<p>That's a cool topic, I'm sure if it was sincere they'll get that :)</p>
<p>My "end of the world" talked about having to open up a shower curtain for a 3-year-old, and how overcoming that made me realize that "the rest of my life was a bathtub hidden behind a menacing pink shower curtain." Basically, how letting my irrational fear of closed shower curtains go on was allowing me to make excuses in other parts of my life. It was really, really out there, but it was cool.</p>
<p>Aww I like that a lot. See my essay was nothing creative like that. Good job though :)</p>
<p>Thanks. It was actually my NMSF essay originally, and then I cleaned it up for colleges. I just hope it works! I keep visiting the MIT Class of 2012 facebook group and thinking "Only a few more weeks, and I might get to join that."</p>
<p>This is weird. It's very strange to be actually at this point, waiting for a decision.</p>
<p>Oooh, that's really quirky and definitely stands out, ducktape! Good luck!</p>
<p>STUD (haha i love it!) - I sent a recommendation from my doctors from Philadelphia, which I assume they wrote something along the lines of me really growing up and getting my life and health back on track and how I showed a lot of interest in their research</p>
<p>Here's the sad story of how that essay came about, though:</p>
<p>So, it's the day before national merit essays are due, and I'm sitting in my big comfy chair looking out the window. I have the prompt in front of me and a blank legal pad, and I decide to focus on the "something unique about you" part of the prompt. I've got nothing.</p>
<p>I write at the top of the paper "THINGS UNIQUE ABOUT ME," and continue to stare out the window.</p>
<p>And stare.</p>
<p>And stare.</p>
<p>And soon enough, I'm thinking about the price of llama's coats and other strange things, and then it hits me- I am terrified of closed shower curtains.</p>
<p>So pretty much, my essay is about the only unique aspect of yours truly. It might be cool, but it's a little pathetic.</p>
<p>And Jags, that could be an awesome rec. Good luck!</p>
<p>Ahhh, good. My "end of the world" essay was about something that seems rather trivial as well. I was told by some other people (including my mother and a poster on CC) that I wasn't being literal enough... but in the end I liked my essay and the way that I approached the prompt. I feel much better now. Haha.</p>
<p>ducktape - Thanks, you too! Yea, im confident they had some good things to say, especially since they asked me if they could write one. But I guess in some ways it could be a double edged sword; I wrote my essay on the whole ordeal and my guidance counsellor may have mentioned it in her rec too, so it was tough to determine when to stop beating the dead horse so to speak. I didnt want them to get the feeling I want charity, but it was basically the turning point of my life in so many ways and was one of the best things that couldve happened to me, so obviously I really wanted to get that across. I guess we'll find out if things worked out soon enough though?</p>
<p>ducktape, your essay seems really amazing!</p>
<p>well...for my long essay, a lot of it was about how i basically wore braces all my life--four times. and the last time was during 3 years of high school. it looked really really bad because my dentist pulled out four premolars and spread out the rest of my teeth during the school year. my teeth were horrible to the extent that even a teacher made a joke about my teeth to me during class, thinking that i would laugh too. </p>
<p>what was the end of the world for me was that i found out even my friends were making fun of how i looked, which really tore apart my already-low self-confidence. but after that, i was really determined to prove to them that <em>and this is the cliche part</em> beauty is skin deeeeeppp. </p>
<p>so i joined a pageant after getting braces off and was really scared because i felt so inferior. everyone was so gorgeous. but in the end i OWNED the pageant lol.</p>
<hr>
<h2>yeah. cliche.</h2>
<p>oh yeah. and my mit short answer? i was just so worried that i didn't sound like "intellectual" enough so i made it very complicated, to the extent that it did not represent me at all. i soooo wish i could go back and fix it :'(</p>
<p>but my other short answer about fencing was pretty sweet.</p>
<p>and then i realized in my additional essay i spelled audubon AUDOBON. GAHHHHH</p>
<p>@ Jadore - don't worry about the misspelling! No biggy, it probably shows you didn't obsess over your application a million times before sending it. And that's not cliche, congrats on the pageant though :P</p>
<p>@ Jags - that sounds like a really great letter of rec and I'm sure your doctors could put some kind of perspective on it that neither you nor you guidance counselor could, so don't worry about beating the dead horse.</p>
<p>@ ducktape - yea, I can't believe it's already time to be waiting for a decision. I'm so scared and like I keep refreshing the MIT blogs like every 5 minutes. Everything is so CLOSE but so far away at the same time. Like I keep having random moments where I think I could get in, and I picture it and imagine what I'll do .. but then I snap back to reality and I'm like NO WAY is that happening..</p>
<p>My short answer was retarded as well. VERY cliche, although I intended it to be a deeper insight into my life =/</p>
<p>Which one? The specific one about what department or the free time one?</p>
<p>My free time one was almost .. too.. simple. Like I didn't try to make it clever or creative or anything I just straight up talked about things I like to do..</p>
<p>How specific were you guys on the department one?</p>
<p>I was the exact same on the free time one. There wasn't much space to make it clever and creative, though. I was going to talk about how I was skilled in the art of persuasion but then decided that was pushing it, especially if I failed to persuade MIT to take me as a student, haha.</p>
<p>On the department one, I wrote pretty abstractly. Here, I'll paste it:
Course 6, EECS, is my target. Ever since the day my father showed me his late-80's-era laptop when I was a mere child,I've been fascinated with the internal magic that makes these elusive machines called computers and the amazing things they could do. I want to become a creator, someone who can work the magic of technology and harness this power to form new and brilliant ideas for the future while submersing myself in an area of life I am passionate about.</p>
<p>Yay, cliche.</p>
<p>Aw that sounds really good though, even if it may be cliche!
I just talked about wanting to join the "School of Engineering" nothing really more specific than that =\ Because I don't know what exactly I want to do. I wrote about how the idea of practically and economically solving some of the world's problems through technology entices me blah blah and how the strong emphasis on collaboration along with strong academics is the perfect place for me to bring my aspirations of improving children's lives through new technology to reality.</p>
<p>That probably sounds really overexaggerated or something but that really is what I want to do.. Does it sound lame? haha :(</p>
<p>Well like I said it's kind of hard to be elaborate in the small space you're given (especially if you're a total essayist like me and always exceed word count by 1000 or so. It may be helpful in school but in college apps it's a huge vice!)</p>
<p>Not much we can do about it now except sit tight and hope!</p>
<p>Yea that's true.. I think I used every single word given to us haha. I heard they're a lot more strict about short answer word limits than long ones because they also want to see if you can express yourself concisely? Idk how true that is nor do I remember where I heard it.. lol</p>
<p>my application has no weak points</p>
<p>jk um...if i had to choose one particular spot it might be the fact that I didn't write the optional creation essay. Though, I did submit another essay in lieu of it. My math/science EC's are a bit lacking but I have decent AMC/AIME scores to back it up.</p>
<p>My creation "essay" was like, 110 words long XD</p>