***MIT EA Results/Discussion Class of 2021***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21

let’s get this ball rolling

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/720/800/10 (2320)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): no superscore (2320)
SAT II (subject, score): Physics (800), Math II (780), USH (770)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: School doesn’t weight GPA’s, but by my own calculations it’s about 4.65
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics 1 (4), Physics C (Mech:4, E&M:5), US History (5), Calc AB (5), Seminar (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, Financial Literacy, Guitar, AP Calc BC, AP Research, Engineering Design and Development, Physics 234 (dual enrollment with my state’s technical institute)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 10
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Genes in Space Genetic Research Competition Honorable Mention Winner (2016) (one of the sponsors of this competition was MIT, so I hope they noticed lmao)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, four year honor roll, Presidential Scholar nominee, National Honor Society member

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Varsity Captain of the one of the top 3 fencing teams in the state, best in the county, district, league, etc., member for all 4 years. I also fence year-round through a club. Other activities include sailing, research internships, fostering dogs.
Job/Work Experience: Private tutoring, I worked at Kumon for like a year. I’m also an engineering technician/intern for the US Army and work in weapons development.
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteer at a hospice center, community service through my school.
Summer Experience: I took summer courses at my high school summer 2015, had an research internship at my state’s technical institute summer of 2016, fenced at a local club, competitively sailed, traveled and read.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (8, wrote about spending days by myself in NYC just exploring)
Department at MIT: (10, wrote about the physics department)
World You Come From: (8, wrote about being one of eight children)
Significant Challenge: (6, wrote about moving and having to adjust)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: N/A

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Physics C teacher, 10/10, he writes amazing recs, liked me for being one of the four girls in his course, and all of kids from my school who get into ivies have him write their recs ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Seminar/AP Research teacher, 10/10, he is one of my favorite teachers and was my research mentor for competitions I entered, I’m pretty sure I’m one of his favorite students
Counselor Rec: 7/10, it’s not that my counselor doesn’t like me, he just writes mundane recs and is kinda a boring guy
Additional Rec: The MIT fencing coach wrote me a supplemental recommendation because he wants me to fence for his team.
Interview: I think it went really well, we talked about all sorts of things and I feel like I got to give a really good idea of who I am; the interviewer seemed to think I was an interesting person, which helps.
Research Supplement: I submitted an engineering research paper I wrote this summer on building/troubleshooting a chemical ionization mass spectrometer. I had my graduate professor/research mentor at my state’s technical institution write my supplement rec, and he told me that he only had great things to say, so I hope that really highlighted my research experience.

Other
Date Submitted App: 10/21
U.S. State/Territory or Country: New Jersey
School Type: Highly competitive magnet
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 300k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): female in physics, not really/kinda recruited athlete

Reflection
Strengths: four years of physics (5 semesters, AP and college level), high SAT scores, somewhat high GPA, lots of research experience, success in fencing, being a girl in physics
Weaknesses: my “significant challenge” essay, I thought the subject matter was kind of weak. Lower SATII Math II score, 4’s on 2 of my physics AP tests, and not having a lot of academic awards (besides the basic ones).
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I don’t know, everyone that applies is just as qualified, there’s really no telling
What would you have done differently?: I did all I could tbh, maybe if I had a more significant challenge or stronger scores
Where else did you apply?: WPI and Rutgers, and am planning on applying to Yale, Princeton, and Columbia

General Comments & Advice: the whole thing is a crap shoot, no one gets into these schools. stay off of cc, it only makes you feel bad about yourself tbh

22

Please note that I filled out this form on 12/10 in order to limit bias.

Decision - DEFERRED

[ b]Objective:[ /b]

SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 780M, 750R - 1530

SAT I regular - 1510, math dropped to a 760 but it’s all good

ACT (breakdown): 35 E, 34 M, 34 R, 30 S – 33.25 C (science sucked but I didn’t really feel like spending 50 bucks on another standardized test)

I also sent them two 31s because I wanted to show a gradual increase. It was kind of a waste of money in retrospect.

ACT superscore (breakdown): ^ fun fact: I sent them 3 ACTs, each of which had a 30 on the science section :))) that was a horrible idea but whatever

SAT II (subject, score): 800 Chemistry, 800 Math II

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0

Weighted GPA: 4.65

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1st out of 326

AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry 5, Calc AB 5, English Language 5, Psychology 5, APUSH 4, AP Spanish Lang and Culture 3

Won the AP scholar with distinction award. Also, I didn’t submit them of course, but I got 2s on AP Human Geo and AP World History as an underclassman :slight_smile: I really just didn’t care at the time

IB (place score in parentheses): N/A.

Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 1 (my school only offers 1 year of ap physics. I would’ve taken 2 and C), AP Statistics, AP Literature, AP Macro/Micro (each single semester classes) , AP US Government (single semester), AP Calculus BC, AP Comp Sci A

Number of other EA applicants in your school: 0

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): I don’t know what this is

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):
AP Scholar With Distinction
Presumptive Valedictorian
Superintendent Diploma of Distinction
National Honor Society
Most Likely To Succeed Superlative (Idk why I put this haha)

[ b]Subjective:[ /b]
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

president of science club. did local competitions and stuff, nothing impressive by MIT standards
public relations officer of Student Government Association
vice president of national honor society - helped organize campaign for homeless population at my school
president of AVID tutoring program at my school - made changes in the program to connect better with students.

EC’s that I decided not to put -
varsity academic team (this is gross. idk why i did this. it’s like “oh! look at me! I’m really smart!” )
founder/president of debate club (talked about politics and stuff)
ultimate frisbee
spanish honor society and a few other things

Job/Work Experience:
worked as a salesman at my family’s video game store - sold video games (duh) and software stuff
babysitting (pretty self explanatory)

Volunteer/Community Service: 150+ hours, tons of tutoring and stuff for SGA
volunteered at a free clinic to provide care for those who have no medical care/insurance

Summer Experience:
Working at my family’s game store, taking calculus classes at local community college, and enjoying time with friends. Did they ask this though???

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

Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: I play the guitar. I wrote about preforming in a concert when I was a little kid - no impressive accomplishments, didn’t submit my music or anything. I love playing but I never said I was good haha

Department at MIT: Math - but right after I submitted my app I wanted to change it to ChemE

World You Come From: Living in Florida I went to the kennedy space center to watch rockets launch - wrote about my love for physics

Significant Challenge: very, very personal. Most of the essay focused on how I overcame early challenges in my life (family issues)

Additional Essay/QB Essays: N/A

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Teacher Recommendation #1: Greatest teacher I’ve ever had - she got me a 5 on AP Chem and a perfect score on the subject test. She taught me so well that I didn’t even have to study for the Chem SAT, taking it 5 months after the AP exam. All the material was still fresh in my head. The rec letter was great imo, but idk what admissions officers consider to be “great.”

Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Lang teacher. She’s an english teacher, so I imagine her rec was pretty good? I never saw it, so I’m pretty much just guessing here.

Counselor Rec: I don’t know him too well, but he said he was really impressed by my initiative. I kinda came out of nowhere (I had to drop Algebra in the 7th grade because I used to suck at math) and then I started taking a bunch of math classes and, after skipping a few and taking some online, I made it into the highest class our school offered and became #1 in the class. (This isn’t impressive to MIT at all though obviously. Most MIT applicants were doing calculus as infants lmao)

Additional Info/Rec: AP Calculus teacher, one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. His rec was great imo as well.

Interview: Very, very bad. I feel like I was just wasting his time - he started talking about how unlikely it was that any applicants from my area would be accepted, and that most applicants get deferred. I obviously already knew this, but I was expecting a much better interview. Oh well

Art Supplement: I should’ve submitted one of my stick figure drawings and/or doodles on my notes. I have no artistic ability whatsoever.

[ b]Other[ /b]
Date Submitted App: 11/1/16

U.S. State/Territory or Country: La Florida

School Type: Regular public high school? Idk what this means. We’re not one of those schools that poops out ivy applicants, if that’s what you’re asking.

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Income Bracket Range: my parents won’t tell me because it’s “none of my business” but I imagine it’s pretty thicc

Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): I am a straight white male that comes from an affluent family and has no hooks whatsoever. My mom didn’t even go to college, and my dad went to a small school in SC.

[ b]Reflection[ /b]
Strengths: I consider myself to be a pretty confident person. I really wanted to go to MIT but even if I get rejected its all gucci.

Weaknesses: I haven’t cured cancer (YET). I’m also not the child of a world leader

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Well I’m filling this out before decisions are out, but I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that I was rejected.

I think I was rejected because MIT couldn’t handle the sauce.

What would you have done differently?: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I loved my 4 years in high school. Even if it makes me a less competitive applicant, I’d rather be able to say that I enjoyed time with my friends than I competed in math competitions and studied physics in my free time or whatever.

Where else did you apply?

UF & MIT early.

Regular - Caltech, a few ivies, Georgia Tech, possibly FSU if I feel like it.

[ b]Other Factors: [ /b]

[ b]General Comments & Advice:

“If a man does not have the sauce, then he is lost. But the same man can be lost in the sauce.” - gucci mane

I’m really proud of everything I’ve done in high school. Even if I don’t get into MIT, it’s okay. Time to move on with my life - I can’t get caught up on this forever :slight_smile:

BTW if you’re an applicant that’s lurking around on these forums, you may want to glance over them, but don’t spend all day on here stressing.

