<p>Hi, I thought that we could start a thread for all internationals applying to MIT,
So, for the pleasantries :)</p>
<p>Country: United Kingdom
Intended Course : Course 2
Number of applicants you know from your country : 4</p>
<p>Country: Israel
Intended Course: Course 6
Number of applicants you know from your country: 0</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Country: Tunisia
Intended Course: Course 18
Number of applicants from my country : 1.</p>
<p>Country : France
Intended Courses : Courses 6 & 15
Number of applicants you know from your country : 7</p>
<p>I think this is an important thread for “future generations”, but I thought it would be more inclusive of “chance me” data and then updates with decisions. </p>
<p>If “Joe” from Antartica was accepted and he hadn’t built a nuclear reactor in his basement, or patented the latest and greatest technoligical advance, or didn’t have a recommendation from Bill Gates, or hadn’t been winning “olympic” gold medals since he was 3, then it does give others a more realistic hope and understanding of international admissions.</p>
<p>Good luck to each of you!</p>
<p>Objective:
[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown):800M 710W 650CR
[</em>] ACT:
[li] SAT II: Math II - 800, Chem - 730</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
[<em>] A-Levels :
Maths - A
Physics - A
Chemistry - A
Engineering project - A</em>
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: Most demanding maths and science courses, predicted grades - A</em>A<em>A</em>A*
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): London Science and Engineering Fair Winner, Published in National Science Journal for my Invention
[/ul]Subjective:
[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): {Youth leader at church youth group},{President of Mathematical Society},Mentor/Tech Support for the 2013 UK CanSat Team, {Vice President of Engineering Society}
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Architecture internship at very upmarket architecture firm in London
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Barista at church coffee shop, Media desk operator at Church Sunday Services
[<em>] Summer Activities: Berklee College of Music Jazz Camp, Captain of a Gaming eSports team, Young Rewired State - Programming academy, Camp Counsellor at Church Youth Camp
[</em>] Essays: Extracurricular - 8 - talked about my passion for foreign cooking
What department at MIT - 10 - Talked about my visit to MIT, and how I loved the product engineering part of Course 2
Favorite trait - 9 - my creativity, talked about the paradigm shift I had in my definition of it
What world - 10 - talked about all the visitors we get at our house, and how my passions were birthed because of what they revealed to me about their cultures
Significant challenge - 9 - about how I had to learn programming, CAD and soldering in one week and then build a telemetry system in the following 3 weeks
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Great, Both teachers are awesome people who I interact with a lot outside of the classroom (I’ve surfed with one of them!)
[</em>] Counselor Rec: He said it was awesome
[<em>] Additional Rec: From the head of the church youth group - did a great job in showing my strength of character and another side of me in general
[</em>] Interview: Really fun! An MIT Sloan graduate- We met in the British Library and we talked for just over an hour. His daughter coincidentally had also gone on a jazz camp so we had some common ground to begin with. I brought my projects and 3D printed models with me which he seemed to really like! Had a great chat about the cooperation between medical equipment companies and oil machinery companies </p>
<p>[/ul]Other
[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): United kingdom
[<em>] School Type: Private
[</em>] Ethnicity: Indian
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: kind of unpredictable, could be 1000000 one year and 0 the other
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I invented something?</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Reflection
[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: ECs, Essays
[</em>] Weaknesses: SAT scores? I heard that they’re a little low for internationals, but idk
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: hopefully I get accepted
[</em>] Where else are you applying:
(In order of preference)
MIT
Cambridge
Stanford
Harvard
Imperial College - Already in
UCL - Already in</p>
<p>[/ul]General Comments:</p>
<p>Really excited and nervous at the same time I hope they see my passions come through in my application!</p>
<p>Good luck to you all!</p>
<p>Country: India
Intended major: Course 1
No. of applicants: Little over a thousand (c’mon not a big deal for a country with billion plus population)</p>
<p>I always wished there was international thread for MIT because it’s much more competitive for internationals.
Country: Korea (school in Canada)
Intended major-Econ
Number of applicants from my country I know:0, but I’m sure heck lot of Koreans r gonna apply.
