<p>Yes, the recommendation forms should be printed and given to teachers/counselors. Often applicants provide addressed, stamped envelopes with the recommendations, although it’s okay if the recommender gives the applicant the letter back and the applicant mails it himself.</p>
<p>The recommendations are linked to the rest of the application by having the applicant’s full name and birthdate on them. They’ll be placed in the file with the rest of the applicant’s materials.</p>
<p>dear molliebatmit,</p>
<p>I am really interested in applying to MIT early action, but I wasn’t sure of the regulations. I know it’s non-binding, but is it single-choice? Otherwise, it’s just like RD, but with an early deadline, right?</p>
<p>Thanks,
bsDBer</p>
<p>@bsDBer - MIT EA is non-binding and it is not SCEA either, so you can apply to any other schools with a non-restrictive EA program. Schools like Yale, however, have SCEA, so you can only apply early to their program and no other program.</p>
<p>I had some questions as well mollie:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Once the application is submitted, is it possible to send in supplements between november and december? There’s a tournament I’ll be competing in during early November, and I’d like to send the results, even though it’s past the deadline.</p></li>
<li><p>If I have studied subjects on my own, but without a formal class or professor, would I report it in the additional information section? If so, would that make any significant difference or would they ignore it for the most part since it’s not official. Also, if I were to get a professor to send a letter stating that I consulted with him during my studies and that I have a solid grasp of the material, would that hold any sway at all? Thanks.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
As An0maly says, there are no restrictions on MIT’s EA policy, other than that you have to follow the policies of other schools to which you’re applying early.
Yes. The admissions officers won’t go into selection until early December, so it’s possible to send updates in November (although as early as possible is best, to ensure that your update is read by all of your readers). And, of course, if you’re deferred, you can send updates through about the end of January.</p>
<p>
You can and should report self-studied material – many MIT applicants self-study subjects, and I think it’s a great asset to an application. You could certainly include the professor’s letter as supplemental material, although it’s not necessary.</p>
<p>I have a question. I compete often on the state level for one of my activities, and as a result I’ve won numerous individual awards for that activity, at each competition I go to, and I’m recognized as won of the top few in that activity in the state. Since the application has room for 5 scholastic awards, I listed two important team awards for that activity, and three awards from other school-related activities.</p>
<p>My question is whether or not it would be advisable to laundry-list my individual awards in the additional information section. On one hand, I feel like listing at least some of my individual awards will show that I’m good at the activity, not that just the rest of my team is. On the other hand, there’s a reason they only gave us five spots, isn’t there?</p>
<p>thoughts?</p>
<p>@T-bird:
A “laundry list” without explanation wouldn’t convey the main idea here, would it? Or perhaps it would, if you just want to show that you’ve racked up a number of individual awards in addition to key team awards. But it’s always interesting when a student has that level of involvement and recognition. Why are you so interested? Why drives you to compete? Why both team and individual competitions? How does this relate to who you are? You could handle this in a couple of ways:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In the area where you can provide additional information, you might just write a brief paragraph explaining your level of involvement and interest in both team and individual competitions. Perhaps here you could provide the html addresses of one or more websites that maintain records of your achievements. That way, you wouldn’t need to list anything at all.</p></li>
<li><p>You could ask for a letter from someone who could write about this in more detail on your behalf.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hey, none of you guys would happen to know about the overnight visits, would you?</p>
<p>@fontaine,
Information about overnight visits is here: [MIT</a> Admissions: Staying Overnight](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/youmit/staying_overnight/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/youmit/staying_overnight/index.shtml).</p>
<p>My daughter came to MIT for an overnight visit when she was a high-school junior, and she has hosted a visiting student. I’m sure there are some current students here who could answer some of your questions. What do you want to know?</p>
<p>it’d be great to know when the info about overnight visits might come up on the myMIT accounts 
