***Official MIT RD Results/Discussion Class of 2021***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21

[ size=4][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected [/color][/size]
[ b]Objective:
**International Student **
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): E:35 M:34 R:30 S:34
ACT superscore (breakdown): E:35 M:35 R:32 S:35
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 800, Physics: 800, Chemistry: 800
Percentage: Junior Year (93%) all As, Senior Year (94%) all As and Final Year (95%) all As
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): Physics C: Mechanics(5), E&M(5), Calculus BC(5) and Chemistry(5)
Number of other EA applicants in your school: Not a lot, under 10

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Bronze Medal, International Astronomy Olympiad 2015, Research Fellowships at Polish, Chinese Academies of Sciences, honorable grants from the governments of Austria and Netherlands, National Final Selection Camps for International Physics Olympiad 2016 and International Chemistry Olympiad 2015

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): International AP Scholar, School Scholar with Distinction

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
President, Student Council
President, Science Societies (Physics and Chemistry are independent school societies)
Member, Robotics Team

Job/Work Experience:
-Research and Development at a financial corporation and at a research foundation in France over summer.

  • Intern at Brookings-Tsinghua Center

Volunteer/Community Service: [Started in 2011]

  • Ran a community school of factory workers and construction hires and their families, integrated with a vocational consultancy group to find them alternative sources of income.
  • Created a project aided by the government to improve industrial logistics through data science and identify substandard products and pharmaceuticals.
  • Volunteer at an Old Age Home - Conducted monthly art events for giving opportunities to young artists, volunteers, and musicians to engage with the elderly.
  • Volunteer at an orphanage - Raised money and created learning tools available to orphanages through an online charity match and funding platform.

Summer Experience:
Attended olympiad training and selection camps, camped in a valley for a fundraiser, researched at the places mentioned above - Polish Academy of Sciences on a computational physics project and at the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (EuroFusion) in computational modeling of materials and plasmas,

[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):**

Essays: Were all nice but could have been better (I thought they were great when I submitted my app, so I think this is usual)

Counselor: My school principal wrote a recommendation letter for me instead of the school counselor. Must be very good because she was enthusiastic about it. Has known me very well throughout high school. (probably 9/10)

Teacher Recommendation #1 - English: My English teacher showed me her recommendation a few days back. It was glowing, full of anecdotes and personality. (10/10)
Teacher Recommendation #2 - Physics: My teacher has known me forever as a student. Probably the person who knows me best! I haven’t seen the rec, but she has a reputation for writing amazing recommendations. (probably 9/10)

Other Recommendations:
From my research mentor (President of the Polish Academy of Sciences), a social activist and a representative of the national government (related to my activities). All should be positive and additive as they all know me very well.

Interview: Did not get an interview

Art Supplement: Yes, pieces in modern abstract art and digital abstractions(started studying fine art 6 years ago)

[ b]Other**

Date Submitted App: 01/01/2017
U.S. State/Territory or Country: India, junior year in China
School Type: Private (very different from US private schools, though)
Ethnicity: Chinese/Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: $25000-$30000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): I don’t know

[ b]Reflection**

Strengths: Research, olympiads and olympiad medal, community service backed on a large scale, strong recommendations, nice essays, grades and SAT IIs
Weaknesses: ACT maybe? Although MIT is known to not care much.

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No Idea, really… Maybe they exhausted the quota, better applicants, although a four-time international science olympiad gold medalist was rejected too… So literally clueless :frowning:
What would you have done differently?: Nothing, except that I should have applied EA. Couldn’t decide then. Otherwise, I think I am really happy with how interesting high school has been. I’ve been open to all options and exploration which hasn’t wronged me a lot.
Where else did you apply? Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Caltech (Waitlisted), Vanderbilt, Tufts, Stanford, Duke, Rice, Williams College, Amherst College, Middlebury College, Vassar College, Johns Hopkins

[ b]Other Factors: **
Maybe my recommendations got late… application materials all reached around 18th Jan. MIT didn’t update till Feb 2.

[ b]General Comments & Advice:**
EA if you think you’re a fit and have your materials ready!

