Deferred (but admitted ED at Univ of Chicago)
SAT (old) CR 800 WR 790 Math 760
SAT subject Physics 800, Math 800
Violin, Equestrian team 4 years
All honors/AP courses
Summer Lab Neuro research internship at Duke (fruit flies) UCLA (rats, programming data)
GPA unweighted 3.99
Male, Hispanic (Mexican)
Small private school, only a few MIT admits ever in school’s 50 year history.
Decision: Deferred
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1590 total; 790 CR+W, 800 Math
ACT (breakdown): 35C; 36E, 35M, 34R, 35S
SAT II: 800s Math II, Chem, USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.7037 (4.72 as of 7th semester)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/251(15/254 as of 7th semester)
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Music Theory (5 overall, 5 nonaural, 4 aural), Chemistry (5), Calc AB (5), Literature (5), Seminar (4), U.S. History (5), Physics 1 (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): none offered
Senior Year Course Load: French IV, Honors Comp Sci I, JROTC IV, AP Lang, AP Physics 2, AP Calc BC, AP U.S. Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, ACS Chemistry Olympiad 1st Place in Region Tests Level 1&2, Beta Club Membership Selection
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Old-Time Fiddle for 8 years-won school talent show, 3rd place in state youth fiddle contest, some
ensembles (submitted arts portfolio)
JROTC since 9th grade (C/LTC & Battalion Commander-highest position in program, numerous
lesser positions) - Scottish Rite of Freemasonry JROTC Award, Superior Cadet Award,
attended JCLC
Junior Civitans since 7th grade (Club Pres, District PRC, Club PRC, Club Secretary) - 2013 District
Female Junior Civitan of the Year
Pulsar Search Collaboratory since July 2016 (School Club Founder/President) - attended 2016
PSC Camp in Green Bank, WV, founded school Club for research, training, education etc
Biography published by WV Division of Culture and History in WV Veterans Memorial Archive
Database spring 2016 (coauthor)
Private fiddle teacher: half hour per week since September teaching son of my dad’s friend
Job/Work Experience: aforementioned private fiddle teacher
Volunteer/Community service: 650+ between JROTC and JCivs (that MIT knows of)
Summer Activities: PSC Camp 2016, Vandalia Gathering Fiddle Contest, JCLC, Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp, Appalachian String Band Music Festival (Clifftop), travel, Camp Luther (church camp)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 5-8/10, depending on the prompt. Looking back, some of them are kinda boring and off-putting but they’re completely honest and represent me. I didn’t write the Part 1 cultural essay btw.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10 English teacher, had me for AP Literature junior year. I was one of 2-3 kids
she had last year that got 5s. Knows me pretty well and probably a good writer. Likes me a lot,
although we might have butted heads a little bit in class. She liked that I contributed to the
discussion and stuff I think but obviously I couldn’t read it so I don’t know how good it is.
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 AP Chem teacher junior year (my intended major is Chem). Loves me but
doesn’t know me reaaallly well on a personal level. I’ve heard that he uses my work as answer
keys in class and he’s said that he’s had one other student of my caliber, and that student went
to MIT (I got deferred though lololololol). Also loves me for the ACS Olympiad stuff we did last
year. Plus overall he’s a teddy bear to everyone, but again I don’t actually know what he put.
Counselor Rec: 6-7/10? I don’t know my counselor very well, but she seems to really like me. On
the one hand, she’s realllly old and kinda crazy, but on the other hand she’s been doing this
college stuff for so long that she seems to know her stuff. She interviewed me for an hour or so
to help her write the recommendation.
Additional Rec: none
Interview: 6.5/10? It wasn’t spectacular, but it was ok I guess. Just kinda weird because my interviewer was in his 70s-80s probably and asked me to interview at his house, then asked my mom to wait in the other room (she heard the whole interview) and asked her to come in later when we discussed MIT. She kept trying to brag on me, which was embarrassing. I brought a list of my activities because I thought it might help/he would like it, and he basically just read straight down the list, asking me to elaborate. I don’t think I connected with him the way my friends who also had him did. (and there were more weird things but this is getting long…)
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): WV
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: best public high school in state, but that’s not saying much since it’s WV
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: pretty up there? We don’t live in a gated community or anything but it’s high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none. WV and female in STEM might be bonuses though.
Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, test scores, leadership/community service/ECs?
Weaknesses: no big draws, no big awards, non-stellar essays, ECs, and recs…basically everything
else?
Why you think you were deferred: above strength/weaknesses…also it’s MIT so I mean what can you expect lol
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: so far Accepted WVU Honors, Ohio State, Case Western Reserve U, deferred UChicago
General Comments: I know this is late but I didn’t feel like writing out this big long thing until I did when I got accepted to Case…I guess I’m doing it now because I’m procrastinating doing other stuff. I am REALLY glad I wasn’t rejected but the deferral is kinda a bummer and I’ve put MIT out of my mind as an option really.
