<p>Sigh. I’ll add it to the FAQ next year. I try to point people to the results threads, because I feel like that makes the point that no one qualification is either necessary or sufficient, but maybe that’s too subtle.</p>
<p>I don’t think <em>national</em> awards are required, per se, but some sort of recognition at least on a local level, for a thing or two you are passionate about, usually helps. For instance a regional science fair award (it doesn’t have to be like a semifinalist SIEMENS, etc, ec) with a nice abstract of your research to go along + an enthusiastic rec letter from your supervisor would more than do the job. This extends to anything; any volunteering you did, any clubs your organized and awards you received for poetry or art, for instance, in your town. It doesn’t have to be national. It just has to be honest and authentic, representative of what you are and what you love. </p>
<p>Feel like this part of the blog posted above says it all:</p>
<p>"what should you do if you […] want to come to MIT?</p>
<p>-Do well in school
-Be nice
-Pursue your passion</p>
<p>If you get into MIT, it will be because you followed these steps.</p>
<p>If you don’t get into MIT, you may be disappointed. But you learned everything you could, so now you’re smarter; you were a positive member of your community, and you made people happy; and you spent high school doing not what you thought you had to do to get into a selective college, but what you wanted to do more than anything else in the world. In other words, you didn’t waste a single solitary second of your time.</p>
<p>Applying sideways, as a mantra, means don’t do things because you think they will help you get into MIT (or Harvard, or CalTech, or anywhere). Instead, you should study hard, be nice, and pursue your passion, because then you will have spent high school doing all the rights things, and, as a complete side effect, you’ll be cast in the best light possible for competitive college admissions."</p>
<p>Doing these things won’t get you in, but they will prevent you from wasting your time or hurting your chances of admission.</p>
<p>(coming from an MIT Class '18 REJECT)</p>
<p>Entomom - your newer was unnecessarily sharp and unpleasant.</p>