23

Decision: adMITted

I did it, mom! Class of 2021 is going to be lit!

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown M/CR&W/Essay): 790 / 680 / 23
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR&W/Essay): See above
ACT (breakdown E/M/E/S/Essay): 27 / 34 / 31 / 35 / 30
ACT superscore (breakdown): See above
SAT II (subject, score): 800, M2 / 750, Chemistry / 710, Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Weighted GPA: 5.11
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parentheses): 11 TOTAL - Human Geo (3) / World Hist (3) / Biology (3) / Statistics (4) / Art Hist (3) / Physics 1 (3) / English Lang (4) / Chemistry (4) / Comp Sci (4) / US Hist (5) / Calc AB (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): None
Senior Year Course Load: Classical Lit Hon / AP Eng Lit / AP US Gov / AP Macroecon / AP Psych / AP Enviro Sci / AP Physics C (M and E&M) / AP Calc BC
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): ha
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, got accepted at College Academy, the usually honor roll

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Junior Academy of Science - 10-12 - President
Boy Scouts - since 1st grade - previously served SPL
Venturing Scouts - 11-12 - VP of Administration
AP Tutoring - 11-12
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: See Extracurriculars. I often help with Eagle and Summit projects. I tutor AP Students.
Summer Experience: Duel Enrollment at CC for Philosophy / Scouting Summer Camp in Camp Powatan for a week

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: I just wrote about myself.
Department at MIT: Mathematics (I just wrote about myself.)
World You Come From: I just wrote about myself.
Significant Challenge: I just wrote about myself.

Teacher Recommendation #1: My teacher knows me well.
Teacher Recommendation #2: My teacher knows me well.
Principal Rec: I can’t critique my principal’s letter.
Additional Info/Rec: They did their job. I shouldn’t critique their letters. They all attempted to bring the best out of me in their own way.
Interview: Excellent, but incomparable to others’. It went smoothly.

Other

Date Submitted App: 10/31
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Florida
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ~$30K
Hooks: Highest education in my family is my mother’s AA degree. Low income. I stand out in a school that may have below average test scores and used all resources (I took DE and even three APs on FLVS)

Reflection

Strengths: Used all available resources. Active in Boy Scouts and Venturing Scouts.
Weaknesses: Low Reading and Writing scores. Low AP scores. No major awards. No research project. No art or music supplement.
Why you think you were accepted: I stood out. I did everything I could to help myself and my community. I expressed myself in the interview and my essays. There wasn’t a day where I didn’t work hard despite all my friends giving up.
What would you have done differently?: I would have done a research project or participated in AMC or AIME had I know about it earlier on in High School.
Where else did you apply? UF (That’s it.)

General Comments & Advice: I want this to be an encouragement for all those who think they couldn’t get accepted to MIT just because they came from a school like Northeast High. No one in my school has been accepted in a top university in who knows how many years! This is a huge achievement for our school and will definitely encourage others to work hard and never give up! Our school has low test scores, but I did everything I could, and so could others. I wasn’t gifted with people who told me to join AIME or AMC. I went to an ordinary public school with ordinary people and low income parents who weren’t aware about all the opportunities I could have had. But people encouraged me. They gave me hope. And that’s all I needed. If you’re applying, then you never know what’s going to happen! Go for what you’re enthusiastic about, but don’t obsess. You can do it!

24

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1520
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II:
Math: 800
Chem: 730
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99 probably
Weighted GPA: 4.41
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP CS – 5, AP Calc BC – 5; taking a lot of APs this year though
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USA_O Finalist (*2), Siemens Semifinalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): USA_O, Siemens, own businesses
Job/Work Experience: Web Development Intern
Volunteer/Community service: Mainly FTC
Summer Activities: Chess, relaxing, internship
Essays (rating 1-10, details): avg probably 6/10
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
History teacher: 8
CS teacher: 7
Counselor Rec: 7
Interview: meh

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major: CS/Business
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Magnet
Ethnicity: Asian

Gender: M
Income Bracket: high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: ECs
Weaknesses: essays, SAT chem
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: idk i should have spent more time on my essays and stuff. At the time I wrote them I didn’t want to do things just to get into college (since this seemed like a waste of time and uninteresting to me) and essays/SAT/etc. therefore sounded to me like a bad idea to prepare for. However, I now see I probably should have tried more on them.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments:

