<p>Note: A copy of the below has been posted to the MIT Blogs. If you have addressed the question there, thank you for your time and please don't bother about replying here as well.</p>
<p>For my MIT application, I am considering submitting several supplemental materials (pruned from even more, amazingly). They are:</p>
<p>-Cover letter
-RSI, MIT mentor letters of rec
-3-4 ABSTRACTS ONLY (very short, around [less than?] 100 words)
-1-page transcript from a humanities program I did (Very little of my interest in the humanities is coming through elsewhere)
-Tables describing summer programs, awards, activities. Most of my activities, awards, etc are very unconventional; I've done almost no "normal" stuff like newspaper, debate, science club, etc, and the names of the activities are not very descriptive. So I do think these are pretty essential</p>
<p>Is this excessive? Just right? What? Any help is appreciated. </p>
<p>Forgot to mention:
I am also doing at least one of the optional essays. This one is really brief -- its like 100 words plus a very easy-to-read collage, about me and fun. I'm considering also doing another 250-word essay on Ultimate Frisbee, 'cause Ultimate rules.</p>
<p>I guess these are many supplemental materials. I guess you might try to keep as much as you can to the required materials of the Application and only send Extraordinary Great things as supplementals (as a counselor said to me)</p>
<p>Yes, that's exactly what I did (in re the cover letter + research abstract + research report for a different project). Of course, it's quite possible the committee saw fit to read none of these things, but I know it couldn't have adversely impacted the application.</p>
<p>I'd say it's okay. Since you're planning on including 3-4 <em>abstracts,</em> a brag sheet, and what sounds like a quite short humanities thing, I'd be especially inclined to think it was okay. I included a research report that was about twelve pages long. It didn't hurt my acceptance.</p>
<p>Everything sounds good, except for the table. It's often been said that there's a reason why MIT only puts 5 spaces for activities and however many spaces for awards; it is because they want to know what's most important to you. I don't know if it's desirble to send a table/resume (essentially that's what it is) in. If some of the awards and EC's are really important to you that does not fit into the application, you should be able to write a good short essay on some with a twist, and in that case, I would see that fitting in more as a supplemental material.</p>
<p>I think Ben Jones said something along the lines of "fill out the five spaces but send us a brag sheet if you want, as it can be useful for highlighting parts of your application." Correct me, Ben, if I'm putting words in your mouth ;)</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree. It was specifically mentioned NOT to send a brag list or a long resume. They want quality NOT quantity and sending a brag list might hurt your application more than help it.</p>
<p>Huh? It was specifically mentioned not to send a brag sheet <em>alone</em>; but if you fill out the five spots, you can probably expect that the adcoms will read a brag sheet. In any case, how could sending in more material hurt your application?</p>
<p>As many posts in blogs and on CC have reiterated, we shouldn't send extra material unless it conveys some distinct aspect. Sending in more material would probably annoy adcoms and thereby reduce your chances of admission (a frustrated adcom won't help much ;)). Anyway, I've selected a few entries from the Blogs of Matt and Ben to further reiterate this point:</p>
<p>"...long lists of activities and awards are most often not useful." Matt' McGann's blog</p>
<p>"...we have only five spots in our activities section - intentionally. We know that everyone does a million things these days, but we really want to know about the five things that meant the most to an applicant in high school. We find that these five things tell us a lot more about a person than any resume could, and this also saves us the trouble of trying to figure out what the applicant really valued.</p>
<p>I'd say go over your high school career, choose the activities that you're really proud of and which really define you, and get rid of the rest. For the ones you keep, write great descriptions to give the reader the tools that he/she needs to really share your passion. If you need more room, use question #14 to expand your descriptions. But when in doubt - 5 things with great descriptions will blow away a resume/laundry list any day of the week." Ben Jones' Blog</p>
<p>If you use the search feature you're bound to find posts on CC (by both Ben Jones of MIT and Ben Golub of Caltech) which reaffirm this point. Ben Jones has mentioned at least twice that we should go for quality over quantity and that there's a reason for there only being five spots for activities on the application.</p>
<p>It's not a brag sheet in the sense it is a list of all the stuff I have done. Far from it; it is only a listing of the 8 most important activities that I actually commit a lot to. I would send it even if I could only put 5 activities on to it, because again, my activities are <em>very</em> nontraditional, and their names tell nothing. So I am trying to focus on quality, not quantity.</p>
<p>P.S. the cover letter is a disclosure of contents, notes, etc. in an actual letter format.</p>
<p>That makes sense. In that case, I'd recommend you send it. </p>
<p>Since you're not providing a lengthy list of clubs, activities, etc. you should be fine. I might do the same thing, since my activities are untraditional and aren't explained well enough in 2-3 sentences.</p>
<p>Oh well, I never got that much of an advice in my school, people usually don't apply to the United States here in the west part of Puerto Rico so it was really hard for me to finish my application, and I was so committed to stay in the margin, that I guess it hurted my application!</p>