<p>All these advices are great, thanks to you all.</p>
<p>Most of the time my S spent essay writing was in fact time spent getting comfortable with the idea of exposing himself on paper. But once he did...the words just poured off the pages.</p>
<ol>
<li>High test scores, GPA, extracurricular leadership are both prerequisites and not guarantees. 2400/4.0 isn't a slam dunk and 2000/3.5 isn't an auto-reject. You better show that you not only like taking math and science courses, but you've been successful at them since these are the classes every MIT student takes their first year.</li>
<li>Demonstrate you took advantage of every opportunities available to you. Why should MIT give you the opportunities to attend it if you can't even seize the opportunities around you? There's no reason to be pessimistic if your school doesn't offer Calc BC and Physics C if you still took AB and B if that's all that's available. However, if you avoided math and science APs when they were available to keep a high GPA, that doesn't reflect well. If you finished all the APs offered your sophomore or junior year, don't rest on your laurels - take more classes at a local college. If you won a school science competition, did you improve it and apply for regional or national competitions or find a local researcher to mentor you?</li>
<li>Demonstrate your passion and fire. Should you try to be president of three different clubs or start one new one? Play three sports or tutor 20 hours a week? There's not fast and hard answer because everyone is different. But what does become apparent is if you try to do EVERYTHING because you think you have to rather than pursuing SOMETHING that really drives you. While a laundry list of items is effective at filling up space on an application, writing an honest, novel, and compelling personal statement is going to get you a lot farther.</li>
<li>Start early. If you even have the faintest interest in applying to MIT, you should be visiting MIT</a> Admissions weekly, if not daily. It is an amazing website with an active community of contributors and readers offering lots of advice, answers, and support. Find and become familiar with programs whose research excites you.</li>
</ol>
<p>I also suggest setting aside a good amount of freetime for yourself. Take this time to think about things, whatever you want to think about, building things, etc. Give yourself lots of room for failure. But don't feel obligated to spend every waking moment doing something that will tangibly affect your resume.</p>
<p>Numbers are good. ECs are awesome. Awards and qualifications and all that flashy stuff is snazzily amazing.</p>
<p>But the most important thing is your personality, your ambition, your drive to be the best and the confidence that you will achieve this goal. Show MIT that you aren't afraid of what they'll toss at you; show them you're up to the challenge; show them that you do not give up in the face of disappointment (<em>cough</em>8.012<em>cough</em>). Assure them of this, and then assure them again. After all, MIT students come from a wide range of skills and abilities. We have varying knowledge levels and varying backgrounds, some strong and some weak. The similarity that each of us possesses, however, is our pursuit of excellence and our endless dedication and energy to make it happen. It's what makes MIT great, and it's what makes you a great match for MIT.</p>
<p>Thanks for all these awesome pieces of advice? Any specific advice to international applicants? I'm an 11th grader from India. No international awards and stuff but a decent record on state/national level. Seeing as the GPA/AP/IB etc. are not followed here(Though I might take AP from some American International school) I guess the structure and expectations in the application will be slightly different as well?</p>
<p>What exactly counts as a "humanities" teacher?</p>
<p>english/literature, art, history, social science, maybe foreign language (but that's not so good).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your humanities letter of recommendation written by a foreign language teacher.</p>
<p>Don't make excuses.
Bring a towel.</p>
<p>you HAVE to show personality, you HAVE to go all-out, you HAVE to show interest, and you HAVE to write spectacular essays, unless you are truly an AMAZING candidate. I got in and I do not consider myself to be an amazing candidate. In fact, many of my SAT scores were below their 25% mark. Show that you are a real person who has some cool interests that REALLY interest you (and your first step should be getting some, without any regard to college admissions, if you don't already have some) and you've had some practical experience in those fields that makes you a good fit for MIT. Do not overlook the fact that I said you should REALLY be interested in whatever you spend your time doing, because if you do not get in, i.e. you don't "have" MIT, you will STILL "have" THAT THING, which you love!!</p>
<p>Just be yourself.
I didn't hide the sort of person I really am in anything I wrote to MIT.
I also am mad good at standardized testing, :D</p>
<p>Don't do stupid stuff.</p>
<p>I don't care if your first and greatest love is linguistics, don't write your essay in Linear</a> B.</p>
<p>Be aware of deadlines. Don't call your Educational Councillor (EC) on Christmas eve for an interview. The latest interview request I got this year came in at the end of January. And specifically about interview deadlines, if you have a particular time that you need to be interviewed, let the EC know about it well in advance. This year I saw a lot of kids (more than 10) who contacted their EC by the Dec 10 deadline (usually on 10 December), but who were leaving for a multi-week Christmas holiday on or about the 15th. Some of these folks, who did contact their EC by the deadline, still did not get interviewed.</p>
<p>I think the best advice I can give is to have fun with the MIT application. It's almost like a game... a jigsaw puzzle. You want to make sure you are connecting all the pieces in the right way such that it portrays the best image of you. Don't let yourself become computerized. Though online applications sometimes seem daunting, make sure to portray your passions and make sure to retain your humanity. And DON'T PANIC! :)</p>
<p>Quite honestly, I think that's what got me in. The fact that I had fun with it and also that I portrayed my strengths and my personality.</p>
<p>And make sure to get an interview. Call your EC as soon as possible and don't wait until the deadline to contact him!</p>
<p>:) I hope this helps!</p>
<p>For those who will be applying for the class of 2014 or beyond, the following video of Stu Schmill, Matt McGann & Kim Hunter explaining the admissions process at MIT to an audience of alums (I think) may be informative.</p>
<p>MIT</a> TechTV – Behind the Scenes of Admissions at MIT</p>
<p>I just finished watching that video, and it was very interesting. </p>
<p>Makes me understand why I was admitted in general, but specifically also over another student from my school who was waitlisted.</p>
<p>Read MIT blogs: They helped me a lot learn effective ways to express myself, and also taught me to notice things about myself I wouldn't even consider putting in a college application.</p>
<ol>
<li>How do you learn to appreciate the blogger?</li>
<li>How do they convey their feelings?</li>
<li>What makes them effective in exposing their identity to you?</li>
</ol>