Transfer applicant. Peer recommendation and some other questions.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hello.</p>

<p>I know a girl in MIT from the same high school as me. I do not know her very well, but we studied and participated in some Olympiads during my time at school. I graduated from that school earlier then she did. Then she won IMO and got a grant in MIT. </p>

<p>I can ask her to write a some sort of peer recommendation for me. Is that a good idea? Has anyone done something like this and did it help?</p>

<p>And some more questions about recommendations. The application itself states that they are pretty important and I can include some additional if I feel that I need to. So I have basic 3 recommendations from professors, but in addition I've got recommendations from high school, 3 teacher assistants here in my university and one from my former job. Is that too much or it's not enough?</p>

<p>Last question for now. When I see you guys talk about "short essays" like your activities I found that you often have 100 or 250 words limit. But in a transfer application I did not find any limit for essays 4 (activities) and 5 (summer activities lol). And if it is limited to 250 words or less should I try to thoroughly describe 1 activity or kind of make a list and briefly describe each?</p>

<p>P.S. link to transfer application
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/admissions/transfer/TransferForm2010.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/admissions/transfer/TransferForm2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I haven’t heard of peer recommendations being done, but either way - if you do not know her very well, why would you want a recommendation from her?</p>

3

<p>I bet she knows me better then my professors do. I mean like a person, not records.</p>

4

<p>I would be surprised if this had any impact on your application, but if you think it’ll help, give it a shot.</p>

5

<p>At this point, I’d recommend emailing Admissions directly about whether or not it’s a good idea. But I agree with Karen, it will likely not hurt.</p>

6

<p>

I am not sure if those are essays?
Transfers have two essays. Both of them are 500 long.</p>

<p>You can always attach an extra essay.
Three professor=3 excellent
one high school=1 This is very good
Three professor assistant=3 Are they TAs
One from former job=1 Not sure
One from your friend=1 Not sure
Total =
This looks too much to me. </p>

<p>

[quote]
I do not know her very well

[quote]

If she knows you more than the professors, then go for it.</p>

7

<p>

Yes they are not said to be essays. But I can write A LOT about how I spend my time outside scheduled classes. Does it have any word limit? Should I try just to fit my answer in the provided space or I can just attach another paper sheet and write 1k words essay about my activities?</p>

<p>

TA stands for teacher assistant, right? Then I think they are. Because they are grad students who lead tutorials and labs and help professors during the lectures. And these guys know me pretty good. Because they saw all my sourcecode, documentation and all of my math and physics problem solutions.</p>

8

<p>^ I am also a transfer student and I don’t know much.
But you can always attach extra essays as long as they tell more about you.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

9

<p>First off you must have three evaluations from professors. One must be from a science/math prof. The other two are up to you. Second off, you are only allowed 2 supplemental recommendations. This brings your total to 5 recommendations.</p>