(although not sure if anyone can really answer that one?)</p>
<p>
Okey doke, I’ve been corrected by Matt (who is far more likely to be right on matters of procedure than I am, of course :)):
So, overall, you should use your own good judgement to decide what gets listed on your self-reported coursework form. If there’s information you think MIT might need, you should list it, especially if your school’s schedule is somewhat nonstandard.</p>
<p>@CalAlum - If there is a website, neither my coaches nor I have ever heard of it. There is an online community that sort of discusses results, but it is in no way official and doesn’t list results from each competition. Thanks for the suggestion on detailing the level of commitment, however. I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of it before.</p>
<p>Just a question about the essay: “the most significant challenge…”</p>
<p>For this essay, I’m writing about a tournament that I was competing in; however, this isn’t my MOST SIGNIFICANT challenge in my life. </p>
<p>Would writing on my tournament topic make MIT think I didn’t challenge myself enough? </p>
<p>Basically I’m asking whether MIT is really looking for the most significant challenge, or just one of the (still significant) challenges that I’ve faced in my life (and one that’s easy enough to write about passionately :D)?</p>
<p>i’m pretty sure they’re less interested in the challenge and more interested in how you dealt with it. I’m certainly not writing about my most significant challenge b/c it’s just too personal. but whatever you view as “significant” is probably going to be good enough for them.</p>
<p>Hey yall, overnight visits just opened up. The earliest date is the 27th, should I should go to it first, and have my interview when I come back?</p>
<p>Can somebody please answer these questions? Thanks
<p>Date x: Math, Date y: CR, Date y: Writing?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For the courses, it asks when did you take Calculus?, Chem?..
Is it the first year that we took Calc, Chem, Bio…or when we took the AP class of Calc, Chem, Bio?</p></li>
<li><p>For the own writeup of tests taken/grades, do we do it such that it goes from 9th grade-12th grade or do we do it so that it goes from 12th grade-9th grade? Does it matter…in the directions, it says if there is not enough room, list current courses…but I have enough room so does it matter?</p></li>
<li><p>Will MIT admissions officers understand abbreviations? If I have to put an abbreviation not of a national thing and perhaps only understandable in my state (because I cant fit the words in the characters limit), how will that work? Do I just explain the abbreviation later in the “anything else” section?</p></li>
<li><p>Should we also tell which years we won the awards? What if I cant fit that on the line?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Also these two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For activities, should we list a summer activity as one of the 5 main activities? If we do, should we include it again in the “Summer Activities” section or will that be redundant? I thought that I should because it means a lot to me, but a lot of people have told me that all that will do is make the reader have to read the same thing again.</p></li>
<li><p>If an award cannot fit on the line, but I want to put it, what should I do? There is no way that I can shorten the award such that it fits on the line and that its understandable at the same time. Should I just put an astreik and redirect it to the additional info section (it’s not some national award, but it’s an award thats very specific to my school-e.g. instead of saying “Award for … for my HS” I have to say “Award for … for my HS’s Science Department”, which wont fit on the line–if I cutoff the Department, then it won’t really be accurate)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for answering these questions.</p>
<ol>
<li>Put the dates of your highest score.</li>
<li>The year you took the course.</li>
<li>I believe it tells you on the page.</li>
<li>Yeah, but they give you a large number of characters in each text box.</li>
<li>Just say junior, senior, ect… or put year number (2007).</li>
</ol>
<p>Ok thanks, actually for #4, they dont give as much as the Common App (probably 50 characters less because I could easily fit everything in the Common App), but it probably wont matter-Ill just explain it, not a big deal.</p>
<p>So #2, as in the year I took the course, you mean first year right? Our school has this system where we have to take prerequisite before we took the AP course.</p>
<p>K so there is the Scholastic and non-scholastic awards section now. I read the MIT blogs and they say that they don’t kill you if u state a scholastic award in non-scholastic. I have maxed out on my scholastic awards but I still have one left, and space left in the non-scholastic section. Should I jut put it there?</p>
<p>If I received 800’s on two Science SAT2 tests, will MIT consider both? Also, if not, is it more impressive to put down the score on the Physics or Chemistry test?</p>