22

**Decision: Accepted **

**Objective:[/b
]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): first time:1440 ( 700CR 740M) second time: 1450 (670CR 780M) LOL I KNOW
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1480 (700CR 780M)
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 740 Math ii 800 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):n/a
Weighted GPA:n/a
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/88
AP (place score in parentheses):
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 1 (she got in)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
-2nd prize junior math olympiad
-2nd prize senior chem olympiad
-perfect score 9th grade national math exam
-overall best student 5 consecutive years(8,9,10,11,12)

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):
-best student chem 10,11,12 and other minor ones

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Job/Work Experience:
-helping with home bookkeeping
Volunteer/Community Service:
-tutoring kids in neighbourhood over weekends
Summer Experience:
-intensive film course
-music school ensemble weeks
-online edX courses
-code academy (python, JS, html/css)
other:
-play violin (self taught for first year, formal training for remainder), piano and bit of cello
-videography

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
They were risky lol. Talked about supporting homosexuality in my homophobic country as well as my experience as an atheist in a catholic school in a christian antion lol. Also spoke about love for science and research. wont go into too much detail.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Additional math teacher : 11/10 It was lit! lol. let me see it
Teacher Recommendation #2: Civic education teacher 8/10
Counselor Rec:meh 6/10
Additional Info/Rec: From family friend 8/10
Interview: I had one pretty late. It was initially waived but interviewer became available had one via video call. I think it went well. Interviewer was really late. 9/10
Art Supplement: didn’t submit

Other

Date Submitted App: 31st Dec 2016/1st January 2017 hahaahahahaha (last minute things lol.)
U.S. State/Territory or Country: ZAMBIA (IKR…future zambian applicants I made this for you! If MIT or any school is your dream, apply no matter what. just try lol)
School Type: Catholic
Ethnicity: Black African
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range:n/a
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): I’m a female tryna do engineering. I am from Zambia

Reflection

Strengths: - Personal experiences? lol nooooooooooo idea… I am from ZAMBIA
Weaknesses: SAT scores. but mit has proven its not all about scores lol.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I don’t knowwwwwwwwwwww
What would you have done differently?: NOTHING…I am happy with the outcome of whatever I did lol
Where else did you apply?
Harvard SCEA (deferred)
all other ivies
Stanford University
Duke University
Trinity College
Lafayette College
Tufts University
Colby College.
But regardless of other outcomes, pretty sure I’m gonna pick MIT.

**Other Factors: **

General Comments & Advice:
I was really disappointed when I was deferred EA from Harvard, so much so that I hadnt logged onto cc ever since decisions but now i’m back 3 months later lol.
If I knew then that i’d get into MIT i wouln’t have been as sad as I was lol. I am just glad I moved on and gave my other applications my best! This is for future Zambian applicants. cc really helped me.

sorry for typos and stuff. too excited! PLUS it’s 5am and i havent had any sleep.

MIT_2021!!!!!!!!!!

23

Rejected
Recruited athlete- plays on one of top teams in country
34 ACT, 4.5 GPA, all A/A+s and taking all APs senior year
Submitted oil painting supplement and had amazing interview.

I’m surprisingly not upset. I think it’s because I new in my heart that MIT was not where I was meant to end up. I’m definitely more attracted to the liberal arts colleges and ivies, as they have better athletic programs and opportunities. I’m utterly glad that my spot went to someone who REALLY wanted MIT. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m confident that God will guide me to where I’m meant to be for the next four years.

To all future athletic recruits, I’m sure it helps to apply EA. MIT clearly wasn’t my top, and not applying EA definitely showed to admissions that I wasn’t set on MIT. Be careful with your expectations. The coach raved about me, but I had no expectation to be admitted. That’s my advice. Best of luck and congrats to those admitted!

24

**Decision: Rejected **
White Male
Applied for financial aid

SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/800/710 on old, 800/800 on new
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): only took once each
ACT (breakdown): 35S/35E/35R/36M/22W (didn’t send)
ACT superscore (breakdown): only took once
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 730 US History, 710 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85 by my own calculation, my school only reports my weighted
Weighted GPA: 4.56 as of end of junior year, higher now
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), Stats (5), USHist (5), Eng Lang (5), Physics 1 (5) World Hist (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: 7 classes, the max at my school, 5 APs, one fine art, 1 post-AP
Number of other applicants in your school: 1 that I know of
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Won some state-wide and local academic contests, NMSF

Extracurriculars: Lots with plenty of leadership but nothing THAT execptional - I don’t feel like going into detail.
Essays: Good I think, definetly no typos or grammar errors since I proofread well and pretty good content.
Letter of Recommendation: From my Physics teacher, should be super great.
Other apps: Deferred Princeton SCEA, Accepted Georgia Tech EA, haven’t heard from UChicago, Harvard, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon

25

**Decision:Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I {best single sitting) (breakdown): 2230 (770 M, 720 R, 740 W, 11 essay)
SAT I (superscore) (breakdown): only took once total
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 710 Bio (crammed these Dec. of senior year LOL) (pls don’t be like me)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8/700
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 Calc BC, 5 AB sub-score, 4 Spanish, 4 Lang & comp, 3 Chem, 3 WH, 2 USH (didn’t report)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Gov/econ, AP Physics, Band
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none too big- top 3 HOSA state (national qualifier), placed as team in Sci Oly state, quite a few distinguishments for regional/all-state/symphonies/solo performances as principal player, traveled to NYC for an orchestra