SAT1- CR740 MA760 WR740 only sitting SAT2- Math790 Chem 780 only sitting as well
Honestly, lot of people were cynical when I decided to apply to MIT. They pounded me with my weakness that I didn’t reach 2300 in SAT and my GPA isn’t good enough. My school doesn’t calculate GPA but I’ve been getting Bs from gr9 to 11 in American standard. Apart from it, I got solid As. I only started learning English from grade 7 and it’s quite hard to get 90+ in Canada, considering 86+ is A and 90+ A+… I don’t expect anything but applied to MIT so that I would have no regret. I’m just a person waiting for lottery result to come out. I hope some of us will hear pleasant news on March! (Despite deadly international acceptance rate of 3%)</p>
<p>On a separate note, for all future international applicants, I just want to make sure that you know the TRUTH about international admissions. </p>
<p>I was originally dissuaded from applying to MIT by one of my teachers as he told me that it’s “impossible” . He told me about one of the best students he’s ever had and how he was rejected. I subsequently visited MIt and asked one of the international admissions officers why this was. She told me that the maon reason for this was not that there was somebody else that was smarter but that the student himself wasn’t a nice person and didn’t have any outside interests apart from studying. </p>
<p>So take heart in the fact that geniuses get rejected every year from international admission. Here’s my advice: take risks, do what you love and do it well. PASSION is the key; depth not breadth. I strongly disagree with college counsellors that encourage you to be well-rounded because Colleges want a well-rounded student body and to achieve this, they need people who have unusual talents, hobbies and who will bring something different to their Class.</p>
<p>Oh and with your essays, don’t pay $1000 for a consulting company to edit your essays! Getting feedback is fine, but once you put the only way of colleges discovering your character/personality into the hands of someone else, you then lose your identity, a sure sign for a rejection.</p>
<p>For ECs, I’d strongly discourage youb from doing things that past acceptees have done just for the sake of it. Do stuff that you love and the prestige of competitions will follow! </p>
<p>The application deadline is today btw! So good luck everyone, and let’s keep this thread alive until march!</p>
<p>Feel free to post stats!</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):730M 650W 670CR
ACT:
SAT II: Math II - 800, Phy - 710
Weighted GPA (out of 20): 16.7
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 15% (one of the best schools in the country)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): IMO Silver Medal, PAMO Silver Medal, First Place at National Math Olympiad (2011/2012), First Place at the National Championship of Mathematical and Logical Games
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): {President/Founder of the School’s Math Club},Math club at my town’s Science Center,iCare Club,{President of the Youth Committee of the World Social Forum 2013}
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring Math/English/Physics
Volunteer/Community service: an active member in two organisations (TUNAIDE/TUNISIE PROPRE)
Summer Activities: Math Camps(organizing and teaching) / English Camp
Essays: Extracurricular - folding paper
What department at MIT - Course 18
Favorite trait - I always challenge myself
What world - Maths Club
Significant challenge - Getting out of the “bubble”
Teacher Recommendation: Great
Counselor Rec: Awesome!
Additional Rec: Math Coach : EXCELLENT
Interview: No interview
Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Tunisia
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Tunisian/Lebanese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 14000$
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none.
Reflection
Strengths: ECs/ Personality/ awards
Weaknesses: Essays maybe, SATs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Waiting for Pi Day…
where else are you applying: Princeton/Wesleyan/Brandeis/Waterloo/Jacobs
General Comments:
am I tea?</p>
<p>imo404, you look really involved in math !
I think they’ll like it ! ;)</p>
<p>Yeah definitely, especially the IMO medal ;)</p>
<p>Btw ino404, I know you said you’re from Tunisia, but do you have a second nationality ?</p>
<p>From Australia :)</p>
<p>any other aussies out there?!</p>
<p>Country: Living in Mauritius, but dual nationality (South African and British)
Course: Applying for 16, but also thinking about 2
Other Applicants: no idea actually, I’d expect about 100 from Mauritius, I only know of 1 person who was going to apply though.</p>
<p>Scores:
SAT; M-770, W-640 (essay a 7), CR-690 (best sitting 2100)
SAT II: MII- 780, Phys- 800, French- 600
AS;
English - 70 (B)
Maths - 95 (A)
Physics - 88 (A)
Chemistry - 88 (A)
A Level predicted:
French (AS) - A
Maths - A* (>95%)
Physics - A*
Chem - A*
Further Maths - B, maybe A depending on grade curve</p>
<p>Exam board: CIE (Cambridge International Examinations)
Academic Awards: No competitions, but Academic Honours at my school in South Africa, and various school awards for top in class and top in subjects.</p>
<p>ECs:
-4th in Mauritian Nationals at 50m/100m backstroke
-Top 8 in Mauritius Nationals at 50m/100m Butterfly
-Top 16 in Mauritius Nationals at 50m/100m/200m freestyle
-Swimming half colours for my school in South Africa
-Kite surfing for the past 3 years
-Water polo 2nd and 3rd team wing for last two years of school
-Open water SCUBA Diver, going for Advanced and Rescue before entering uni
-Grade 6 classical guitar from Trinity Guildhall (been playing for 7 years, including acoustic and electric)
-First Aid certified (with over 70 hours of community service) 1st level, but experience at both 2nd and 3rd levels.
-Various interhouse sporting events and cultural events (having won a couple speech and debates)
-All ECs continued throughout all holidays as they are how I enjoy spending the majority of my time.</p>
<p>Recommendations:
-Physics and Maths/Further Maths Teachers: I am expecting to be glowing as we were the first students ever to write the Cambridge Further Maths exam in South Africa.
-Counsellor: Not as sure, but I do expect it to be really good, with bits and pieces of being enthusiastic and involved (no leadership positions… though I was definitely going to be head boy in my school in Mauritius, but I was the swimming captain for the school in grade 10/13)</p>
<p>Details:
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Languages: Proficient in both English and French (I learnt French more as a first language rather than second with the way I have a feel for the language as well as my lack of understanding in tenses, expanse of my vocabulary and grammar rules)
Income Bracket: No Idea
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Where Else am I applying:
Princeton
UPenn (VIPER program)
Duke
Dartmouth
Cornell
Rice
UChicago
CalTech
Stanford</p>
<p>100 from Mauritius?!?!? Wow. I would have expected probably 2 or 3!</p>
<p>Yep, 100 is a lot for a small country like that ! 
How many international applicants are they ? 10,000 ?</p>
<p>4500 for 150 places… Ridiculous.</p>
<p>Yeah it really is ridiculous… I thought it was even worse, though.</p>