edit: my AIME scores were 9 and 10, my AMC 12 score was 126, and my AMC 10 score was 132. Not the best, but not too bad either I hope
You guys are very impressive. I just think you should know that.
I’m reading these, both those of deferred and accepted students, and have no idea how I got in.
Decision: Admitted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/800/750
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
SAT II (subject, score): 4 subjects all 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Weighted GPA: 4.35
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parentheses): 11 APs
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 3
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): USAMO, USACO, USAPHO all have some awards
summer research program (~10% acceptance rate): No, but I developed a web-based apps
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP National Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): marching band, school math club president
Job/Work Experience: teaching assistant in an academy (2 years)
Volunteer/Community Service: Math Circle board
Summer Experience: Mathcamps, marching band camp, and taking course at college.
Essays: I’d say they were pretty good - I covered the extracurricular that really mattered to me
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: Don’t know
Teacher Recommendation #2: Don’t know
Interview: Very pleasant, 90 minutes
Other
Date Submitted App: 10/18
U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 250-350k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): sibling legacy? not sure if MIT cares though
Reflection
Strengths: major awards
Weaknesses: had typos in the application
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:Major awards, good essays, maker portfolios
What would you have done differently?:
Where else did you apply?: nowhere else. I only want to go to MIT.
General Comments & Advice:
Decision: Deferred
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 770/760 (1530, New)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2 (800), Bio e (770), Chem (770)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Weighted GPA: 4.43
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics 1 (5), Calc AB (5), Lang (5), Psychology (5), World HIstory (3), Biology (4) Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Calc BC, AP Physics 2, AP Macroeconomics, Art (dual enrollment with my state’s technical institute)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 2 (3 in total)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Tons of Academic Decathlon medals along with some school awards
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Taekwondo, boy scouts, club president of technology, cocapitan of Frisbee team, academic decathlon
Job/Work Experience: Free tutoring
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteer at a hospital and library
Summer Experience: I took summer courses at my high school summer 2015, had an research internship at a local college, lots of independent math stuff, taught myself guitar
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (8, Rubik’s Cubes)
Department at MIT: (8, wrote about the math department)
World You Come From: (7)
Significant Challenge: (8, how i didn’t get into honors biology)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: i wish lol
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Physics teacher, 10/10, he writes amazing recs, lknown me for a long time¯
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Psychology, 8/10, an MIT grad himself, very dry but i was a good student in his class
Counselor Rec: 5/10, super generic
Interview: good
Other
Date Submitted App: 10/27
U.S. State/Territory or Country: California
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 250k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): asian male (just kidding)
Reflection
Strengths: test scores and quirkiness
Weaknesses: other people at my school and around the country were better than me
Why you were accepted/deferred/rejected: have a feeling it’s because someone at my school was admitted and i guess they don’t take too many from one school
What would you have done differently?:nothing
Where else did you apply?: caltech (rejected), stanford, rice, ucberkeley, ucla, ucsd, harvey mudd, usc
General Comments & Advice: It does feel bad to be deferred (basically rejected) especially when your best friend got in, but ultimately you have to realize that you are what makes you successful, not a college. It would have been awesome to go to MIT as I’m sure everyone who applied knows, but keep your options open and we’ll all find a place to call home for the next 4 years.
@m2017li Congratz girl those are some great specs. I got admitted too and I swear those have to be the best specs I’ve seen so far.
Decision: Deferred (This floored me bc looking at other people stats I don’t compare, I was expecting a rejection oh well I’ll find out in March)
Rank of Questbridge Essays (1-10): -1000 ( I scrambled them up a week before the 27th deadline lmao)
Rank of teacher recommendations (1-10): 1000!
Rank of counselor recommendation (1-10): 9000!