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): mainly focused around 3 major areas: science, music, church. HOSA (4 years) (VP this year), Sci Oly (3 years) (Prez this year), lots of flute activities, 4 year all stater, top scorer in regionals, outside youth symphony, solo performances with local churches/flutist in church orchestra, guitarist/vocalist for worship team (2 years), prin. player band all 4 years, music club to play at local hospitals, etc.
Heavily involved in church community, Prez of whole youth group (100+ stu.), babyland (5 year babysitter), generally I help out wherever I can, and random art club ughhh (P.S. NHS isn’t worth it, didn’t even apply)
Job/Work Experience: flutist in some church xmas services that needed extra players (got ~$200 so does that count? XD)
Volunteer/Community service: didn’t really keep track but probably a lot- FMSC, church outreaches, VBS 4 years, babyland, etc.
Summer Activities: cruise to Alaska! Local genetics internship (not very selective but nonetheless a great experience), missionary to Taiwan to teach students in various locations (some rural, some in major cities), playing SO MUCH league (grind to gold amirite jkjk i suck), learning guitar, volunteering, playing flute, drawing, hanging out with friendz
Essays (rating 1-10, details): World I come from was about how my family is really unusual- dinner talks about string theory or video games. I tied it to how I always felt afraid of being nerdy. Pleasure essay was about listening to various music genres (very eclectic lolol). The rest were about my involvement in church and how I grew from someone who was soft-spoken to becoming a leader.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 8-9/10, Bio teacher, probably pretty good bc she’s sponsor of a lot of science clubs I’m in, pretty active in class
Teacher Rec #2: 7-8/10, Spanish teacher (had 2 years), he likes me and I’m sometimes accidentally funny in class LOL
Counselor Rec: 7/10, probably generic cuz I switched counselors 3+ times, but she seemed really interested in my life story and conducted a short interview/questionnaire to get to know me
Additional Rec: 10/10 flute teacher, known for 7 years, REALLY good, once she even asked me to look it over and add whatever I wanted (I declined), very close to her, best teacher I’ve had
Interview: Went really well, we both lived in Asia for a bit and connected on teamwork (he was really big on that)
Submitted flute supplements

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yup
Intended Major: Biology/Neuroscience, pre-med track
State (if domestic applicant): West Coast
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: large public, sends someone to HYP every year
Ethnicity: Chinese, Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: ~150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: well-rounded, very passionate with ECs, leadership, wasn’t afraid to talk about my religion in essays
Weaknesses: mediocre test scores (by CC standard), bad SAT 2s, didn’t win any national awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: a bit different than the average applicant. No AIMEs or ISEF awards but passionate, into STEM but math/science scores were on lower end
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: still waiting on majority of colleges

General Comments: I wrote this before I got accepted/rejected from anywhere so I’d hope it’s fairly accurate! I was 1000% expecting a rejection since I don’t think I fit into the typical MIT student so I’m pretty happy about being waitlisted haha. Even though I wasn’t accepted, I really hope this helps some future student applying. There’s a lot more than just test scores especially since for me, my ECs probably shone more than my SATs etc. Focus on what you love because then it’ll be worth it no matter what happens. Don’t be afraid to be different. Also, for those stressing out about college, please don’t. I know it’s hard but find something to do in the meantime and live deliberately. Enjoy senior year. I’m still anxious about what’s to come but I’m excited to go to college wherever I end up! God is good. PM me for questions :slight_smile:

26

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 35C (35E, 35M, 33R, 35S)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: ~4.5
AP (place score in parentheses): AP World History(5), AP US History(5), AP Calculus BC(5), AP Psychology(5), AP English Language(5), AP Biology(4),
Senior Year Course Load: Linear Algebra, AP Literature, AP Chemistry, Research internship, AP Statistics, orchestra, AP Computer Science
Number of other applicants in your school: 7+
Major/Common Awards: 3-time AIME qualifier, some math awards, some music awards, ap scholar,

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): science olympiad, Mu Alpha Theta, math team, other service clubs, orchestra
Job/Work Experience: calculus tutor at my local university
Volunteer/Community Service: lab volunteer and hospital volunteer
Summer Experience: research in a molecular biology lab, volunteer work at a hospital, summer school

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: I really loved writing MIT’s essays. I’ve always preferred shorter essays as I feel like I’m able to show more of my personality.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t get to read
Teacher Recommendation #2: Didn’t get to read
Counselor Rec: It was very personal and spoke highly of my skills, interests, and personality.
Additional Info/Rec: rec letter from my coach. I was really touched when I read it
Interview: Eh, it was ok. 1 hour long, lots of questions, nothing special
Art Supplement: Submitted a music portfolio

