Hi y’all,
I had to move my high school for the last year for some issues (more details below) and unlike the Common App, the MIT application doesn’t give you space to talk about why you moved high school if you did. Should I write about it in the optional section? As said in my other post, my optional section is getting pretty long ATM…
Basically what happened at my old school was that there was a student who sent death threats to me, and I told the administration but they didn’t do anything. Actually, it got worse after I talked to the administration because the perpetrator literally yelled at my face in the library that I shouldn’t have told the school about it. My parents found out about it much later (I didn’t tell them right away…I should have) and they met with the principal but they won’t do anything. There aren’t that many students taking the course I’m taking next year and he’s one of them so I’m gonna have most of my class with him. I don’t want to see him ever again. My parents don’t want him to go to same school as me. The school didn’t care about this so I moved instead.
Does writing it make things better? I definitely do NOT want anyone to think that I changed school because of something that I did wrong, because it wasn’t my fault at all.
If it looks like you moved from a challenging school to an easier one, you should explain this.
If the schools are roughly comparable in quality and your course rigor did not change, you do not have to explain in any level of detail.
@AroundHere They are both elite private schools. I personally think my new school is better in quality.
But the one thing I want to make sure I clear up is that I don’t want anyone to think that I did something wrong. Would it be necessary?
Hmmm… I am honestly not sure. You might want to see if any of your recommendations are going to mention it?
@AroundHere Not entirely sure either. I’m going to talk this out with my new counsellor, and hopefully she will suggest something. Would it better to mention that issue through counsellor letter or directly by me on the application?
If your old GC won’t do anything, try the new one. At “elite” hs, they’re usually attentive.
No lengthy explanations. What the new GC can or will say depends on what she truly knows, not 2nd hand.
You need to understand what an MIT level college really looks for, put your energy into that. Top colleges will care more about what you bring to the table than some explanation of troubles with some other kid. In fact, if you do overstate an issue getting along, it could be a flag, regardless of who’s at fault.
Be savvy. Be informed what matters to your targets.