Unweighted GPA: 4.135 out of 4.00 (? This is how my funky school calculated it so)
Weighted GPA: 4.600 out of 5.00
SAT I score (HA! A joke…): New- 1320 Math-700 CR/W-620; this score is depressing, I retook it in December, now awaiting scores…
ACT (composite, essay, english, math, science): So pathetic I pretend never took it. POOF deleted from my mind
SAT II (subject, score): Math II 640 (laughable) , Chemistry 660 (lol)
Rank (numerical or percentile): 6/390
All AP test scores: AP US Gov/Politics (5), AP Chemistry (3), AP Statistics (3 feel like an idiot)
IB: School doesn’t offer, can barely offer Honors and a couple AP
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP English Lit/Comp, AP Calc AB, AP World History, AP Microeconomics (this year sucks so much cougar butt hole)
Major Awards: Questbridge Scholar, AP Scholar, I was nominated for this local award but my school is so lazy that my principal forgot to submit his recommendation & on top of that the school gave me the app like 3 days before the deadline & nothing was handed in…lol
Extracurriculars: Debate (co-captain), Track & Field, Model UN, Mu Alpha Theta, NHS, Spanish Club (nothing great)
Job/Work Experience: NONE (Not allowed to work)
Volunteer/Community Service: Usually runs or school events
State: PA
Intended Major: Bioengineering or somethin’
School Type (public, private, online, etc.): A Public one with a diminishing budget
Ethnicity: Carribbean Black (I don’t consider myself African-American whatsoever)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: ~$23,000
Assets: My ipod and comfty blanket lol; nothing
Extenuating Circumstances/Hooks: Dad is dead to me, druggie brother that had intense fights & steals from us, controlling abusive mother, very poor, came from da hood yo
Stand Out Info (e.g. first gen college student): First Gen (nothing else I’m pretty vanilla)
Hooks:
I guess my essays were the bomb dot diggity! I thought my essay was pretty mediocre because it described the struggles I overcame everywhere I go. I had no place to call my sanctuary. etc. At home it was like a battlefield anything said or done triggered my mom, at school a lot of violence, low budget, environment overridden by gangs etc.
I’m pretty sure my counselor talked about my growth over the years since we are pretty tight. Teachers’ recommendations I am confident are at least an 8 since I’ve shown leadership qualities, had for two years, converse with them, and turned in quality work.
Strengths: My QB essay on my sad life
Weaknesses: My QB essay on my sad life, SAT scores definitely, GPA
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I was deferred because I was meant to go to another school. That’s life/fate. I’m sure I’ll find a school to attend.
General Comments:I wish I could tell the future so I wouldn’t have wasted my time to some other colleges I applied to. I don’t want to see how the next two weeks of scrambling up apps to other schools will look like…I’m gonna be a mess for 2017!
Positive Note: Ready to get back in the ring for RD. Leggo!
@ObitoSigma I was hoping you’d get in! :DD
@CougarCatClan The context of your application just makes it more impressive. I wouldn’t call anything you’ve listed pathetic!
Best of luck in RD and at other schools!
@cougarcatclan considering the context, I’d say that your accomplishments are great. GL in regular
Decision - DEFERRED
Stats
SAT: 1560
SAT II: 800 on math 2, 780 on chem
ACT: 34 but didn’t submit
GPA: 4.42
Rank: 12th but our school doesn’t submit
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 on AP CS, 5 on BC Calc
Subjective
Essays: 7/10, spent a lot of time on them
Teacher Recs: 7/10
Counselor Rec: 8/10
Supplementary Material: none
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none
Personal
Location: Massachusetts
High School Type: Charter
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: M
Other
Extracurriculars: Taekwondo (3rd?-11th), Math Team (7th-12th), tutoring (10th-12th), 400-level math course at Boston University over the summer, internship at tech/healthcare startup (3 summers), a bunch more mathy stuff, Model UN (12th). also I’ve taken/am taking courses in multivariable calc, linear algebra, differential equations, complex analysis, database design, cybersecurity
Awards: a lot of math team awards from local to national, have done AIME 3 times and scored 4, 6, 6. silver medal on National Spanish Exam. 2 gold medals from Taekwondo competition
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: nothing really
Hey guys. Do you think getting deferred by MIT is a good sign I overall have a good application? Hearing back from UMich College of Engineering in a few days, and I’m hoping my MIT deferral mean that I have a strong application
Decision for my daughter: DEFERRED
(but accepted to ED school, Brown University, so will withdraw MIT application as soon as Brown details come in snail mail)
Intended Major: Engineering (Biomedical, engineering-physics)
GPA: 4.0 unweighted; 4.91 weighted
Rank: 1st out of about 340 students
Courses: VERY rigorous (two years calculus already; mostly IB and AP courses)
Senior year courses: AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Physics, IB English V, IB Spanish V, IB Psychology
Test scores: ACT = 34 composite; SAT Subject tests: 800 for Math 2; 710 for Physics
Letters - probably strong
Demographics: white female; midwest
Extracurriculars - very strong sports
Some computer programming competitions
YES applied for financial aid
Income bracket: middle income
Summer activities: lots of academic “camps” and athletic “camps”
Why deferred? Why not?
Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/780 (1580, New)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2 (800), Physics (800), Chem (780)
ACT: 35
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.83
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/360
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (5) Calc BC (5, AB subscore: 5), Lang (5), Euro History (4), US History (5), Spanish Lit and Spanish Lang (5) Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP US Government, AP Physics C, AP Comp Sci
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 4 (5 in total)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 2nd Team All-State Soccer, CO Geography Bee Champion, 3rd in Academic WorldQuest
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National AP Scholar, dumb high school awards
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): 4 year varsity soccer (2014 state champs), Officer of Chemistry Club, Algebros, Academic Worldquest, NHS, robotics.
Job/Work Experience: Youth Soccer Referee
Volunteer/Community Service: Tutoring, NHS Stuff, Teen Court
Summer Experience: Took CS50 from Harvard
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (7, Fishing)
Department at MIT: (7, Aero/Astro)
World You Come From: (10, maybe best essay I’ve ever written)
Significant Challenge: (8, Broken Femur)
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: Engineering teacher, 10/10, great recs, know him from robotics
Teacher Recommendation #2: APUSH 7/10, really like him, did well, not sure on his rec writing skills
Counselor Rec: 10/10, said I was best student ever at high school
Interview: killed it 
Other
Date Submitted App: 10/27
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Colorado
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Dominican)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: -150k
Hooks: not really sure lol
Reflection
Strengths: test scores, well-roundedness, ECs, interview
Weaknesses: not a ton of leadership
Why you were accepted/deferred/rejected: pure luck probably
What would you have done differently?:nothing
Where else did you apply?: CU Boulder (accept), Purdue (accept), Mines (accept), Minnesota (accept), Illinois (accept), USC, Berkeley, UCLA, Princeton, Rice, Stanford
General Comments & Advice: I’m honestly surprised I got in because several people who I thought were more qualified from my school also applied. Don’t worry about your acceptance/deference/rejection, I believe everyone will end up where they should – provided they work hard and follow their passions
Decision: Deferred
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 730/800/690 (2180, rip writing lol)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2 (800), Physics (7290)
ACT: I find out in a week and a half
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.76
Weighted GPA: 4.30
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 66/511
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics 1 (4), Calc AB(5), Lang (4), World (4), Comp Sci (5), Stat (4), Human Geo (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, Honors US History, AP Physics C, AP Physics 2, STEM Art (Don’t ask it’s required), Research and Data Analysis (Basically AP Capstone), C++, AP Calc BC
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 11 others, 12 total
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None ):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, Principal’s Honor Roll, NM Semifinalist
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): FRC Robotics (Controls Captin, Senior Year), FTC Robotics (Captain, Sophomore/Junior), Cyberpatriot (11/12, Team captain), NHS (12, General Member)
Job/Work Experience: SEAP Internship
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
What You Do For Pleasure: (8, Cubing)
Department at MIT: (8, EECS)
World You Come From: (6, talked about my STEM magnet program)
Significant Challenge: (9, too personal to mention)
Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1: Calc teacher, 10/10, she loves me and writes a lot of recs
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Lang 7/10, ehh i knew her pretty wel;l but I’m not sure how well she coudl have done
Counselor Rec: 7/10, really doesnt knoww me well at all
Interview: I felt really good about it (8.5)
Other
Date Submitted App: 10/29
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Maryland
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: not sure
Hooks: I’m Serbian American, not sure if that helped or not, not really sure other than that
Reflection
Strengths: essays weren’t bad, submitted a research portfolio,
Weaknesses: test scores, demographic, not really well rounded
Why you were accepted/deferred/rejected: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
What would you have done differently?: maybe take the act earlier, focus on my grades more on Freshman/Sophomore year
Where else did you apply?: UMich, UMD, Georgia Tech so far
General Comments & Advice: While I would obviously have rather been admitted, I’m totally happy with my deferral! I’m psyched for March 14th, not even a little confident I’m going to get in but so excited!
Decision: Deferred
Objective:
NEW SAT I (breakdown M/CrW): 740/710 (1450)
SAT II (subject, score): Physics (710), Math II (740)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.819 at time of submission
Weighted GPA: idk probs at least a 4 but debatable
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 30% i think
AP (score): Physics 1 (4), Physics C (Mech:4, E&M:5), Calc AB (5), Seminar (4)
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.): n/a
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, four year honor roll, National Honor Society member
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
[QUOTE=""]
Peer Mentor 10-12 (run Freshman Orientation, volunteer throughout the year at school events, assist guidance counselors co-teaching a freshman course, given multiple presentations to the freshman classes, plan the annual Cultural Night by creating posters/programs/managing ticket sales, annual leadership training, trained in peer mediation)
Peer Leader with Sources of Strength 9-12 (a suicide prevention organization, raise funds for charities and educate my peers on the importance of suicide prevention)
Dance PreK3-12 (competitve training in ballet, tap, jazz, etc.)