25

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t submit but 2260
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):^
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36 E, 35 M, 35 R, 35 S)
SAT II (subject, score): Math II (790), Bio E (760)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.58
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 1%
AP (place score in parentheses): AP USH(4), AP Gov(4), AP Bio(4), AP Calc BC(4), AP Env Sci(5), AP Micro (Self-Study) (5), AP English Lang(5), AP World(5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, Calc 3 (dual enrolled at local uni), AP Music Theory, AP Spanish, AP Comp Sci
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Nothing crazy
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National AP Scholar, Saunders Scholars National Semifinalist, National History Day 1st place state competition and some others

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Co-Founder of a company, President of county’s peer to peer tutoring system, Chairman of city/county youth civics council, National History Day team
Job/Work Experience: Intern at a tech company
Volunteer/Community Service: Peer to Peer tutoring, local hospital, mentorship
Summer Experience: Spent summer at MIT for their Launch program, Travelled to 7 countries the year before, and took original credit summer courses for the summer before my sophomore year.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: 8 (Talked about playing guitar)
Community Service: 9 - Talked about peer tutoring
Department at MIT: 7, talked about personal experience with MIT business department but didn’t spend too much describing why I enjoy business
World You Come From: 7 Thought it was well written but probably not the most interesting topic
Significant Challenge: 7 Talked about adapting to Calculus
Culture Essay: 9 Really liked this one

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP USH teacher 8/10, Him and I are pretty close and he talked about how I was among his best students in 32 years of teaching
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Bio teacher, 5.5/10, She clearly rushed this letter and essentially just summarized my resume. Did not find out until after it was sent
Counselor Rec: 8/10, She’s new so she doesn’t know me as well but it had everything I believe should be in a counselor letter

Interview:Thought it went well, we spent most of the time discussing VR/Artificial Intelligence

Other
Date Submitted App: 11/1
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Maryland
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 120k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Kinda first generation but not really

Reflection
Strengths: High GPA, decent test scores, strong leadership positions
Weaknesses: Subpar math test scores, weak science letter, some of my school stuff was sent in late, no portfolios
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea. Not as in a “I definitely deserved to get in” way, just that there are multiple reasons to choose the extremely impressive candidates that apply over me.
What would you have done differently?: Submit earlier, ask for a backup recommendation letter
Where else did you apply?: UVA and UMD for early action

26

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): No send
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): No send
ACT (breakdown): 33, I forget Math Science and Writing was high but reading dropped it down alot oops
ACT superscore (breakdown): 33
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 760 Chem, 780 Bio (forget which one)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Not in my school but with calculator I calculated 3.7
Weighted GPA: 4.2-4.3?
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School don’t have
AP (place score in parentheses): BC 5, Stat 5, Phys 4
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: Upper-limits of my school curriculum, but for sake of privacy I will not share the names of the courses as they are really specific lol
Number of other EA applicants in your school: No idea
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): AIME qualification, some nice swimming awards tho
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): The usual

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Swimming, Math Club
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Lots of Special Olympics things, especially involving swimming - man I love swimming
Summer Experience:
Swimming, traveled to another country for a bit meet
College apps - my senior friend suggested that I start early
P-Therapy - had injury in shoulder, again :frowning:

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Honestly I my essays were so bad, Im surprised that I wasn’t flat out rejected
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Teacher Recommendation #1: 10 for sure, don’t question it
Teacher Recommendation #2: same as above
Counselor Rec: same
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: was great
Art Supplement:

Other

Date Submitted App: 10/30
U.S. State/Territory or Country: USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 0-200k somewhere in there
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

Reflection

Strengths: Specifically for MIT, I don’t think I have any :(((
Weaknesses: Messed up essays hugely - yes, that is a word
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Academic rigor? - trust me these classes are very tough, and I think that is why my school doesn’t report GPA’s
What would you have done differently?: Essays
Where else did you apply?

General Comments & Advice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u3xaicPnA0 - watch this, very helpful

27

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): old SAT 2380 (800 M 780 CR 800 W)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 800 Chem, 760 Lit, 740 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Weighted GPA: school doesn’t use, but my calculations ~4.75
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%; school doesn’t use except top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Compsci (5), AP Chinese (5), AP Calc AB (5), AP World History (4), AP Bio (4), AP Chem (4), AP Lang & Comp (5), APUSH (4), AP Calc BC (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C E&M, AP Lit, AP Gov/Econ, Japanese 4H, Multivar Calc
Number of other EA applicants in your school: idk
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): national & international level Go awards
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Go Club, National Chinese Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: (currently) Online business selling fashion retail, Go teacher at Chinese School, private tutor
Volunteer/Community Service: teaching Go
Summer Experience: interned in VC firm @ Shanghai, travelled to Japan

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
they were all meh

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Teacher Recommendation #1: didn’t read
Teacher Recommendation #2: didn’t read
Counselor Rec: hopefully ok
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: good i think
Art Supplement, Music Supplement

Other

Date Submitted App: forgot
U.S. State/Territory or Country: USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

Reflection

Strengths: not much haha
Weaknesses: no science awards, not much stem involvement
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: grades/stats (?)
What would you have done differently?: Essays, try to be more involved in stem competitions
Where else did you apply?