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/25
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Obvious passion in one area that I developed fairly well
What would you have done differently?: Nothing! I’m pretty satisfied!
Where else did you apply? Yale (accepted), Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Vanderbilt, WashuU

General Comments & Advice:
I can’t emphasize this enough but don’t try so hard to be “well rounded”. I think what made me stand out from other applicants was that I had a clear passion in one/two areas and I focused on developing those interests. Being well-rounded takes a lot of unnecessary effort and time that you could use to develop and improve a certain area. I’m not saying that being well-rounded is bad, but schools like MIT want to see what you’re passionate in. Having a leadership position in 3+ organizations that don’t have any obvious connections between them is very obvious to admissions. Find what you love and pursue that. After all, you can’t major in 5+ different areas.

27

**Decision: Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I: 2390 (800M 800CR 790W)
SAT I superscore: Same as above
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36E 36M 35R 36S)
ACT superscore (breakdown): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): Math II (800) Chemistry (800)
Weighted GPA: 102.5/100 (we have a weird system)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/400+
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Bio (5), AP Cal AB (5), AP Chem (5), AP Lang (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Physics 1, AP Lit, Econ, US Gov, Psychology, and upperclassman genetics at a local university
Number of other applicants in your school: 1 - was rejected
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 3 time AIME qualifier, 3 time ISEF finalist, Biology Olympiad Semifinalist
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, National Merit finalist, Presidential Scholar nomination

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Research at local university (4 years), Science Bowl (founder/team captain), Mu Alpha Theta (president), piano
Job/Work Experience: That’s an L
Volunteer/Community Service: Work at nursing home over the summer, tutor students at school every morning
Summer Experience: Nursing home (see above), interned at a Duke cancer biology lab, Beta Convention

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: 6/10 pretty sure my answers were all pretty standard, none of them would really make me stand out.

Teacher Recommendation #1: 9/10 - my organic/AP Chem teacher. I was one of her best students in her class and she loved me. Was also the Bio Olympiad Sponsor (yes it’s strange)
Teacher Recommendation #2: 6/10 - my AP Lit teacher. Idk how much she had to write about since I asked her to do it pretty early.
Counselor Rec: regularly got into touch with him and we talked a lot about college and everything I’ve done. Great guy who really thinks highly of me.
Additional Info/Rec: nope
Interview: I felt like it went really well; it lasted the longest out of all my interviews and we had lots to talk about.
Art Supplement: Research Supplement

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/8/2016
U.S. Region: South
School Type: Public (1500+, usually sends someone to a HYPSM level school every 3 years or so)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket Range: 60k-100k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Asian male in STEM…mmm I think not

Reflection

Strengths: Test scores/some accomplishments
Weaknesses: essays/recs
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: For whatever reason, I just wasn’t able to express myself as well through their essays. Definitely did not stand out with them.
What would you have done differently?: Try not to simply recycle essays.
Where else did you apply? Stanford (accepted REA), Harvard, Princeton, UChicago, Duke

General Comments & Advice:

For people who haven’t applied yet, you still have time to get your stats up. This is also pretty cliché, but don’t do things just to look impressive to colleges. They’ll know if you truly love what you do. Outside of class, my advice would be to follow your passions and develop good relationships with your teachers. You don’t have be the best well-rounded student to get in.

To everyone who did not get into the Class of 2021, best of luck for the future. No matter what your result, you are still the same person you were a day ago. It is what it is. Remember that in the end, it is you, not some admissions committee, who will ultimately determine your own worth. Wake up. Live your life. Show them how much MIT missed out on.

28

@Eeeee127 yeah, I just found it weird that people were rejected because of space instead of that “normal” rejection of your performance and stats. This is my first rejection so I’m probably going crazy but I got a lot of laughs for this kind of rejection :))

29

Decision: Rejected (Deferred EA)

Other schools I applied

Regular Decision:
RPI (Applied as safety and accepted)
Northeastern (Applied as safety and got admitted to honors program few days ago)
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
UPenn

Short Biography: I was born in Bangladesh. At age 4, I moved to Japan because of my mother pursuing her PhD in Immunology there. We lived there for 6 years, and in 5th grade I moved to Philadelphia where my mom worked at Upenn. We stayed in Philly for 2 years and then we moved to Baltimore where my mom worked at the NIH. We lived in Baltimore for 3 years from 7th grade to 9th grade. At the end of 9th grade, we moved to Albany, Upstate NY. I lived in Albany for sophomore year, and then I moved to Gainesville, Florida where my mom worked at UF. I stayed in Florida for junior year, and now as a senior I am back in Albany. I am fluent in Bengali, Japanese, English. Highly proficient in French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Prospective major: Electrical Engineering

