<p>All the application essay books ive read seem to say that they should be original, creative, well-written, interesting to read. The examples though are always from schools like harvard, yale, princeton, and places you might expect a lot of english/humanities majors from. I have yet to see an essay from MIT or Caltech in these books. Do they want entertaining essays, or do they essays that describe doing some incredible research project or science/math accomplishment? A week or so ago, someone posted a link to an example essay from MIT. The writer talked about how he worked on making these hologram things, and how he started his own audio cable business or something. However, I didnt find it particularly interesting to read and it didnt really answer the prompt too well either. Is that what MIT wants though?</p>
<p>Seriously, just be yourself. If you're an entertaining person, be entertaining. If you're a hard-core building-things-in-the-basement sort of person, write an essay about building things in the basement. And anyway, there's no rule that says an essay can't be both.</p>
<p>There's no secret code that the admissions officers are looking for in the essay -- they just want it to reflect something about you, your experiences, and your outlook on the world.</p>
<p>I think the trick is to make the essay convey what's best about your personality and how whatever that might be (curiosity, perserverence etc.) will be an assett to MIT.</p>
<p>Going off this topic, is it essential to tie MIT into the essay? For example, I'm doing Essay A and talking about a serious illness a family member had four years ago and how we coped with it (it's more interesting than it sounds, believe me), and tying it back to MIT and why I want to go there would just seem out of place. Should I morph my essay into something where tying everything back to wouldn't be out of place or leave it the way it is?</p>
<p>From the essays I've read from students who've been admitted, it is absolutely not required to tie your essay to MIT in order to be admitted. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it if it makes sense, but I have seen evidence that it's not necessary. The essay prompts don't ask, "Why MIT?" They offer you an opportunity to reveal more of yourself and what's important to you, so the Admissions folks have a better sense of how you would thrive in and contribute to the class they are trying to form.</p>
<p>Thanks! What you said is basically what I had thought, but since a lot of people seemed to be trying to do that, I was a bit worried. Thanks for clearing it up. :)</p>