting on GT and USC (merit)
General Comments (if any): Test scores don’t matter as much when you have a unique aspect to display. Take the time to display those aspects and make the admissions officer longing to find out more about you.

Just a question about your Do for Fun essay. What do you mean writing the essay “through a play-through of a basketball game”

As I was going play by play of a basketball game, being descriptive of course, I would interject the game’s score at certain times. It’s an interesting way of writing and makes you stand out more.

I’ve never met an MIT student who double majored in Course 2 and 6. I strongly encourage you to do some research and pick one. Course 6 students are in much higher demand by employers if that’s a consideration for you.

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t report
ACT (breakdown): 35C 33E 35M 36R 36S 9 essay
SAT II: 780 Chem 800 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA: 4.64/5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/451
AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro(5), Calc AB(5), APUSH(5), Lang(5), Chem(4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP German 4, AP Physics 1, AP US Gov/Microeconomics, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, Art 1(dropping 2nd semester), Soccer(dropping 2nd semester)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Competitive Overwatch(10,11)(Team Captain)- Was the team captain and shotcaller for an online competitive Overwatch team that took up the vast majority of my time during 10th and 11th grade.

Soccer(9,10,11,12)- Played frosh in freshman year, was cut sophomore year and then quit in the first semester of junior year. I came back in the second half of junior year and made varsity. Wrote my greatest challenge essay about this.

STEM Mentorship Program(11, 12)(Co-Founder+President)- STEM mentorship/tutoring program in collaboration with one of my middle school teachers to help struggling students. Wrote my community essay about this.

College Prep Club(11,12)(Co-Founder+President)- College prep club where we talk about preparing for college and essays and other stuff.

Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: N/A
Summer Activities/Fly-Ins:
Stanford IFSS Program(11)- 2 week program shadowing Stanford Chemistry PhD candidates. Highly competitive(~9% acceptance rate).

Summer@Brown(11)- 1 week Intro to Engineering Class. Program is more based on your ability to pay than anything else(but I did get a scholarship).

Columbia Engineering Experience(CE2)(12)- 3 day fly-in to Columbia where I learned a lot about engineering and specifically mentioned playing late night pickup soccer as something I wanted to do in college in additional info.

Hopkins Overnight Multicultural Experience(HOME)(12)- 3 day fly-in to Johns Hopkins where I learned that I wanted to join BSU.

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Identity Essay: 7/10. Probably the worst essay in my application. I wish I had gotten more words to elaborate on this in an official essay but it was pretty good. It reads a bit conjointed now but the overall message of me being biracial instead of just African American is there.

Hobby Essay: 10/10. Wrote about how listening to music helps me deal with almost everything in life and just enhances my day. I also mentioned that I was from a suburban neighborhood here.

Major Essay: 8/10. My reasons for liking materials science in this essay are a bit weak in this essay, but they work well enough. The latter half of the essay saved it because I put a major emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and the importance of taking risks and not being afraid to fail and trying again. I also name-dropped a lab here.

Community Essay: 9/10. I talked about how a STEM night demonstration at my school inspired me to become a role model for other African American and minority students as well as start my STEM mentorship program. It was alright but not amazing.

Background Essay: 8/10. This could’ve been the best essay in my application but I didn’t have enough time to get through as many drafts as I wanted to because I kept changing topics. I eventually settled on how my mom and my dad contributed to my ambition as well as my hobbies and how I became adaptable due to my mom divorcing twice.

Challenge Essay: 9/10. I wrote about my experience in soccer and I think that this could’ve moved to a 10 if it was better written. I also changed topics like 4-5 times up to where I decided on this essay a couple days before the deadline(same for the background one) and I wish that I would’ve had more time with it.

Additional Info: 8/10. Elaborated on each of my summer activities+fly-ins and what I learned from them.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10/10. From my chemistry teacher. Might not have been the most well written, but he’s my club advisor and he really likes me.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. From my AP Euro teacher. I never connected with her personally and she doesn’t really know my personality, but she’s always really liked me and encouraged me.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 6-7/10. I’m from a school where we have 400 students per counselor, so I really don’t know him at all. He’s always done what I’ve asked him to do, but he hasn’t ever really taken the initiative or tried to challenge me.

Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 9-10/10. Not really sure but this was my advisor and the overall program manager for the Stanford IFSS program. I stayed after the program hours with him, talked with him a lot, and we really vibed with each other.
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. We talked for an hour in a coffee shop and there was some awkwardness. The guy worked at JPL so that was really cool and I asked about the weather and there were some laughs and I think that I answered the questions pretty well.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: YES
Intended Major: Materials Science & Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Uncompetitive public ~2000 students
Ethnicity: Biracial(African-American and Caucasian)
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflections:
UTILIZE ADDITIONAL INFO!!!
Seeing the admits for EA, I see mostly hooked applicants. There are a lot of athletic recruits, URMs, first gen, LGBTQ+, and ofc the major award winners. I want to say I’m surprised, but that’s really how it is. T20 admissions are a crapshoot, and HYPSM admissions are a lottery. It’s really gratifying to get into my top school and one that is so prestigious, but for all those reading who are prospective applicants or waitlisted or rejected, realize that admissions can come down to the smallest of variables(AO was tired reading your app or something like that) and that’s just the nature of admissions.
Strengths: Stats, URM, Essays
Weaknesses: ECs, no major awards,
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Strong stats and good essays combined with URM.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Colorado School of Mines w/ 12k merit scholarship and applied to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB. Once my financial aid package comes I’m going to withdraw my other applications and commit.

General Comments (if any):

  1. Try to visit any college that is close to you or that you’re reaching for. If you can’t afford to, then look at fly-in programs(CAH #opportunities) or admitted student weekends. The only two reasons that I was inspired to put a lot of effort into college apps were because I was recommended a college reaction video this spring and that I visited Stanford for the first time around then as well. Visiting Stanford and MIT for the first time is surreal and I knew that I wanted to go to both of them after walking around their campus. In the end, I chose MIT over Stanford for EA because I felt that the school’s culture fit better with my personality, and that’s held true.
  1. Imposter syndrome and other irrational fears start the second you get over the shock of being accepted. After opening my decision, I've had to constantly remind myself that I'm accepted, that I deserve to be accepted, and that I won't get rescinded. Remember to maintain your mental health and check your ego if you get accepted.

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1490 (770M, 720E)
ACT (breakdown):35 (36E, 32M, 36R, 34S)
SAT II: 770 math 2 760 chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: 4.28 when I applied
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 on calc ab, micro/macro econ, lang, apush
Senior Year Course Load: calc bc, ap bio, ap csp, ap physics 1, ap lit, band
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): n/a

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity swim (2 yr captain), Engineering club (founder/president), NHS, marching band
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Volunteer/Community service: just NHS
Summer Activities: Worked in an MIT research lab between junior and senior year, got the internship because of family connection
Essays (rating 1-10, details): probably like a 7 idk
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Econ teacher, didn’t read
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): calc teacher, didn’t read
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): No idea
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): My supervising professor from my internship, probably pretty good
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): online, short but focused on desire to research

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: civil engineering
State (if domestic applicant): MI
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: rural public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: M
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): not really

Reflections:
Strengths: Classes correlating to intended major, leadership
Weaknesses: math scores, quantity of extracurriculars
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: it’s MIT, anyone who expects to get in is a fool
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted CWRU with 27.5K, UMich, UMNTC, Colorado School of Mines, other random safety/state schools, deferred UChicago & Tulane EA

General Comments (if any):

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 34 Composite; 35 E, 34 M, 33 R, 33 S
SAT II: 710 Math 1, 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.289 (now 4.294)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%, 2/320 as of this wek
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chem (5), AP Stats (5), APUSH (4), AP Physics 1 (4), AP US Gov (5), AP Euro (5), AP Lang (4), AP Calc BC (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: APES, AP Psych, Econ H, Independent Study in Physics C, Differential Equations, Multivariable Calculus
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): not major but National AP Scholar, Bausch and Lomb

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Cheerleading, National Honor Society, Debate Club (President)
Job/Work Experience: Cashier (12)
Volunteer/Community service: Cheerleading Coach (12)
Summer Activities: Summer program in Arabic, a few other small activities
Essays (rating 1-10, details): honestly no clue, 7-8

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Physics teacher, didn’t read
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): History teacher, didn’t read
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): No clue, I’m close with her though
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Head coach of the cheer team I coached, probably very good
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 8, I thought it went well

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: physics
State (if domestic applicant): ct
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white/middle eastern
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a

Reflections:
Strengths: I think my essays were pretty good and descriptive, they superscore ACT so it’s in the range
Weaknesses: I definitely messed up the ECs section, because I couldn’t figure out how many hours per year I participated in stuff
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think my SAT IIs were a little low, and I also don’t really have any science ECs.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
SMU (Accepted - President’s Scholar Finalist), UHart, CCSU, UHouston, Tulane (deferred)

General Comments (if any):

ACCEPTED! YESSS!!! ED
My stats
1120 SAT
3.7 GPA (weighted)
2 honors classes
Sophomore class secretary
Senior yearbook assistant editor
4H - 2nd place State Crossbreed Gilt (Swine)
Good at writing essays