<p>I just had a quick look at the MIT app. and I noticed that unlike most other top colleges, MIT isnt willing to accept resumes and they only provide like 5 (or was it 6?) coloumns for you to write your most imp. EC's. </p>
<p>Has this created a problem for anyone?
I only joined like 4 ~ 6 clubs but if I include stuff like comm. service and other unique experiences (like a summer camp) its bound to go over 10.</p>
<p>How did you solve these problems?
and does MIT at least look at the resume?</p>
<p>PS. MIT's app. rocks!! its like playing a game or some sort. I chcekd out all the ivies app. and they were so stiff.</p>
<p>When I filled out the app, I found ways to compress several activites into one slot. For example, I group all the music ensembles I have played in under "Clarinet," and briefly listed them in the description. Only works in some situations, I suppose.</p>
<p>I think the main idea is that you should distill your activities down to the ones you think are most important, as well. They don't want huge lists of random stuff you did at one point, they want to see what things are very important to you.</p>
<p>I didn't send a resume, per se, but I did send in another list with further explanations of my ECs. Even though they say not to send a resume, they also say that you can add on anything you think you need to explain stuff.</p>
<p>List the top five things that have been the most important for you. I ended up not listing a couple of clubs I was in, social work I did, some other minor awards and activities, simply because I didn't really care for them that much. I listed all those activities which were important to me, which I enjoyed doing, and which allow me to indulge in some "self-improvement".</p>
<p>there is only five slots for a reason. They dont want a laundry lists of EC instead they want you to list the 5 that are most important to you. They dont want resumes for the obvious reason that resumes dont tell much that the application will not</p>
<p>Honestly, college admins don't really care about all the twenty activities you joined in high school. What they care about is more what activities you loved and excelled in, that you did to a level other people did not. I.E., they don't care about your being "president of Math Club" - half of the applicant pool were probably presidents of their respective math clubs. What they do care about is "started and captained state champion quiz bowl team" or something.</p>
<p>I sent in a resume anyway, as part of my extra documentation, but I don't think it really mattered when it came down to it.</p>
<p>Post #5 is correct. Marilee Jones has given interviews explaining that MIT doesn't want to encourage "laundry list" building by high school students.</p>
<p>Thanks. Nope; My EC's arent a laundry list. They are categorised into just 3 areas, but elaborated. </p>
<p>paulhomework: sry but can you specify the schools that discourage students from sending resumes? MIT is the only one with my current limited knowledge.</p>
<p>Well, the applications specifically say "please do not send us resumes. " if you think sending one will still help you, then go ahead and send one.</p>
<p>I think most adcoms dont really care reading the resume since hardly any1 sends them. </p>
<p>I think I have to send mine. I spent my freshman year and half of my soph in a different school with a different curriculum thus the activities were complete different (eg: they didnt have the nation wide known mu alpha theta, NHS or any such). so none of my ECs are continuous in terms of their names but similar in their characteristic. </p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. It helped me alot.</p>
<p>umm... but one more :D lol.</p>
<p>Apparently, I help out my parents every week at their shop. This doesnt count as an employment experience does it? :D. I just do some sweeping, rearranging some items and pretty trivial stuff</p>
<p>Working for your parents explains what you do with some of your time, and is important to note on your application. Some college applicants have NIL work experience, so you come out ahead by mentioning the experience you have.</p>
<p>well its only once a week and they don't exactly need me... Thank you for the super fast reply (its been 4 min I think?) and do I attach another form in the app.? I still have 2 years ahead of me; I dont know why I'm starting to worry now...</p>
<p>what i did is i first made that laundry list of all the stuff that ive done in hs, lubs, service, acheivements/ etc, then i categrorized them. i was able to put alomst all my stuff into those 5 slots by category, just make sure that it doesnt blatantly have many things not related into one slot. also remember the app as a whole, u dont need to go into detail of everything everywhere. u can do that in your essays, and make references to experiences in the follow ups too. i sent a letter of reccomencation(extra) from the NSLC for 2 reasons:
1- just added credibility for my accomplishments
2- the letter went into detail about the event in itself, without taking up the space of something else that i could have used to explain. </p>
<p>and dont be afraid to send a letter of explantion for circumstances, in fact there is a space on the app where u can do so.</p>
<p>and then i took advantage of the show us something youve created to describe my other main activity, science olympaid, and wrote about what i learned achieved, and sent a visual picture. even if they say they dont want it, they have no choice really but to look at it, and if it seems like a modest presentation, they will look at it. how do i know this? the Adcom actually sent me that picture back of my robot separate from the essays and app itself. i was so shocked to get it back or even that they would take the time to do that.</p>
<p>also, use the interview to your advantage, my alum did a very nice job figuring out the details of how i work and such, and this is the closest oppurtunity u will have to present yourself to the committee as a person.</p>
<p>good luck, check out my "admitted with 1310 SAT" to see that Numbers are not all they want.</p>
<p>When they specifically state to "not send any form of resume," then wouldn't it be safe to assume that they wouldn't read one even if they got it from an applicant? After all, if they considered it, it would be pretty unfair to the students who followed the directions. :(</p>