General Comments & Advice:

28

Decision: Accepted
Objective:[ul]
[]SAT: 1540 (E: 790, M: 750)
[]SAT II: 800 Math2, 730 Physics (yikes)
[]ACT: HA NOPE
[]GPA: 3.87 uw, 4.43 w
[]Rank: 24/1276
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5’s: HGAP, Euro, BC Calc, Comp Sci, Stats, Spanish Lang, English Lang. 4’s: APUSH, WHAP
[]Awards: National AP Scholar, NMSF, NAACP Image Award and ACT-SO Bronze Medalist, nothing much else
[/ul][ b]Subjective**[ul]
[]EC’s: VP of Comp Sci club, former captain of Quiz Bowl Team, NHS and all that good stuff that everyone does, part of tech team at church
[]Job/Work Experience: Basketball Referee
[]Volunteer/Community Service: Robots-4-U, other stuff through NHS, tutoring
[]Summer Experience: MOSTEC '16 (OEOP shoutout)
[/ul]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details)[ul]
[]Cultural Identity: (9/10) BLACK PEOPLE REPRESENT
[]Pleasure: (7/10) Soccer, playing and watching
[]Department: (8/10) EECS with my boy Joe Steinmeyer
[]Community: (6 or 7/10) My experience with volunteering for Robots-4-U
[]The world you come from: (8.5/10) BLACK PEOPLE REPRESENT AGAIN
[]Challenge: (5/10) Talked about the time I got a B in HGAP cause it was my first AP class, very pretentious
[]APUSH Teacher rec: He said I was his favorite in the past few years so 10/10
[]Calc Teacher rec: She liked me but had a lot to write 7/10
[]Counselor rec: School has system where teachers basically write this one 8/10
[]Supplementals: MOSTEC Course Eval, my instructor wrote a glowing review
[/ul]Other:[ul]
[]Date Submitted App: Literally on Halloween
[]State: TX
[]School Type: Public
[]Ethnicity: You should know by now
[]Gender: Male
[]Hooks: URM I guess
[/ul]Reflection:[ul]
[]Strengths: Scores, teacher recs, Jesus
[]Weakness: Scores, EC’s, essays
[]Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Jesus cause I can think of no reason I should have gotten in when I see some of these other people’s resumes
[]What would you have done differently?: Maybe retaken the SAT to get a better math score, also do more stuff outside school
[]Where else did you apply?: Caltech (admitted), OU(admitted), UT (auto-admit), Rice, Duke, the usual
[/ul]General Comments and Advice:[list]
[*]Again, Jesus. There must be a God for all this to happen.

29

How are all of you rating the essays? A calculated guess on your part?

30

DEFERRED

see my app here.

really disappointed, felt really confident. wtf??? maybe my interview wasn’t so good?

31

@fmasroor are you censoring your essays for fear of copying?

32

yeah and so if anyone writes something they don’t get accused of plagiarism and copying from me if they didn’t. it shouldn’t be able to copypaste stuff.

also I was lazy about copypasting into that text template.

33

Decision: Accepted (Not attending)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): old SAT 2210 (760 R 740 M 710 W)
ACT: 34
SAT II (subject, score): 780 Math 2, 730 Chem, 800 Bio
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Weighted GPA: 4.66
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/500
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (3) Psych (5) Euro (5) Physics 1 (3) Human Geo (5) Calc AB (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): SL Spanish (6) SL Philosophy (6)
Senior Year Course Load: HL Biology, HL Chemistry, HL Math, HL English, HL Philosophy, TOK, AP Lit
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): HOSA State Leadership Medical Math 4th place, HOSA National Service Project Award
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, NM Semifinalist, National Chemistry Award Nominee

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: HOSA, Science Olympiad, Mu Alpha Theta, NHS,
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Tutoring, 400+ hours teaching elementary art classes
Summer Experience: Art Camp Volunteering

Essays:
Pretty good, very honest, nothing fancy

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Teacher Recommendation #1: didn’t read
Teacher Recommendation #2: didn’t read
Counselor Rec: didn’t read
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Poor

Other

Date Submitted App: Right before deadline. Idk the day
U.S. State/Territory or Country: USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: Low/Middle
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): First in family to attend 4-year institution

Reflection

Strengths: Essays
Weaknesses: Interview
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Had math/science scores/awards to show I was qualified but wrote essays about community service, art, and photography
What would you have done differently?: Nothing, I guess?
Where else did you apply? Vanderbilt ED (Accepted), GaTech (Retracting application), U of Miami (Retracting application)

34

@ObitoSigma

I got deferred, so I’m tasting some salt, but when I saw you got accepted, I smiled for the first time today.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a post or question on this forum where you replied something incredibly useful, kind, or important. Out of all the people on CC, you deserve the acceptance the most, so congratulations from me.