Objective:

SAT I (superscore): 1520: 770 Math and 750 Writing
ACT (breakdown): no
ACT superscore (breakdown): no
SAT II (subject, score): Japanese - 660; Math 2 - 800; Chemistry - 760.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: around 4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked and class size is 453
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (3), Physics-1 (4), English Composition (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature and Composition, AP World History, AP Statistics, AP Physics C Mechanics, Computer Science 1, Economics Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): National Spanish Exam Bronze Award, National Youth leadership forum in Engineering and Technology Distinguished Alumni
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, National Merit Finalist, honor roll all four years, Academic achievement award (top 10% of class by Unweighted GPA at end of junior year)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  • My biggest EC was babysitting my currently 6 year old sister for 4 hours every weekday.
  • I am a religious Muslim and I know around 200 pages of the Quran by heart. I started memorizing when I was 5 and still do. I memorize and recite with an imam or my father.
  • JV soccer 10th grade(captain), JV Tennis 10th grade, Varsity Tennis 12th grade
  • I go to the Mosque almost every day at around 6AM for our first prayer of the day. I also frequently go there on evenings and afternoons to pray.
  • In 9th grade, I helped my father and his fellow Masters in Industrial engineering students build a near perpetual hydroelectric generator that won first place for Thurgood Marshall Entrepreneurship competition. I did a lot of labor and hands on work such as working with the piping, woodworking, etc.
  • New York Mathematics League
  • Coding club
  • School newspaper sports writer
  • Co-Founder of math team
  • Science Olympiad
  • Model United Nations
  • Quiz Bowl
  • I came very close to joining a 7 consecutive national title winning Mu Alpha Theta
    Math team at my school in Florida but I was rejected at the last minute because I had just moved from New York and
    learned a different math curriculum the previous year.
  • Chess club
  • NASA SEMAA program, Morgan State University
  • Owner of Youtube channel (mentioned in major of interest essay) with over 50,000 views
    and Instructables page with over 75,000 views dedicated to DIY engineering projects,
    technology workshops, reverse engineering tutorials, science experiments, and
    electronics repair. My goal is to teach and promote interest in STEM for young people and
    beginner enthusiasts with little to no background knowledge.

Hobbies and activities:

  • knitting, giving haircuts, and furniture repair
  • growing vegetables in my backyard (I grew Basil, Chili Pepper, green beans, cucumbers,
    and cherry radishes this summer)

Job/Work Experience: Survey taker at a Market Research Firm
Volunteer/Community Service:

  • I helped with the construction of a new Mosque in Albany. I currently volunteer by serving food during community events, cleaning, and doing other menial work.
  • Volunteering at a local auto repair shop
    Summer Experience: Did a lot of moving work every summer since I moved around the country so much

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Not going to talk much about these. I found they were pretty good and reflected my personality.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Did not read.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Did not read.
Counselor Rec: Did not read.
Additional Info/Rec: Did not read.
Interview: They all went very well
Art Supplement: no

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/30/2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Bangladeshi
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): URM maybe??

Reflection

Strengths: Now I don’t really think I ever had any. I guess I had some good looking academics going for me, and I am a National Merit finalist. I also know 6 languages.
Weaknesses: I feel like I am mediocre. I haven’t won Intel or won a major award. I feel like students going to top schools excel at a particular field and put a lot of time and effort in that passion like research in Molecular biology, competing in US Math Olympiad team, etc
What would you have done differently?: I don’t really know

It’s a shame MIT only accepted female applicants. Gender discrimination is still at large.

30

Decision: Rejected (Deferred EA)

I applied to these other schools:

RPI (Applied as safety and accepted)
Northeastern (Applied as safety and got admitted to honors program last month)
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
UPenn

Short Biography: I was born in Bangladesh. At age 4, I moved to Japan because of my mother pursuing her PhD in Immunology there. We lived there for 6 years, and in 5th grade I moved to Philadelphia where my mom worked at Upenn. We stayed in Philly for 2 years and then we moved to Baltimore where my mom worked at the NIH. We lived in Baltimore for 3 years from 7th grade to 9th grade. At the end of 9th grade, we moved to upstate NY. I lived in NY for sophomore year, and then I moved to Gainesville, Florida where my mom worked at UF. I stayed in Florida for junior year, and now as a senior I am back in NY. I am fluent in Bengali, Japanese, English. Highly proficient in French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Prospective major: Electrical Engineering

Objective:

