<p>i was the youngest person to join my symphony until... a 13 year old violist did this year</p>
<p>thats sweet, I remember my skatepark days! man it was fun grinding rails and ****... i miss it.</p>
<p>so cujoe ... this chuck norris phenomenon is nation wide? i thought it was just my friend being wierd...</p>
<p>It's nationwide. Those jokes are everywhere.</p>
<p>but mr. t, for the time being he's all mine</p>
<p>my hook is that im a pwnerer</p>
<p>I don't know whether this is even a hook, but I've patented 13 inventions (patent pending). I only briefly suggested this on the application (twice). My essay, however, was on my work in alternative energies. </p>
<p>I've actually converted an internal combustion engine to run off of water produced on demand (water--> H2+O2--> combustion). Though my research is still in its infancy, it does surpass many leading machines in efficiency. </p>
<p>My other hook is quite weak. I've written a research paper in Neuropsychology and it should be published in an upcoming addition of The Whitman Journal of Psychology. </p>
<p>Clearly, my hooks aren't as strong as Brian's. In fact, my having SO many hook probably disadvantages me. I think they want a student who is passionate about ONE thing and spends all their time on that ONE interest. I, unfortunately, am interested in many things and have pursued most, if not all, of them. Hope it doesn't hurt me too much. I tried to tie my diverse interests together with declaring my major as Biological Engineering (it seems like the combination between Biology and Engineering--I want to apply biology to engineering and technology).</p>
<p>hmm... I went to ISEF for a discrete math project, publishing a paper on the same topic.</p>
<p>Er, my hooks are really "common" among MHYPS applicants:</p>
<p>Nationally ranked high school pianist, 15 AP's taken by junior year, National Scholar as a sophomore, State Scholar, Math-team captain (often #1 in New England)</p>
<p>But my GPA (3.55!!) really scares me. And since everyone else has equally strong hooks if not much stronger (revolutionizing nose picking, eating more than 7 saltines in a minute, etc) I ultimately feel pretty trivialized.</p>
<p>I was REAL cute.</p>
<p>^^^ ..... Haha</p>
<p>My GPA scares me even more: 3.4. If anything got me deferred, it was that. One bad freshman class really screws things up and leaves no room for error. Still, I remain hopeful that a tube will show up today.</p>
<p>Just curious, what class? If its non-math/science you might be alright, as long as you explained how and why you got what you did. I don't think your GPA will hold you back, considering it was a single class in 9th grade. </p>
<p>I see you too haven't recieved your score (both of us are receiving in MA). It really is frustrating!</p>
<p>It was actually geometry. I did not mesh well with the teacher or her teaching style, and the material wasn't that riveting to begin with. We only had 2-3 tests per term, so one bad test was nearly impossible to recover from. Unfortunately, I did not explain this in my application, as I felt (at the time) that it was simply an outlier. Math classes at my school are difficult in general, and maybe 5 kids out of a class of 26 actually wind up with A's.</p>
<p>Isn't that a typical curve? </p>
<p>Anyway, your chances are still REALLY above average. I mean, it's not everyday they get an applicant who creates a fusion device! You're GPA is low, but your achievements probably more than compensate. Was this your only bad score or did you have a few Bs?</p>
<p>My Hook? I've saved the world from eminent doom. 3 times.</p>
<p>I had a few errant B's and B+'s in some classes in all subjects, but mostly A's and A-'s.</p>
<p>Simillar to me--I had a few Bs early on and then almost completely eliminated them by the junior year (1 B!). Even then, my GPA is about 3.84UW and 4.21W ranked 2/480.</p>
<p>My hook is that I programmed an Operating System for the PC. Ok, ok, it is not as good as Linux, not even as good as Windows (shame on me ;)), but still I am pretty proud of it. It's not finished though (and I won't have the time to finish it), but it was <em>soooo</em> much fun. I am sure other hobby programmers do profit from it. The source code can be found at <a href="http://flick.sourceforge.net/%5B/url%5D">http://flick.sourceforge.net/</a></p>
<p>If I had a 3.8, or even a 3.6, I wouldn't be worrying as much as I am now. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, I can't see myself anywhere other than MIT (both undergrad and grad). It has meant a lot to me and my family (my father got his PhD there) for years. I've talked so much with the students and faculty and gotten such a good impression of the place that I've been dying to attend ever since the 7th grade. I already know who my UROP professor will be if I get admitted.</p>
<p>Simillar situation with me--except it's my SAT scores that are well below average (640CR 650M 660W and 800IIC 750Bio-M 700USH). I can't see myself anywhere else either. I guess we should just hope we get tubes :-). </p>
<p>I haven't received my decision yet. I seem to be getting mixed messages--molliebatmit commented on seeing a USPS man delivering mail @ 5:30PM, while Next House seems to say they get mail in the morning. Either they get mail at both times or someone is mixed up.</p>