Decision: Deferred
Short Biography: I was born in Bangladesh. At age 4, I moved to Japan because of my mother pursuing her PhD in Immunology there. We lived there for 6 years, and in 5th grade I moved to Philadelphia where my mom worked at Upenn. We stayed in Philly for 2 years and then we moved to Baltimore where my mom worked at the NIH. We lived in Baltimore for 3 years from 7th grade to 9th grade. At the end of 9th grade, we moved to Albany, Upstate NY. I lived in Albany for sophomore year, and then I moved to Gainesville, Florida where my mom worked at UF. I stayed in Florida for junior year, and now as a senior I am back in Albany. I am fluent in Bengali, Japanese, English. Highly proficient in French, Spanish, and Arabic.
Prospective major: Electrical Engineering
Objective:
SAT I (superscore): 1520: 770 Math and 750 Writing
ACT (breakdown): no
ACT superscore (breakdown): no
SAT II (subject, score): Japanese - 660; Math 2 - 800; Chemistry - 760.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: around 4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked and class size is 453
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (3), Physics-1 (4), English Composition (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature and Composition, AP World History, AP Statistics, AP Physics C Mechanics, Computer Science 1, Economics Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): National Spanish Exam Bronze Award, National Youth leadership forum in Engineering and Technology Distinguished Alumni
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, National Merit Semi-Finalist, honor roll all four years, Academic achievement award (top 10% of class by Unweighted GPA at end of junior year)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Major Extracurriculars:
- My biggest EC was babysitting my currently 6 year old sister for 4 hours every weekday.
- I am a religious Muslim and I know around 200 pages of the Quran by heart. I started memorizing when I was 5 and still do. I memorize and recite with an imam or my father.
- JV soccer 10th grade(captain), JV Tennis 10th grade, Varsity Tennis 12th grade
- I go to the Mosque almost every day at around 6AM for our first prayer of the day. I also frequently go there on evenings and afternoons to pray.
- In 9th grade, I helped my father and his fellow Masters in Industrial engineering students build a near perpetual hydroelectric generator that won first place for Thurgood Marshall Entrepreneurship competition. I did a lot of labor and hands on work such as working with the piping, woodworking, etc.
Minor Extracurriculars: - New York Mathematics League
- Coding club
- School newspaper sports writer
- Co-Founder of math team
- Science Olympiad
- Model United Nations
- Quiz Bowl
- I came very close to joining a 7 consecutive national title winning Mu Alpha Theta
Math team at my school in Florida but I was rejected at the last minute because I had just moved from New York and
learned a different math curriculum the previous year. - Chess club
- NASA SEMAA program, Morgan State University
- Owner of Youtube channel (mentioned in major of interest essay) with over 50,000 views
and Instructables page with over 75,000 views dedicated to DIY engineering projects,
technology workshops, reverse engineering tutorials, science experiments, and
electronics repair. My goal is to teach and promote interest in STEM for young people and
beginner enthusiasts with little to no background knowledge.
Hobbies and activities:
- knitting, giving haircuts, and furniture repair
- growing vegetables in my backyard (I grew Basil, Chili Pepper, green beans, cucumbers,
and cherry radishes this summer)
Job/Work Experience: Survey taker at a Market Research Firm
Volunteer/Community Service:
- I helped with the construction of a new Mosque in Albany. I currently volunteer by serving food during community events, cleaning, and doing other menial work.
- Volunteering at a local auto repair shop
Summer Experience: Did a lot of moving work every summer since I moved around the country so much
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays:
Not going to talk much about these. I found they were pretty good and reflected my personality.
Teacher Recommendation #1: Did not read.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Did not read.
Counselor Rec: Did not read.
Additional Info/Rec: Did not read.
Interview: none
Art Supplement: no
Other
Date Submitted App: 12/30/2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Bangladeshi
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): URM maybe??
Reflection
Strengths: Now I don’t really think I ever had any. I guess I had some good looking academics going for me, and I am a National Merit semifinalist. I also know 6 languages.
Weaknesses: I feel like I am mediocre. I haven’t won Intel or won a major award. I feel like students going to top schools excel at a particular field and put a lot of time and effort in that passion like research in Molecular biology, competing in US Math Olympiad team, etc
What would you have done differently?: I don’t really know
Where else did you apply? I only applied to MIT for Early Decision. For Regular Decision, I applied to RPI, Northeastern, Columbia, Upenn, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, and Harvard.
dang yall are rockin 4.0 UWs while im sitting here with my 3.65 lol