SAT I (superscore): 1520: 770 Math and 750 Writing
ACT (breakdown): no
ACT superscore (breakdown): no
SAT II (subject, score): Japanese - 660; Math 2 - 800; Chemistry - 760.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: around 4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked and class size is 453
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (3), Physics-1 (4), English Composition (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature and Composition, AP World History, AP Statistics, AP Physics C Mechanics, Computer Science 1, Economics Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): National Spanish Exam Bronze Award, National Youth leadership forum in Engineering and Technology Distinguished Alumni
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, National Merit Finalist, honor roll all four years, Academic achievement award (top 10% of class by Unweighted GPA at end of junior year)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  • My biggest EC was babysitting my currently 6 year old sister for 4 hours every weekday.
  • I am a religious Muslim and I know around 200 pages of the Quran by heart. I started memorizing when I was 5 and still do. I memorize and recite with an imam or my father.
  • JV soccer 10th grade(captain), JV Tennis 10th grade, Varsity Tennis 12th grade
  • I go to the Mosque almost every day at around 6AM for our first prayer of the day. I also frequently go there on evenings and afternoons to pray.
  • In 9th grade, I helped my father and his fellow Masters in Industrial engineering students build a near perpetual hydroelectric generator that won first place for Thurgood Marshall Entrepreneurship competition. I did a lot of labor and hands on work such as working with the piping, woodworking, etc.
  • New York Mathematics League
  • Coding club
  • School newspaper sports writer
  • Co-Founder of math team
  • Science Olympiad
  • Model United Nations
  • Quiz Bowl
  • I came very close to joining a 7 consecutive national title winning Mu Alpha Theta
    Math team at my school in Florida but I was rejected at the last minute because I had just moved from New York and
    learned a different math curriculum the previous year.
  • Chess club
  • NASA SEMAA program, Morgan State University
  • Owner of Youtube channel (mentioned in major of interest essay) with over 50,000 views
    and Instructables page with over 75,000 views dedicated to DIY engineering projects,
    technology workshops, reverse engineering tutorials, science experiments, and
    electronics repair. My goal is to teach and promote interest in STEM for young people and
    beginner enthusiasts with little to no background knowledge.

Hobbies and activities:

  • knitting, giving haircuts, and furniture repair
  • growing vegetables in my backyard (I grew Basil, Chili Pepper, green beans, cucumbers,
    and cherry radishes this summer)

Job/Work Experience: Survey taker at a Market Research Firm
Volunteer/Community Service:

  • I helped with the construction of a new Mosque in NY. I currently volunteer by serving food during community events, cleaning, and doing other menial work.
  • Volunteering at a local auto repair shop
    Summer Experience: Did a lot of moving work every summer since I moved around the country so much

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Not going to talk much about these. I found they were pretty good and reflected my personality.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Did not read.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Did not read.
Counselor Rec: Did not read.
Additional Info/Rec: Did not read.
Interview: They all went very well
Art Supplement: no

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/30/2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Bangladeshi
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): URM maybe??

Reflection

Strengths: Now I don’t really think I ever had any. I guess I had some good looking academics going for me, and I am a National Merit finalist. I also know 6 languages.
Weaknesses: I feel like I am mediocre. I haven’t won Intel or won a major award. I feel like students going to top schools excel at a particular field and put a lot of time and effort in that passion like research in Molecular biology, competing in US Math Olympiad team, etc
What would you have done differently?: I don’t really know

Such a shame MIT only accepted female applicants. It shows how gender discrimination is still at large.

31

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): Superscore: 2290; Math- 750, Reading- 740, Writing- 800
ACT (breakdown): Composite- 34
SAT II: Math 2- 800, Chemistry- 790, Physics- 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/409
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5), Biology (5), World History (5), Stats (4), Physics 1 (4), Chem (4), Art History (3), US History (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Computer Science, AP Physics 2, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Gov, AICE Global Perspectives (basically an equvalent to AP Capstone)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, AP Scholar, nothing amazing

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate (captain)- won a ton of national awards and am highly ranked; Key Club (Secretary, Fundraising Chair); work for two nonprofit organizations, wont name them just for privacy
Job/Work Experience: 2 years working at a tutoring center, interned in a Congressional office
Volunteer/Community service: Key Club stuff and nonprofit work
Summer Activities: Debate Camps, work, internship
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Too many supplements to describe them all but I mainly talked about debate shaping my view of the world and my interest in cancer research.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: Debate Coach (10; incredibly personal with lots of anecdotes)
Teacher Rec #2: Chemistry teacher (I imagine an 8 at least)
Counselor Rec: Good, she let me read it and for a counselor rec is was very personal (9?)