Music Performance/Chorus 9-12 (participation in multiple school wide music events as as soloist, group member, and chorister)
[/QUOTE]
Job/Work Experience:
[QUOTE=""]
front-end retail at a local business
private tutor
intern at a university (student affairs, performing arts tech)
[/QUOTE]
Volunteer/Community Service:
[QUOTE=""]
Girl Scout (community service projects, lasting impacts on my community, Bronze/Silver/Anticipated Gold Award)
Venture Scout (camping and teambuilding exercises, Administrative Vice President for the 2015-2016 year, handle recruitment and head meetings)
[/QUOTE]
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
What You Do For Pleasure: (6, wrote about singing/dancing/performing)
Department at MIT: (6, wrote about the physics department)
World You Come From: (8, wrote about scouts)
Significant Challenge: (8, wrote about my baby brother)
Additional Essay/QB Essays: n/a
Recommendations (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Teacher Recommendation #1 (AP Physics C, Physics Club): 10/10, he writes amazing recs, I was one of seven total girls to take APC, one of four girls to take Phys234, one of very few 4yr physics students to tutor at his club
Teacher Recommendation #2 (English I Honors, III Honors): 7-9/10, he’s seen my academic growth but again I don’t have the best relationship so it could go either way
Counselor Rec: 8/10, he’s a bit boring but he’s seen my growth as a student and as a person which I think helps
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: it went fine, but I was sick and sleep deprived, I rambled too much as I tend to do
Research Supplement: n/a
Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/31
U.S. State/Territory or Country: New Jersey
School Type: Highly competitive magnet
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 100k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): female in physics, dancer (if that even matters)
Reflection
Strengths: four years of physics (5 semesters, AP and college level), okay GPA, lots of commitment to service and volunteering, being a girl in physics
Weaknesses: less-than-optimal standardized test scores, most likely sub-par writing
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I have low test scores for MIT, plus I’m not the best writer and I don’t interview very well
What would you have done differently?: interview better, work harder on my SATs (?)
Where else did you apply?: WPI (EA, no decision yet), Brown, Columbia, RPI, Stevens (maybe), Lehigh (maybe)
General Comments & Advice: idk man, it’s impossible anyways just hope for the best
Decision: Accepted
I’m still in shock tbh - esp after looking at the things other people have done like woW how are yall high schoolers
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didn’t send
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36M, 36S, 35R, 35W, 30 essay)
SAT II: Math II (800), Bio M (750)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9something that rounds up to 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank, thank god
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chinese (5), AP Calc BC (5), APUSH (5), AP Chem (4), AP Bio (4), AP Lang (4), AP Physics C: Mech (5), AP Stats (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: PHYSICS 240: General Physics (dual enrolled @ UMich), PLTW: Intro to Engineering Design, AP Lit, Web Design Basics: HTML (Online), Symphony Band (highest band), GDT 104: Intro to Graphic Design (dual enrolled @ community college), AP Gov, STATS 250: Intro to Stats & Data Analysis (will dual enroll @ UMich), ARTDES 176: Graphic Design for Non-Majors (will dual enroll @ UMich), also getting credit for my internship
[QUOTE=""]
Wow this seems like a lot of classes but I promise half of them are one semester only
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): LOL what are these even - I’ll just list the awards I put on my app
Scholastic: NMSF, JIF Summer Scholar, 2-time AIME qualifier, MMPC Top 102, Science Olympiad States Top 10
Non-Scholastic: some national art contests, Best Overall Performance @ MITE
[/QUOTE]
Subjective:
Extracurriculars/Community service (place leadership in parenthesis)
Science Olympiad (Co-Captain, Event leader), Asian Pacific Educational Exchange (basically Asian-American club) (Hip Hop Exec), Math Olympiad (TA), Varsity XC (Co-Captain)
Job/Work Experience:
Creative Design Intern, Private Math/Science Tutor
[QUOTE=""]
I also briefly mentioned that I was starting a design internship at a different organization after my current one ended (lowkey plug haha)
[/QUOTE]
Summer Activities:
WTP: ME Track, XC camp - 3 years, Band camp - 4 years, MITE @ UMich, Took Calc 3 class at community college, Library volunteer - 2 years
Essays (rating 1-10, details): can’t really rate them but
What You Do For Pleasure: Watching dance videos on Youtube
Department at MIT: Course 2a <3 - talked about meeting Maria Yang at WTP and my interest in product design as the intersection of art & technology, esp through specific classes and programs at MIT
World You Come From: The essay I’m most proud of tbh it was so much fun to write - talked about my art/STEM backgrounds using languages as a metaphor (“According to the government, English is my second language. But according to me, it’s actually numbers”), and how I fell in love with design (“a dialect of my two childhood interests”). Also briefly mentioned growing up in china and being fluent in Internet as other aspects of my world.