35

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
ACT(E,M,R,S,W): 34,32,32,36,22 (34 Composite)
SAT II (subject, score): Physics (790), Math II (700)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.57
Weighted GPA: 4.26
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not sure, school doesn’t provide this info readily.
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics 1 (4), Physics 2 (4), Computer Science A (4), English Language and Composition (4), Music Theory (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Calc BC, Introduction to Engineering, Physics C Mech + E&M, AP Chemistry, American Government.
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 8
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Not really one for competitions, but I was Ohio State Sporting Clays Sub-Junior Champion for 2 consecutive years.
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, honor roll for 3 years

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Sound Design/Music Production, Sporting Clays, Tutoring, DIY Electronics
Job/Work Experience: Stage hand for a local staging company. Helped set up and tear down large venues.
Volunteer/Community Service: Crew at YMCA Camp Ernst as well as tutoring at my grade-school
Summer Experience: Sonic Arts Workshop @ Oberlin Conservatory, E-Team & Crew @ Camp Ernst

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (7, talked about going shooting with my dad)
Department at MIT: (9, wrote about the electrical engineering department)
World You Come From: (6, my family is nothing special, wrote about the slightly significant mathematical heritage)
Significant Challenge: (8, wrote about my experience music theory. Definitely out of my element there)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: (5, wrote a short paragraph about how I am very deeply involved with music and provided samples to listen to since their music portfolio does not have an electronic section)

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t read, good marks though
Teacher Recommendation #2: Didn’t read, no idea what it said
Counselor Rec: They never disclose these
Additional Rec: N/a
Interview: I thought I did well, the conversation focused on a lot of larger topics that I hadn’t really thought about before, the dude said that I would be a good fit though so yay.
Research Supplement: n/a

Other
Date Submitted App: 10/30
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Ohio
School Type: College Preparatory Public Highschool
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ~150k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): basically nothing. Perhaps a strong interest in synthesis which might be uncommon, but I’m about as bog-standard as it gets.

Reflection
Strengths: AP classes surround science. High ACT and somewhat high SAT scores. I believe my essays were well written but I begin to doubt the subjects which they were written about.
Weaknesses: Nothing seems to be particularly special about me in particular. I am not top of the class and I don’t participate in a lot of community activities.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’m just like 1000’s of other applicants
What would you have done differently?: Make my essays more focused around one central idea rather than try to cover everything. Perhaps not get my hopes up so much.
Where else did you apply?: Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Case Western, University of Cincinnati
General Comments & Advice: I just want to know if I get admitted in to a college at this point. All my friends are getting acceptance letters left and right yet all I have is a deferred MIT application.

36

@ tintininamerica I compare to my essays to other schools

37

I’ve spent too many hours on CC prowling through the MIT threads to not give back, so here it is. I filled this out before to avoid bias.

Decision: adMITted!!!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR+W/Essay): 800/780/22
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): same as above
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2 (800), Physics (790), Literature (730), 700 on Japanese but didn’t send Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): > 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.24 / 5.4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/400ish
AP (place score in parentheses): 5s on Calc AB, Calc BC, English Lit, Biology, English Lang, Statistics, Macroeconomics, Physics C Mechanics, Japanese, and US History. 4s on World History, Physics 1 and 2, Physics C E&M (rip physics), Psych, and Computer Science
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Linear Algebra and Real Analysis + Fundamentals of Public Speaking from Harvard Extension, AP Micro, Music Theory, online AP Gov and 2 online gym classes for grad requirements
Number of other EA applicants in your school: ~ 3? Everybody’s pretty cagey though, there are probably more
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 2x AIME, 1x Math Prize for Girls, 2x NACLO Semifinalist, Stanford Reischauer Scholar (pretty obscure tho), The Fountainhead Essay Contest finalist (lol), State AP Scholar
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): NMSF, 2x National AP Scholar, USACO Silver, 3x All-State Orchestra, etc.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Varsity math team, 4 years, current captain (team is pretty strong, we’ve been winning the states for around 5 years now)
NACLO (linguistics) club, 3 years, founder/president (one of three schools in the state to offer the exam…the other two are Philips Exeter and St. Paul’s lol)
Japanese club, 2 years, founder/co-president (a lot of the kids are English language learners)
Varsity quiz bowl, 3 years, current captain
Programming club, 2 years, have attended a few competitions as varsity/JV member
Variety of honors societies, but I don’t think I wound up putting these