Interview: Went well, around an hour long. The guy took incredibly detailed notes and really sold me on MIT.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: OBVIOUSLY
Intended Major: No idea tbh, but I applied as Biological Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): FL
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Broke
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen

Reflections:

Strengths: Good scores, personal common app essay, high class rank and GPA
Weaknesses: No significant awards

Other College Decisions: Amherst College (Accepted- Early Write), Michigan EA (Accepted), UF (Accepted), UCF (Accepted), Harvard EA (Deferred)

REFLECTION:
I think what I got out of this was that you don’t need to dedicate your high school life to math and science to get in here. On my application, I listed my test scores and grades which show I am smart and clearly understand math and science, but I honestly didn’t do anything math/science focused as an EC. I did debate and lots of community service because that is what I am passionate about, and I guess that looks different from the math/science applications MIT so frequently reads. So as generic as it sounds, just do what you enjoy and don’t try pretend you are someone else for your application. Since MIT only gives you room to put like 4 EC’s, I made sure to just list my truly impactful ones and not waste time on science and math clubs and honor societies because in all honesty, everyone does those and nobody really benefits too much from them.

32

**Decision: Rejected ofc **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 790/700/10
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 750 M2 720 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Idk
Weighted GPA: 4.37
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/~360
AP (place score in parentheses): four 4’s one 5
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: 5 APs
Number of other applicants in your school: 2 (all rejected)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Nope
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Debate (Captain 11) Computer Science Team (10,11) Internship (11)
Job/Work Experience: June 2016 - December 2016
Volunteer/Community Service: NHS
Summer Experience: Camps, Internship, CTY, SMI

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
For Fun - Watching Baseball (8/10)
Department - EAPS (7/10)
Community - Internship impact (8/10)
World You Come From - “storm chasing” (10/10)
Challenge - dysgraphia (10/10)
Culture - intersectionality (11/10)

Teacher Recommendation #1: IDK
Teacher Recommendation #2: IDK
Counselor Rec: Nope
Additional Info/Rec: Nope
Interview: 6/10
Maker Supplement:
Simple Video coded in java

Other

Date Submitted App: 1/1/2017
U.S. State/Territory or Country: TX
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: too much for aid, but not enough to pay for college
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Nope

Reflection

Strengths: Essays
Weaknesses: Interview, Mid-year report, Scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Graduating early without a stellar app or scores
What would you have done differently?: Nothing - I would have been rejected anyway
Where else did you apply?
Caltech (rejected) Stanford (waiting, but probably rejected)

**Other Factors: **
Graduating early and school wealthy, but not well known by top schools

General Comments & Advice:
Don’t be afraid to apply, but don’t get your hopes up.
CONGRATULATIONS to all the adMITs!

33

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1410 - 740/670/16 (I’m international, so I’m assuming they looked at my TOEFL instead lol)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same
TOEFL iBT: 110/120
ACT (breakdown): -
ACT superscore (breakdown): -
SAT II (subject, score): Physics 800, Math II 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Lebanese Program 92/100, which is quite high, I guess
Weighted GPA: I don’t even know what this is honestly
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): probably top 5%
AP (place score in parentheses): -
IB (place score in parentheses): -
Senior Year Course Load: Lebanese Baccalaureate (Life Sciences): English, Arabic, German(School specific), Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, Civics and Philosophy.
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): -
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): 1st place in Lebanese Handball Championship, school science fair & history day.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Piano (8 years), Handball(2 years, co-captain 2nd year, Amateur Astronomy(3 years), Swimming, Chess, Basketball (2 years), Soccer.
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring (6 years, Math, Physics, Programming)
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience: 1 Month German Exchange Program (Stipend)

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: Some were great, others were just cheesy. 7/10

Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t read any of these, but I was told they were good.
Teacher Recommendation #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Waived
Art Supplement: -
Maker Portfolio: I wrote about the stuff I’ve built. Small solar-powered cars, basic programs with Arduinos, an ultrasonic navigation system for blind people.

**Other **

Date Submitted App: 31st Dec. 2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Lebanon
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
Gender: M
Income Bracket Range: 80-100k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): -

Reflection

Strengths: Subject tests, Maker Portfolio (I think?)
Weaknesses: Essays, Extracurriculars, no international awards (because my school reserves those for the IB students, who must have a dual citizenship, at least in this system)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I probably should’ve been more transparent. I guess I might look unimpressive on paper.
What would you have done differently?: Devote more time into the things I liked (which I started doing mid 11th grade), I shouldn’t have been afraid to really discuss my identity.
Where else did you apply?
Two local universities, accepted to both (50% scholarship to one of them)
Princeton, Cornell, Waterloo, Toronto.

**Other Factors: **
Male, white.
I didn’t know about any olympiads until I had applied, and even then my country didn’t have an international olympiad team.