Significant Challenge: Wrote about how I handled choreographing for the first time and learning from Youtube - tried to show my tenacity in this one :^)
Community Service: Tutoring mathcounts + encouraging girls to stick with competition math
Cultural Background: Talked about the ways my identity as a first-gen Chinese immigrant affected my values and work ethic - it got way too long and I had to move 2/3 of it to the add info section rip
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): idk how to rate these man
Teacher Rec #1: Calc teacher - I struggled a ton in calc (went to him to ask about dropping the class after 2 C’s and 2 B’s on the first four tests, but he encouraged me to stay after I got my first A on the fifth test), and even though I had him soph year I still see him weekly for linguistics club and sometimes for math contests
Teacher Rec #2: APUSH teacher - wasn’t that close personally tbh but I was one of the few people to get a 5 and won the replacement-final-exam presidential debates at the end of the year in my class, so she had some things to talk about I guess? I also had her soph year
Counselor Rec: I love my counselor omg she’s so supportive and gets so excited whenever I bring her good news and we’re pretty close so it was prob decently good??
Additional Rec: WTP-ME director - she was actually the one who assigned Maria Yang to me as my mentor for a product design project so she prob had lots to say about how much I geeked over design at WTP lmao
Interview: gr8 r8 8/8 - my interviewer was so sweet and we talked for like 2 hours because we kept on going on tangents when I asked questions LOL we ended up ranting about women in STEM at one point :’)
Supplements: I sent in an art portfolio - colored pencil/oil painting stuff I did in 9/10th grade + graphic design stuff I did in 11/12th. I also faxed them the sketches I made detailing my project at WTP, and sent them the link to the interactive app prototype I made for the project.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): MI
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian-American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): only hooks I have are for fish
Reflection
Strengths: People have told me that I have a strong voice when I write, so maybe that’s a plus? When I was writing essays, I made sure to put what part I was trying to show of the match that MIT was looking for at the top of the page, and I think that definitely helped focus my essays. Also combo of art+STEM maybe?? (not sure if my portfolio helped much though - I’m still very much a graphic design beginner and all of my traditional stuff was primarily done freshman year.) I also had a long af add info section where I expanded/gave context to stuff I mentioned earlier in the app, which might’ve helped?
Weaknesses: no fancy STEM awards (or big awards in general) - honestly I just stuck to my interests and tried not to get sucked into the toxic “math/science competitions only!!” mentality that plagues the Chinese-American community in my town :\
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: GOOD QUESTION
Where else did you apply?: UMich so far (go blue!!)
General Comments:
BE YOURSELF HONESTLY. Don’t try to be ~quirky~ or what you think an MIT student is supposed to be - I really tried to show my natural uniqueness in my app. Like with tutoring, an experience many MIT applicants prob have, I tried showcasing it from a different, more personal angle. But be careful with being different for the sake of being different! Choreographing to Asian pop probably isn’t a very common activity, but I chose the topic not because of its rareness but because it’s something that genuinely impacted me greatly (a good dance team was the third most important thing for me when I was picking colleges haha).
The best college app advice I’ve heard is this: if your app was dropped on the floor of your school with no identifying marks (name, DOB, etc.), would someone be able to pick it up and give it back to you? (#deep)
@SandrewP I know these colleges & forums are designed for the best of the best, so it might seem like not getting accepted is a bad thing, but think about it. MIT just looked at your application and they’re seriously considering you. You have to have an incredible app in order to be able to say that.
