<p>Glad to be educational ;)</p>
<p>(Clarification: molliebatmit isn’t here on an MIT official basis. She is, however, a moderator for CC, so she’s official in that sense.)</p>
<p>PiperXP wrote:</p>
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<p>Very interesting.</p>
<p>Is the CC input telling you that you can’t do it, or you’re not good enough?
Or is the CC input attempting to inject some reality into idealistic ambitions, and provide ideas for how to strengthen one’s application?</p>
<p>I see much more of the latter.</p>
<p>^ I mean, I didn’t look at CC before applying, and I still got in. So my application was apparently good enough without CC.</p>
<p>CCers tend to overvalue SAT scores (mine were above 700, but not 800’s) and overvalue competitions, so this definitely goes in the “not good enough” realm. It turns out MIT values SAT scores to an extent, and values competitions but also values other things.</p>
<p>JPM: CC has helped me to an extent when it comes to improving my application. However, I feel like the reality that is injected into my “idealistic ambitions” is limited. I do realize that perfect scores are not everything but I can find that information on every elite school’s website. CC can give you an idea of what ECs are recommended. However, I have no means of partcipating or creating these ECs (rural, failing school in the middle of nowhere). This reality of CC initially may give one an epiphany, but it can be harmful to a person’s self esteem. After lurking on CC for a while, I just lost all respect for myself. I dowplayed all my positive accomplishments and started to stress myself out about all my weaknesses. I also feel the need to chime in about the validity of CC. CC is a completely anonymous website. People can become whoever they so choose on this website. What if (hypothetically) many (not a majority or plurality) CCers were lying or exaggerating their stats. This may distort one’s view of the applicant pool to elite schools. Even though this may be improbable in some people’s eyes, it is a possibility. Even if people did tell the truth would this be an accurate way to measure difficulty of elite school application behavior. With respect to an elite college’s applicant pool, the CC pool is a very small and self selected group. With this in mind, is CC really such a reliable way to measure an elite college’s application behavior.</p>
<p>IWillKillForMIT:
Your post is an eye-opener, for me and I suspect others. I understand what you’re saying, have likely been guilty of it at times, and it is truly unfortunate.</p>
<p>When you ask a question to a CC audience, you will get answers from all levels of expertise - ranging from current HS students with a limited reference, to current college admissions officers. The meat-to-fat ratio in any anonymous blog is often quite high. It’s unfortunate when advice serves to discourage rather than help motivate and show opportunities to improve, but it’s a reality.</p>
<p>If CC were around years ago, I too would have been discouraged from ever applying to MIT. I graduated HS in the bottom 5th of my class (with more D’s & F’s than any other grade). Ten years later I graduated from MIT. Anything is possible. </p>
<p>Your post is a refreshing reminder for how important it is to put myself in the eyes of the reader.
Thank you.</p>
<p>I think your story is really inspiring. It shows that there are many ways to achieve success. I hope CCers will realize that there is more than one way to be successful and to achieve your dreams. I just feel like the accomplishments that some CCers boast about are so amazing that I wonder why those CCers would spend their time on some forum website. I also think that socioeconomic background has some weight on CCers accomplishments. The majority of CCers have household incomes that are greater $150k and go to the best high schools in the country. This makes it a bit easier for them to get sky high standardized test scores and solid ECs.</p>
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<p>I know many bloggers, who are successful in their achievements, spend time on these forums to “give back”. Someday that will be you.</p>
<p>Thank You so much 
. I have noticed over my time here on CC, that most helpful people on here are from MIT. You, mollieb, PiperXP and rspence were the people who actually help people on this site rather than discourage them.</p>
<p>IWillKill,</p>
<p>One of the really great things about MIT is that there are a number of students that come from the under 80K income bracket; MIT really does have a diverse student body in a lot of different ways. It’s been a very welcoming environment for students who aren’t well off financially, IMO.</p>
<p>I just hope MIT sees something in me. My annual household income is under $10,000.</p>
<p><a href=“Clarification:%20molliebatmit%20isn’t%20here%20on%20an%20MIT%20official%20basis.%20She%20is,%20however,%20a%20moderator%20for%20CC,%20so%20she’s%20official%20in%20that%20sense.”>quote</a>
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Not to mention officious! :D</p>
<p>The OP is undoubtedly a ■■■■■. He doesn’t sound like someone who got a 2350 on the SAT.</p>
<p>The problem is the OP is speculating.</p>