<p>if brian got deferred with his reactor then what hope is there for the rest of us? i feel like such a slacker</p>
<p>I play football, and am looking to play DIII intercollegiately. The addmissions staff told my counselor that was a hook, but my research background = nonexistent. I have a bunch of ECs (sports, different musics, some leader & volunteer stuff), but nothing really out of the ordinary. my grades/gpa are really good (4.01 UW 4.57 W) but im still ony 4/525 class rank and form what ive seen that doesnt even cut it. plus, im your average white male.</p>
<p>think a sports hook will give me a fighting chance?</p>
<p>you don't need to have something that you've dedicated your entire life to or excel in any particular field to have a "hook" - wanting to go to MIT badly enough can be a hook by itself, so long as you don't sound desperate - I got in early, and while I have good all-around stats, I didn't have anything that would particularly stand out to MIT other than the fact that I've wanted to go there ever since I was a little girl and honestly could not picture myself anywhere else. I am more familiar with MIT culture than anyone I knew (although now that I've met some real MIT students, that obviously isn't true any more) and I just made sure it showed in my essays (ie. talking about specific research I was interested in) - and I didn't have to fake any of it or do extra research online about the school to be convincing. If you are sincere, they will see it. Best of luck to everybody!</p>
<p>razz: what do you mean "only" 4th? You guys are all crazy- you can't hold yourself to such an impossibly high standard. As long as your grades and test scores are within range (which yours seem to be based on the little information you provided), you will have a "fighting chance." What will make the difference will be the match you make with MIT. For some people this happens through research, for others, not so much. I had zero research experience and I was accepted- there were just other things that made MIT think I would do well here. Check out <a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/01/match_game.html%5B/url%5D">http://matt.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/01/match_game.html</a> for a great detailed explanation of all this.</p>
<p>And to chime in with more anecdotal evidence, I was 11/530, no previous research experience.</p>
<p>and you could probably pull up my thread from application season last year all about just how very little research experience I had.</p>
<p>13 students from my son's senior class were accepted last year. 2 had research experience.</p>
<p>thanks for bringing me back to reality. i guess i was just a little intimidated by some of the stats I saw on the "Official Decision Thread" for early action. im sorry if i sounded ignorant or stuck up, i think the stress is getting to me already</p>