<p>Here's my situation: I'm planning to apply for MIT this year and I really love singing and music, but I'm not going to be majoring in it. However, I still want to continue my music education at MIT (and hopefully join their choir). I made my high school's select choir (A Capella) and I competed at the my regional and state competition and received a 1 at regionals and a 2 at state. I plan on competing again this year as I'm really passionate about music and I enjoy it quite a bit. For college, though, I plan on majoring in EECS (I might take a minor or something in music).</p>
<p>So back to my question, should I include a music portfolio, or not?</p>
<p>Yes! It shows something interesting about you, that you’ve stuck with something and excelled in it, and a bunch of other qualities that MIT would likely love to know about Your activities definitely do not have to be directly related to your major. (I, for example, was a horseback rider, pilot, actress… and I’m an EECS major now.)</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, did you think it was a bad thing? Showing your extracurriculars on your college applications seems quite normal ^.^</p>
<p>I actually never considered music to be extracurricular. I always associated that term with after-school activities and clubs. :\ I was also semi-convinced that the music portfolio was only for people who were interested in majoring in that area.</p>
<p>I would strongly assume that most people who submit music portfolios don’t intend to or end up majoring in music at MIT – the music department has many class-takers, but relatively few majors.</p>
<p>Absolutely submit anything you like. While it won’t necessarily help you, it is extremely unlikely to hurt you (you would have to go out of your way to do this).</p>
<p>It seems like this person is interested in the fine arts, yet The Institute is the last school one would look at, if one were to pursue the fine arts.</p>
<p>Having a strong interest in the fine arts (or the humanities, or any of a zillion other things) is completely compatible with being a good fit for MIT.</p>
<p>I think the average joe is misinformed, and should remember that majoring in one thing does not mean that one cannot be interested in something else.</p>
<p>If you’ve seen my posts in these forums, you will know that we really stress match at MIT. </p>
<p>Your academic interest + username does not portend a good match at MIT. I say that not in a negative or judgmental way - just that we really care about a match for our mission, which is this: </p>
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<p>and it tends to not be a great match for students who are interested in finance outright. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong - lots of MIT people end up in finance. But there are other programs - Princeton’s Financial Engineering program, for one - that are devoted to it, and serve it, much more than we do.</p>
<p>Yes. (I frequently see us at the top 5, or at the top tied with Wharton [UPenn], etc.) I think Chris is trying to emphasize the Match here, and the Match isn’t all about “go to a brand name school and get out and make as much money as possible”.</p>
<p>I see, but an academic of interest in finance would be a great match.
It seems that quality education fitting most individuals would coincidentally be a “brand-name” school.</p>
<p>^ Sure? It’s not like I’m disparaging what it means to be a brand-name school. But if all you’re going to MIT for is the brand name, I think it’s a pity to let the atmosphere - such a great place to foster so much more for people who want more - go to waste.</p>
<p>There’s also the part where an interest in getting a degree from MIT merely for the brand name won’t get you through those weeks when you have three psets and two tests and a paper and a presentation and a really important experiment in your UROP and a big competition in your extracurricular group. </p>
<p>It also won’t help you make friends at MIT.</p>
<p>*The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.</p>
<p>The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges.*</p>
<p>StarsAligned, I think the point being communicated is there in this part of the mission statement…</p>
<p>There are plenty of people who work in Wall Street due to some degree of interest in finance and primarily to make loads and loads and loads of money … not primarily some lofty academic interest in analyzing the financial markets … and certainly not exceptionally in line with that mission statement. These can be exceptional people in a certain sense, by the way - one is known to me. Very nice person too. But in terms of what he wanted out of school and career, pretty openly not in line with the mission statement, and yet spectacularly successful in the financial market.</p>
<p>Basically, a brand-name school can serve many needs, simply because it’s good at many things, but there can be something in the background beyond detecting an interest in a particular career which may fuel actual admissions. Whether or not you like this way of doing things is a different story. What is certain is that admissions would be a simpler job by far if there weren’t a huge element of match to detect.</p>
Your activities definitely do not have to be directly related to your major. (I, for example, was a horseback rider, pilot, actress… and I’m an EECS major now.)</p>