Portraying Yourself

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I've come into a bit of a debacle.</p>

<p>I have written all of my essays, but the reality is that 4/6 of them are about robotics.</p>

<p>Robotics is something I'm super passionate about - I started our team at our school from nothing, with no money, no support, no skills, and we've grown to have an annual budget of $20,000, major corporate sponsors, 6 successful robots and 7 tournaments, as well as being one of the biggest clubs at school.</p>

<p>That said, I have a LOT of other interests - Speech and Debate, Foreign Policy, Domestic Affairs, Theater, Graphic design, running, etc.</p>

<p>I'm afraid that by writing my 4 essays (the major ones, mind you, 250 word ones) I'm giving the false impression of a candidate who is entirely all about Math/Sci and is writing about Robotics because it's "MIT-ish".</p>

<p>The reality is that I'm writing about robotics simply because it is the single most influential aspect of my life, and I've never been more passionate about anything else.</p>

<p>So, my question is, should I leave my 4 essays as all being robotics-geared and hope that it's not misinterpreted as one-sidedness in my application, or should I change one or two to envelope other aspects of my life/EC's, which although prominent, are not as passionate or important to me?</p>

2

<p>MIT takes well-rounded people and very pointy people. I don’t think it’s going to hurt you.</p>

<p>Have you used up your optional essay space? If you think there’s something you’d like to write about concerning another extracurricular, that didn’t quite fit the prompts you were already given, that’s a good spot for it. Also make sure to list the activities on other parts of your application. MIT will see it.</p>

3

<p>If you’re truly passionate about it, and from the looks of it you REALLY are, it won’t hurt you one bit. In fact, your essays will come out great.</p>

4

<p>Adcoms can tell between sincerely passionate essays and artificially written essays. I trust them to tell the difference between writing most of your essays about something because you’re really passionate about it and writing most of them about something just because that’s what MIT is “looking for”. If the essays fit the “be yourself” i wouldn’t change them .</p>