<p>I read in one of Matt McGann's blogs concerning the awards section of the app, that one could write down as an award, "read the 100 books from the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels". Is this a joke or is this true. Because this is actually something I did this last summer, lol. What other sorts of things like this, (if this is a legit thing to write down) could one do and put on the MIT app?</p>
<p>I was wondering if “self-taught guitarist/pianist” would count…?</p>
<p>I put down “Best tasting drink in chemistry class final project contest”</p>
<p>Doubt it helped, but if you have space, why not?</p>
<p>I put “Chuck Norris award”…</p>
<p>If it’s not a major award like Siemens, Westinghouse, etc, it doesn’t have much weight. God knows how many people will put that they read those 100 books when they haven’t. It’s not something concrete or verifiable.</p>
<p>I put Pok</p>
<p>^ But did you catch them all?</p>
<p>rofl</p>
<p>@Omega</p>
<p>Did you actually?</p>
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[quote]
I put Pok</p>
<p>Matt was probably joking, but we get things like that (and Pokemon master) all the time. Put down whatever you’d like, really.</p>
<p>^^I have around 10 more to go. Can I do it?</p>
<p>I also won Siemens and Intel Grand Prizes but they’re not really ‘important’ awards. :P</p>
<p>@MITChris</p>
<p>haha how did you treat/react to “awards” like “Pokemon Master”</p>
<p>Does it really affect their chances?</p>
<p>A Pokemon Master can handle easily MIT, so you will get in ! xP</p>
<p>I will write best italian nutella eater of the year. xS</p>
<p>My feeling is that writing down something like this in the awards section doesn’t impress them as an award per se (since it’s obviously not an officially recognized thing) but it would demonstrate something interesting about you. The other famous question on the application asks you to write down something you do just for fun. No one is going to exactly be “impressed” by any answer you could put down, but they still want to know about it, to get a better picture of who you are.</p>
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<p>Awards need to be verified, and the recipients must be tested. Forging Pokemon Mastery is a serious offense.</p>
<p>Be prepared to have your Pokedex inspected, and to be challenged to a battle by the elite and legendary of MIT.</p>
<p>^hahahaha! I love you, mathboy98</p>
<p>I said I’m internationally ranked in rock band, which is actually true. I didn’t get in, but I’m sure they were somewhat entertained/amused.</p>
<p>I told them that I didn’t have room in the margins to write all the awards. (Fermat reference)</p>
<p>^^^^^^ Haha, I remember that from “The Proof” that we watched in math class</p>
<p>w/r/t awards: </p>
<p>I mean, unless you have a serious award, it doesn’t carry what we would call dispositive weight, by which I mean it’s not the sort of thing that will make or break your application. </p>
<p>But we like to see it when an applicant’s personality brims up and over. I remember one student who had written a couple of fairly generic summer activities and then wrote “Napping: 140 hrs/week”, and for some reason I lost it laughing. I honestly don’t recall whether or not that student got in, and we would never accept someone just because they shoehorned a good joke into their application, but it was something I still remember. </p>
<p>You should view your application as creatively or performatively as you want. If you can make it work, give it a shot!</p>