<p>Just do what you love and kick ass at it. Enough said, anything else will not make you as happy as you could otherwise be.</p>
<p>I have never done any research in my whole life. I just joined a bunch of math and science activities because those are my passions. In addition, I also show my interests in other fields, such as art and dance. MIT does not want a class of science geeks alone; it strives to create a diverse class of scholars, leaders, and people who would make a positive change to the world.</p>
<p>amen to that tropicalisland</p>
<p>I am astounded at the fact that we were all discussing correlation vs. causation (aka confounding and lurking variables) in the RSI-participation/MIT-admission relationship. Great job being nerds, guys!</p>
<p>um. really liking math and science?</p>
<p>There is no hook to MIT, Sorry. I found out the hard way.</p>
<p>A lot of people who apply to MIT really like math and science. Having OTHER interests that you excel in is more likely to help you get in. Don't feel too bad, brian-mc, you are sure to get into other colleges... I only hope you weren't so delusional as to neglect applying to other universities.</p>
<p>I applied to 10 schools, all of which I would gladly attend. MIT just happened to be the one to which I was emotionally attached.</p>
<p>I read all this with interest. My son the musician and computer whiz did not get into MIT, despite having some rough edges (he tends to make dumb math errors, lol.) However, he is supremely happy at UIUC in CS and a music minor. There's a home for everyone and--there's always graduate school!</p>
<p>"Matt has said he can't remember a single year where every RSI alum was admitted."</p>
<p>This year was the first in which every alum, with the exception of internationals (funding reasons), was accepted</p>
<p>
[quote]
I applied to 10 schools, all of which I would gladly attend. MIT just happened to be the one to which I was emotionally attached.
[/quote]
Coincidentally. :D</p>
<p>
No, you can also be the brother/sister/daughter/son of an admissions officer and visit your brother/sister/mother/father's workplace often as a kid until everyone there knows you. :)</p>
<p>MIT admissions are very random, so yeah, just do what you like and enjoy your high school years! (you might regret later having done stuff for getting to one college)</p>
<p>2300+, extremely strong grades, a few "awards", and being African American is the strongest hook possible for MIT.</p>
<p>MIT admissions might be "random", but they are the best I've seen. Sometimes I'll lurk into the other forums of some other top colleges and I'll read the stats of some of the students getting admitted and will say to myself, "WTH did this person get in?" There are a lot less "WTH's" in the MIT decisions thread IMO.</p>
<p>Anywho, for the OP: Just show passion in what you do through your essays, and whatever supplemental evidence you decide to send in. One nice thing to do is to track your development through the years. For example I showed a strong passion for robotics. What I did was I showed how I have improved my designs over the past four years through pictures (from hacksaws and manual tools all the way to CAD and CNC mills). This strong progression shows that you are able to hold a passion and persevere. Good luck!</p>
<p>An African American student in the top 5% of his class from my school applied to MIT with a 2300+ SAT, who had a number of science-related awards.</p>
<p>He was rejected early.</p>
<p>The most important aspect in any application is the fit. If it's not there, you don't pass Go, you do not collect an admission.</p>
<p>Rejected EA?!?!? That's ridiculous. I'm sure he had to do something absolutely stupid in his application to be part of that 8% to get rejected early (like submit an essay that says "Caltech has always been my dream school").</p>
<p>Nope. Rejected EA. I have no clue what happened either, but to be completely honest, I wouldn't have placed him at MIT myself.</p>
<p>This post pretty much answers anything you want to know about the "mysteries" of MIT admissions.</p>