Job/Work Experience:
Software intern in industrial engineering company since last summer (my hours are pretty sporadic though), code math-y stuff and algorithms
Software intern in consulting firm since this summer, do a lot of stats and data analysis with R

Volunteer/Community Service:
Co-founded my own math nonprofit for girls, 3 years, ran after school stuff and offer free tutoring

Summer Experience:
Month-long Japanese immersion program in Minnesota (don’t ask)
Received scholarship from the Japanese government to study abroad in Japan for 6 weeks!

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

Essays:
Cultural Identity: Talked about disconnect from Indian culture and connection with Japanese culture, got the idea across somehow. 7.5/10
What You Do For Pleasure: Video games! This one was really from the heart, but I thought it could be longer. 9.5/10
Department at MIT: Double major in 6-3/18 + minor in Japanese, threw in a Beatles reference, 8/10
World You Come From: Talked about how a universe in a video game shaped my own world. Complicated, but I liked it so much that I expanded it for the Common App essay - 10/10
Significant Challenge: Not making AIME after making it two years in a row…:stuck_out_tongue: fortunate enough to not have had any really significant struggles, I guess. 6/10
Community Service: Talked about getting girls into math w/ nonprofit, not much room for creativity 6/10
Additional Essay/QB Essays: N/A

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):

*waived FERPA rights so I didn’t read any recs
Teacher Recommendation #1: Calculus teacher - she taught me in 8th grade for honors Calc, 9th grade for BC, and head teacher for the school math team. She’s known me longer than anybody else at the school and has come to some of my quiz bowl matches and stuff and I basically love her to death. She’s been writing me recs since the beginning of junior year so I imagine this one was pretty good :slight_smile:
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Lit teacher - I had her in 10th grade but still go to her class to chill and fangirl about books regularly. She’s also written me recs before and she said this one was awesome, so I’ll take her word for it!
Counselor Rec: I can walk into her office without appointment - we’re pretty close, and she’s taken really good care of me. She said that she tried to keep her rec to two pages but wound up making it longer, so it was probably pretty good!
Additional Info/Rec: My linear algebra professor at Harvard Extension. He’s been teaching at Harvard for around 50 years and said that I’m better than a lot of the Harvard freshmen who take his undergrad classes (nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me, not gonna lie)
Interview: I was nervous before because he never got the email in which I actually said that I was coming, but it was pretty awesome! He could tell that I was really enthusiastic, and told me at the end that he appreciated that I never brought up my 800 on the SAT math section from 7th grade (apparently he Googled me and saw the newspaper article…lol).
Art Supplement: N/A

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/26 ish
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NH
School Type: Large public
Ethnicity: Asian Indian
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range: high enough that my parents have never actually told me
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none, girl in STEM isn’t much of a hook when applying to MIT :stuck_out_tongue:

Reflection:
Strengths: Really passionate about the things that I chose to do!
Weaknesses: I’m kind of all over the place and not SUPER good at anything…and my ECs could be better.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
What would you have done differently?: My only regret is not doing better on the AP Physics exams or CS, but other than that, nothing!
Where else did you apply? Applied to Trinity College at Cambridge University, UIUC, applying to Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton if I’m feeling energetic for regular

General Comments & Advice:
Do what you love! I struggled to find what I really wanted to do for a long time before finding it and going totally for it. MIT has always been my dream school and I’m glad that I get a chance to go :slight_smile:

38

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/800/800/9 (2400)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT II (subject, score): Physics (800), Math II (800), Biology (800), Chemistry (750), Chinese (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.8545/6.0 (my school requires that many decimal places to rank I believe)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), Stats (5), Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (5), Physics C Mech (5), Physics C E&M (5), Chemistry (5), Biology (5), Chinese (5), Eng Language and Comp (5), US History (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Eng Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP Computer Science 2, AP US Government, AP Macroeconomics, Organic Chemistry (honors, weighted as AP), PE (elegiggle)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: ~10? not sure
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): USAMO Qualifier, USAPhO Honorable Mention twice, ISSYP attendee
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar stuff