General Comments & Advice:

This is a small story I have to share:
At my school, IB students get the most attention, and they’re often the ones who are sent to competitions and attend seminars. As I started 11th grade, I was bitter. I envied the IB students, and I couldn’t join them for the sole purpose that both my parents happened to be Lebanese. I embraced the one thing I loved most: Physics. I learned from their textbooks, and when I was done, I raided OCW. I ended up finding the opportunities themselves fall into my path. I quickly became close with the IB physics teacher, and pretty soon I was granted permission to use the physics lab and its tools. This became the birthplace for almost all of my projects, and I never felt happier. In fact, I often tutor IB students and help them out with their IAs and EEs.

What I mean to say is, no program - or school - can define where you’ll end up, and if you do have the courage to apply to MIT, then odds are you like to work hard. So paving your own way shouldn’t be a problem.

Also, please write about what means to you - no matter how trivial. If the adcoms don’t like it, then odds are you won’t like it there either.

34

@tawhidkhn63 It’s such a dumb thing to say that “gender discrimination” is at large. Don’t blame your own feeling on inadequacy on your erroneous assumption that “MIT only accepts women”.

35

MIT wants their class to be close to 50/50 in terms of gender, so they accept more women(proportionately I mean, less in terms of actual amount).

36

I heard another big factor is more qualified female applicants tend to apply

37

@cconfidentialkid I don’t think you can make that assumption. Based on public data, in 2015, the acceptance rate for females is 13% while it WAS 6% for males. http://time.com/money/4147738/colleges-women-higher-acceptance-rate/ . Although MIT tries to get an equal gender ratio, I feel that they are losing qualified male applicants to accept slightly academically/extracurricularly weaker females in certain scenarios, as supported by the evidence. I understand that MIT wants to make a balanced class, but I think it is unfair that females have a 116% better chance to get accepted than males. Not even self-selection from females would lessen the gap substantially.

38

[ size=4][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected **[/color][/size]

[ b]Objective:**
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1520 (790 reading/730 math/21 essay)
SAT II (subject, score): Math, 750; Chemistry, 770
Unweighted GPA: 98.4/100
Weighted GPA: 103.5/100 (adds 7 points to each honors/AP course)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/290
AP (place score in parentheses): Chem, Calc BC, Bio, French, English Lang, US History, Euro History, Psychology (5), Stats (4) did not report
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Physics, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Music Theory, orchestra, rec PE
Number of other EA applicants in your school: 3 total from school incuding myself, all deferred and all rejected
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): N/A (aka my downfall)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar, National French contest bronze medalist, 1st place Regional NHD, school award in chemistry

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Reported 1. Marching band/indoor percussion grades 9-12, executive board, won champs 3 years in a row for marching band and one year for indoor percussion, very competitive in region, I play mallets including marimba, xylophone, etc
2. Oboe in wind ensemble, wind quintet, qualified for district band, took a break for a few years however
3. Science olympiad (president), 9-12 no medals or regional awards so that kind of drew away from it
4. Model UN (president), 9-12 no awards from this either

Summer Experience:
Civil War Institute Summer Conference scholarship recipient
UPenn museum intern/volunteer
PA Gov School for Sciences

[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):**

Essays:
All good, range from 7-10 I’d say.
Teacher Recommendation #1: APUSH teacher, NHS advisor, XC coach, and Model UN advisor rolled into one… knows me well
Teacher Recommendation #2:AP Bio teacher and quiz bowl teach coach for one year while other one was on maternity teacher, pretty sure she liked me
Counselor Rec: She likes me a lot but also knew I have a lot of mental health issues so she may have mentioned this, detracting from my app
Interview: not great. I couldn’t relate to her at all

[ b]Other**

Date Submitted App: 10/4/16
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Pennsylvania
School Type: midsized suburban
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket Range: ~100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none

[ b]Reflection**

Strengths: academic rigor up to par
Weaknesses: no standout ECs
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: not unique/special enough
What would you have done differently?: Focused on a few activities, shone out more in my interview
Where else did you apply? Accepted Temple, U of M, waiting on others

39

It(the fact that the female applicants tend to be “better”), according to @MITChris and other admissions representatives, is large factor, but the fact of wanting a balanced gender class is certainly at play. I think it’s a hard argument to make that if they didn’t look at gender at all that the ratios would be the same. (but who knows maybe it’s true) Anyway, it’s really hard to say for sure.

40

Yes, according to stats, being a girl applicant to MIT gives you a slight advantage. However, there are always advantages/disadvantages when applying to ANY school as each university wants to create a diverse class. There’s nothing you can do to change that HOWEVER you can choose to work harder, develop a passion, and give yourself an edge over the other applicants.
Unfortunately, favoritism and bias exists everywhere. I can’t even tell you the number of sexist and rude comments I’ve heard in my life for being a girl in STEM. Don’t be resentful because you think your race/gender/location/whatever was the sole reason why you were rejected. You guys are all qualified and amazing applicants and I encourage you guys to continue working hard.