**Decision: Deferred **
Objective:
ACT: 35 composite. 36 english, 35 reading, 35 science, 33 math
SAT II: 750 biology E, 740 math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1st out of 500
AP: World history (5), US history (5), english lang&comp (5), psychology (5), Italian (4)…I am currently taking lots of STEM APs but these aren’t available at my school until senior year so my scores so far are very humanities-heavy
IB: school doesn’t offer any
Senior Year Course Load: hardest classes available except for English (taking an honors course but not AP) including doubling up on math classes and an engineering course. 4 APs in total, everything else honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none
Common Awards: Harvard Book Award, several school-wide academic awards, AP scholar, county science research competition
Non-academic awards: a few figure skating medals
Subjective:
Extracurriculars: captain of quiz bowl team (we won second place nationally my junior year), head editor of school newspaper, math team, feminism club (heavily community-service based), figure skating
Job/Work Experience: I had a full-time job one summer and am currently on my second part-time school year job
Volunteer/Community Service: tutoring, volunteered with a state senatorial campaign during election season
Summer Activities: summer abroad (not a vacation–I got a scholarship for a cultural exchange program with homestay and everything), full time job, research internship
Essays: some were very strong but others were definitely my weak points. I’m a very strong writer but thematically i feel like only half were great
Teacher Recommendations: didn’t read either but can infer
Rec 1: humanities–10/10 excellent. Had him for 2 years & was only motivated kid in class. He thought very highly of me
Rec 2: STEM–probably would have been excellent if he hadn’t waited until the weekend before due date to write it. Still could have been very good (Im one of his best students) but idk since I haven’t read it
Counselor Rec: she likes me but doesn’t have experience writing recs for top schools like MIT. Was probably cheesy and just like everything else MIT reads, but written with good intentions
Additional Rec: Fantastic rec from research mentor to go with supplement I submitted
Interview: Went very well, clicked with interviewer and they seemed impressed
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
Intended major: materials science & engineering
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: public school
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: child of recent divorce so changes for current moment vs. last tax cycle. not sharing numbers
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): LGBT? didn’t write any essays about it & don’t know if they even care about that but i checked off the boxes so they’ll see it
Reflection
Strengths: grades, rank, independent research project, lots of leadership positions
Weaknesses: some essays could have been better, SAT subject tests are on the low side
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: very similar to many other applicants and no major hooks
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Just do your best! Even EXTREMELY qualified people will end up getting rejecting so just hope for the best
**Decision: Accepted **
Objective:
SAT I: 800/800/800, 2400 total (old SAT taken 12/2014)
ACT: 34 English/34 Reading/34 Math/36 Science, 35 total (also taken 12/2014)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 790 Latin, 770 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: N/A (school doesn’t weight)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (school doesn’t rank)
AP: World History (5), US History (5), Calculus BC (5), Chemistry (5), Computer Science A (5)
IB: N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, AP Biology, Multivariable Calc, Latin V, Multiethnic Lit (fall), Lit: Infectious Diseases (spring), Math of Democracy: Election 2016 (fall), Advanced Projects in Computer Science (spring)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Semifinalist, NSLI-Y Summer China Finalist
Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Crew, GSA at my school (co-leader), pit band in the school musical
Job/Work Experience: Babysit regularly (did not list this)
Volunteer/Community Service: Tutoring, Outdoors for All, Learn-to-row camps
Summer Activities: Studied in China for 6 weeks on full scholarship, volunteered (see above)
Essays: I think they were all pretty good (like 8/10 or 9/10 for all of them)
Teacher Recommendations: didn’t read either but can infer
Rec 1: humanities–8/10 or 9/10
Rec 2: STEM–10/10
Counselor Rec: 9/10 or 10/10
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: Went pretty well - I enjoyed talking with my interviewer and I think she did too
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Intended major: Computer Science & Electrical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): WA
School Type: Private School
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: High, but younger brothers go to private school so might qualify for financial aid based on tuition costs
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Recruited athlete, LGBT?? (checked the box, didn’t write essays about it)
Reflection
Strengths: Strong stats, have taken courses related to intended major, athletic recruit
Weaknesses: Essays & interview were quite good but could’ve been better, no USAMO or anything like that
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. From what I gather from the MIT Class of 2021 Facebook group, <10% of EA applicants were admitted, and of those, many, many of them are athletes. Basically, to get in EA, you had to be either an insane genius or majorly hooked.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Don’t feel too down if you get deferred - I have a feeling that plenty of deferred applicants will be admitted in March. I have a couple friends with stats like mine who got deferred because they weren’t hooked, but now that all the hooked kids are in, they should have a much easier time of it in March.
Good luck to all deferred applicants!