<p>@Wiseguy</p>
<p>Hi!
I have a question. I am an international student from Ecuador. I am applying to MIT, but I am worried about how to send my recommendation letters and school report. It seems like if my teachers and counselor won’t be able to send these documents themselves. Thus I have been thinking of sending in these documents myself. Do you think there will be any problem if I send them instead of my teachers?</p>
<p>
You can absolutely send the documents yourself. It’s best if you have your teachers and counselor put their documents into sealed envelopes before they give them to you, and then you can mail all the envelopes in a larger envelope.</p>
<p>Yes!!! In fact, all of my letters and documents are sealed by my school and signed by the teachers. And they all are in my school’s official envelopes. I am so happy to know I can send those documents myself!!!
Thank you so much for you answer! :)</p>
<p>Yes take the SAT2 in Jan. It won’t be too late as far as know:-)</p>
<p>Hello again, I have another question. I just got back my ACT scores and they suck. I registered late and so I had one week to study before taking it. In that one week I was able to raise my math score 8 points. But I know it is still not good enough, last year they didn’t accept anyone with my score. I feel slightly uniformed; I didn’t even know this whole testing thing existed until recently and I never knew it was important. I plan to take the two subject test in January and am pretty confident I can do good. I found a book to use and I have been working.</p>
<p>I know that test scores aren’t everything, but I’ve also read that since there is a lot of applicants they can take only those with good numbers. I get good grades and I hope to do well on the subject test but did I destroy any chance with my ACT score? I really hate the idea of not trying for something you really want but that is the advice I’ve been given…idk</p>
<p>It’s tough to say. MIT’s admissions process is holistic, so any one factor is unlikely to irrevocably damage your application. Still, all things being equal, students with test scores outside MIT’s typical range are unlikely to be admitted.</p>
<p>I have a little problem with one of my recommendations. I had arranged to give my teacher the form and an envelope with a stamp after school on the day before our school was let out for break. Unfortunately, he had apparently left before school ended (according to other teachers). Considering the fact that I am now halfway across the country from him, I am unable to give him the required forms in person. However, I have scanned him a copy of the Teacher Evaluation Form with my signature on it. Due to my own poor planning, I didn’t realize that his letter must be on official school letterhead (which I don’t have access to), and I don’t believe that my high school uses Docufide. Is there any other legitimate way for him to send the recommendation to MIT admissions (e.g. a signed letter but not on official school letter head)?</p>
<p>@molliebatmit</p>
<p>yeah, thats what I thought, that is was unlikely (ie. impossible). so I have to ask, it is possible that one bad day could keep someone out?</p>
<p>
MIT asks that letters be on official school letterhead, but if this is impossible, they can contact your teacher if necessary. Personally, I’d advise you to have him submit the letter on school letterhead, even if it means waiting until Jan 2 or 3 to submit the letter.</p>
<p>
It’s always possible, isn’t it? Any aspect of the application could turn on one bad day – a failed final exam, a bad day of standardized testing, a poor showing in the semifinal of an important extracurricular competition.</p>
<p>I can’t be any more definite: it’s unlikely that an applicant is admitted with scores outside MIT’s typical range. It’s not impossible, but it’s unlikely. Admission is unlikely even under the best of circumstances, and having a strike against you to begin with won’t help.</p>
<p>This is more of a technical question but my application will only let me self-report 3 AP exams. Did anyone else’s app cut them off there or is this my personal tech issue?</p>
<p>Speaking of standardised test scores, what is MIT’s range for SAT scores? In specific, critical reading? Also, does MIT consider SAT writing, as I know certain colleges don’t (and incidentally I did much better on it than the CR section)?</p>
<p>@cherryblossom71: I was able to add 12 AP exams for AP courses I have taken (and am taking now) under part 2 section 4. </p>
<p>@molliebatmit: Thank you. Unfortunately we don’t get back to school until January 7th.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Admissions</a> Statistics | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats]Admissions”>Admissions statistics | MIT Admissions)
AT Reasoning Test - Math [740, 800]
SAT Reasoning Test - Critical Reading [680, 780]
SAT Reasoning Test - Writing [690, 790]</p>
<p>[MIT</a> Office of the Provost, Institutional Research](<a href=“MIT Institutional Research”>MIT Institutional Research) says that the essay component of the SAT is used for admission decisions.</p>
<p>
I would still advise submitting on official letterhead, even if it means not submitting until January 7. You could have the teacher submit the letter by fax on January 7, if that’s something that concerned you.</p>
<p>Of course, if there’s some way for the teacher to obtain school letterhead before January 7, then that would be a reasonable course of action, but there’s not an intrinsic problem in your teacher submitting a letter on January 7.</p>
<p>Thank you molliebatmit. I was about to ask a similar question to shan84’s because I ran into a similar problem. I arranged to give one of my teacher’s the Monday before school let out (4 days before) because he had already written a letter for me for a different EA application and he would only have to fill out the single page MIT sheet. However, he said that the letter he’d previously written didn’t save and he’d have to write a new one, and he wouldn’t be able to get to it all that week until school started again (the 8th). I would have asked if it was fine if one of my recommendations was that late, but you pretty much answered that (I’m still kind of asking to be sure lol).</p>
<p>All things considered, it’s good to encourage your teachers to get their letters in as early as possible, but MIT is very understanding when pieces of the application that are outside your control come in late.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, the admissions office will not finish sorting all the mail until mid-January at the very earliest. So having one letter submitted late doesn’t necessarily make your application complete at a later date than if all the application components had been postmarked by January 1 in the first place.</p>
<p>I have another question. I took the 9th grade level biology course in my district during 8th grade. It is not listed on my high school transcript. On part 2 section 7, can I simply leave the year blank and make a note under the additional information section of section 9, or is better to just leave the biology box unchecked?</p>
<p>I would pick the former (leave the year blank and make a note in the additional information section).</p>
<p>Where would be the best place in the application to report independently taken online courses (e.g. Udacity, Coursera)? Would it be better to place it as one activity or in “Additional Classes” under Self-Reported Coursework?</p>
<p>Also, under Self-Reported Coursework, for senior year courses, would it be better to put down first quarter grades (and indicate them as such) or to leave the grade field blank?</p>
<p>Independently-taken online courses should probably go in the “additional information” section. Self-reported coursework is intended essentially to be a guide to your transcript, so anything that doesn’t appear on your transcript shouldn’t go here.</p>
<p>It’s your choice whether to report first quarter grades for senior year courses or not; you’ll be reporting your semester grades with the mid-year report anyway, so admissions will see those grades in a few weeks.</p>