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Mu Alpha Theta for all four years, Junior Engineering and Technical Society (SciOly club) for all four years, various honor societies like art, chinese, science, and regular; no real leadership role though.
Job/Work Experience: I work as a TA for a local math camp and teach math and physics from MathCounts to AIME.
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteering through various honor societies
Summer Experience: I took pre-calculus over the summer between 9th and 10th, did the AwesomeMath summer program in the summer between 10th and 11th, and attended ISSYP (a physics camp thing at Perimeter Institute) in the summer between 11th and 12th.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details): I’m not going to rate because the ratings won’t be accurate. However, there was a glaring logical/grammatical mistake in one of my essays: I accidentally deleted a “not”, completely reversing the meaning of a sentence. I’m sure the intended meaning is clear; however, I imagine that still hurts me.
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (wrote about whistling)
Department at MIT: (math and physics)
World You Come From: (wrote about growing up with my grandparents)
Significant Challenge: (wrote about a rap video we did for school)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: N/A

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Physics C teacher, I think he liked me, knew him well since freshman year, hella dedicated teacher (mad respect)
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Eng Lang teacher, I think she liked me too
Counselor Rec: no clue
Additional Rec: my employer wrote me a letter too, I hope it was okay?
Interview: I think it was not that great; my interviewer was brutally efficient, had 30 minute time slots set up; we only talked for 25 minutes, and she read questions off of a notebook and took notes on my answers. I’m not sure how normal this is, but to say the least it was suboptimal.
Research Supplement: N/A

Other
Date Submitted App: 11/01 xd
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Texas
School Type: Public, generally considered to be pretty good
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): asian male elegiggle

Reflection
Strengths: usamo??? but 300 people a year get that, so its not that great i guess…
Weaknesses: A grammatical mistake on an essay (argh…), 750 on Chem SAT, never took Computer Science until senior year
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: subpar interview, grammar mistake
What would you have done differently?: proof-read my essays more carefully…
Where else did you apply?: UT Austin (auto), Berkeley, plan to apply to 13 more schools… I have 2 weeks to haul myself through this mess

General Comments & Advice: it seems as if admissions are a lot harsher this year; I’ve heard tales of chemistry campers who were rejected from Stanford and CalTech… Don’t procrastinate on your regular apps like I did. Alas, as I was ambitious, so was I slain.

39

dang @RicePorridge but your stats are perfect

40

Decision: Admitted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/800/800/9
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): no superscore (2400)
SAT II (subject, score): Physics 800, Chemistry 800, Math II 800, US History 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.47
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not sure but I would guess top 3/300+
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc AB (5), Calc BC (5), European History (5), US History (4), Chemistry (5), Physics C E/M (5), Physics C Mechanics (5), Comp Sci A (5)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: way more than last year (6), probably around 10-15?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Not sure what constitutes ‘major’ but I’m published in a peer-reviewed journal and made AIME one time and got a 5, nationally ranked in chess, some state awards in chess, relatively prestigious summer research program (~10% acceptance rate)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP National Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist, Regional Science and Engineering Fair 1st place, some regional public speaking awards

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Bioengineering research (3 summers), competitive chess (4 years), piano (4 years), Mu Alpha Theta president of school chapter (4 years), public speaking (3 years)
Job/Work Experience: Private tutoring (2 years)
Volunteer/Community Service: VP of girls community service club (4 years), senior center volunteer (2 years)
Summer Experience: bioengineering research - all summers

Essays: I’d say they were pretty good - I covered the extracurriculars that really mattered to me

Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: Probably 9/10? Spanish teacher writes really good recs but I didn’t have a super duper special bond other than just being ‘smart’/top student
Teacher Recommendation #2: Again probably 9/10 with my APCS teacher who I LOVED but no really special relationship - but this is a teacher who clearly cares a lot about each and every student and makes an effort to know us
Counselor Rec: 7/10, public school counselors write for 40-50 kids but I would say she knew me better than most
Additional Rec: Research mentor, again not a super close relationship but I trust that my mentor gave me the best rec letter possible
Interview: Not that great tbh - only lasted half an hour and it felt like an interview not a conversation
Research Supplement: Submitted a paper that was later published, good solid rec letter came with it

Other
Date Submitted App: 10/24
U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 250-350k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): sibling legacy? not sure if MIT cares though

Reflection
Strengths: lots of research experience and good essays all around. Probably the best ‘stat line’ in my school
Weaknesses: interview and recs weren’t BAD but they definitely were not standout. No super major awards/hooks like ISEF, Siemens, or USAMO
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think it’s pretty clear from my ECs that I’ve been very STEM-focused and I have decent awards to back it up
What would you have done differently?: I did all I could in terms of essays - maybe started looking into what ECs I really love earlier, like freshman/sophomore year to show more commitment to them
Where else did you apply?: nowhere early - now that I’m into MIT the only other places I’m applying are Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, and UCs which are all either submitted already or ready to submit

General Comments & Advice: Honestly as long as you enjoy whatever you put your time into it’s all worth it.