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<p>I had no clue I was going to be such a minority. =)</p>
<p>(Applying next year as a pure physicist)</p>
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<p>Neither, it’s just it’s possible one or both of them **may not be accepted **</p>
<p>:D</p>
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<p>USAMO isn’t a guarantee</p>
<p>Does “academic stars” include USNCO qualifiers or National AP scholars after junior year or went to some prestigious summer programs like RSI or TASP? I was shocked that MIT actually tracks the number of academic stars, but what’s the specific definition of it?</p>
<p>Good luck at MIT, jamesford!</p>
<p>^ Thanks! GL with senior year.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what’s a good USAMO score for MIT?</p>
<p>If you qualify for USAMO that’s good in itself. Just do the best you can.</p>
<p>Chris, what’s the specific definitions of “academic stars”? Because 1000 academic stars sound like a lot to me, like I know Siemens,Intel, USAMO, publish a book for sure to qualify as an academic star. But what else?</p>
<p>We don’t really have “specific definitions.” Some things are standard, and I don’t think anyone would disagree with them. You’re on the IMO team, you’re an academic star, that sort of thing. It’s less of an objective characteristic and more of a subjective assessment - you know, you think of someone as being a star in their candidacy. </p>
<p>But a lot of other stuff is more touch and go. As you can imagine, our bar for stars is pretty high. </p>
<p>The point is this: if you have an academic achievement that is solid enough where you’re questioning whether or not it qualifies as being a “star”, it really doesn’t matter whether we formally consider it “starry”, since it’s pretty good anyway!!</p>
<p>Hey, Chris:</p>
<p>I’m not sure if MIT is one of my top choices: I love math+science, but I’m more of a philosophy/liberal arts kind of guy (self-studying graduate level philosophy).</p>
<p>I came here because I was incredibly impressed by the amound of communication you are giving your applicants, accepted AND rejected.</p>
<p>I was just wondering, is a 790 on Math II REALLY any different from an 800? I’ve heard it is, but this is CC, where a sub-2300 SAT I won’t get you into community college.</p>
<p>I’m the kind of guy who makes bigillions of careless mistakes, especially on long, repetitive tests (even with extended time!). Would I sound like I’m trying to bs admissions officers if I claim that? I honestly am that spacy haha.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>^ I will respond based on MITChris’s previous remarks: They do not view an 800 as materially different from a 790. Whether this is true is doubtful; the difference threshold facilitated by the metric should dictate the different threshold for discrimination among scores at the admissions end, even if the advantage afforded by a small increase is minor.</p>
<p>That is actually a very good answer, and makes sense.</p>
<p>So even if they don’t “consciously” see it as different, one number just looks bigger so its like BOOM high score.</p>
<p>Or are you talking about the curve of the test??</p>
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<p>I was talking about the fact that higher scores should be viewed more favorably than lower scores and that, in turn, the idea that they aren’t is doubtful. The unconscious effect of a perfect scaled score is a factor as well. </p>
<p>The generous curve makes it unlikely that someone received lower than 800 merely because of “silly” mistakes.</p>
<p>It is very possible to make <em>lots</em> of “silly mistakes”.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “silly” mistakes? As I define the term, I make about one every 150-200 questions and the chance that I miss six questions on a fifty-question test because of such mistakes is negligibly low. Is it a lack of ability to concentrate perhaps?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>(Legitimate) ADHD.</p>
<p>Yes, I know it is ridiculously overdiagnosed, but it does exist haha. Medicine makes it easier to consciously focus, but you still don’t take it a lot of things going around you.</p>
<p>And I know it’s not an excuse, but it IS a factor :P</p>
<p>I got 12-3 = 8 on a calculus test the other day :P</p>
<p>@junhugie: </p>
<p>I will literally not care at all if you have a 790 vs an 800. </p>
<p>AND: </p>
<p>What you should (and may not) know about MIT is that it is the perfect place for a student like you. We have 7 Nobel Prize winners on our faculty, but we also have 4 Pulitzer Prize winners; we require all students, no matter what their major, to take at least one year of math/sci courses and one year humanities/social science courts; we offer tons of science and engineering majors, but also philosophy, linguistics, political science, economics, and cross-registration with Harvard. </p>
<p>Our associate director of admissions, McGreggor Crowley, is one example of a student like yourself; he doubled in biology and cultural anthropology, and then pursued an MD/PhD in anthro at Harvard Medical School.</p>
<p>Oh! I’ve heard about the cross-registration with Harvard, but until now I’d been looking at it from the other side (Harvard student taking classes at MIT). I knew MIT had a strong commitment to opening its students’ eyes to the Lib Arts, but I didn’t know it had faculty like that!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!</p>
<p>Other colleges need to learn from MITs openness lol</p>