College Confidential - View Single Post

Rainalai · 12-15-2007, 01:14 PM

Accepted!

Stats:

SAT: Math -780, Verbal - 800, Writing - 800
SAT II: Biology - 730, Chemistry 790, Chinese - 800, Math IIC - 800
ACT: n/a
GPA: 4.63 weighted
Rank: top 5% (school doesn't rank)
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Calculus - 5, AP Physics B - 5, AP Language and Composition - 5, AP Psychology - 5, AP US History - 5

Subjective

Essays: I personally really liked them; I thought they reflected all different sides of me well. My English teacher loved them, so I hope they helped in the decisions.
Teacher Recs: one from junior year physics teacher, one from sophomore year history teacher. I'm close to both of them, so I think they must have written great recommendations.
Counselor Rec: Same as teacher recs. I go to a small school, so I really got to know my counselor well.
Supplementary Material: art portfolio of my best work, extra recommendation from a professor of the lab in which I worked for the past three summers
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none

Personal

Location: Central Jersey
High School Type: small public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

Extracurriculars:
- Volunteer at Local Library for four to twelve hours every week ever since summer before freshman year all the way to summer of junior year before taking on a job at the same library and working until present time
- Volunteer at soup kitchen first Friday of every month
- Volunteer/Internship at Rutgers University Cell Biology and Neuroscience Lab every summer since freshman year - 9 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday
- Editor-in-chief of school newspaper since junior year
- Student Congress: Freshman - representative, Sophomore - Treasurer, Junior - Vice President
- Captain of Science Bowl (senior year)
- 4 Model UN and 3 Model Congress conferences
- Physics Captain of school NJ Science-letes team
- Art since freshman year
- Achieved ABRSM certification in Level 8 piano at the age of 13
Awards: a bunch of art awards - 1 international winning piece, 2 international second place, 1 national winning piece, 1 state winning piece, multiple local and state honorable mentions, Model UN distinguished delegate award and best journalist award. Science-letes: Bio 7th in state, Physics 11th in state, AP Scholar.
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:

I'm unbelievably excited right now, and this is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for. I'm glad the admissions committee recognized how much I really want to go to MIT, and how much I would be willing to take advantage of every resource they have as well as give back to the MIT community. That's probably all it came down to - the fact that I expressed my passions well and that I showed I'm a normal person who has weird quirks like an obsession with cultural Chinese movies. I also have to thank all the people who wrote me recommendations and my interviewer, and basically everyone that made a difference.

Good luck to everyone who got deferred, and those who are applying regular decision! Don't lose hope yet! I thought getting into MIT was impossible, but here I am... still slightly in shock. My thoughts are with all of you! Hang in there!

12-15-2007, 01:14 PM	#25
Rainalai Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: NJ --> MIT '12 Posts: 112	Accepted! Stats: SAT: Math -780, Verbal - 800, Writing - 800 SAT II: Biology - 730, Chemistry 790, Chinese - 800, Math IIC - 800 ACT: n/a GPA: 4.63 weighted Rank: top 5% (school doesn't rank) Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Calculus - 5, AP Physics B - 5, AP Language and Composition - 5, AP Psychology - 5, AP US History - 5 Subjective Essays: I personally really liked them; I thought they reflected all different sides of me well. My English teacher loved them, so I hope they helped in the decisions. Teacher Recs: one from junior year physics teacher, one from sophomore year history teacher. I'm close to both of them, so I think they must have written great recommendations. Counselor Rec: Same as teacher recs. I go to a small school, so I really got to know my counselor well. Supplementary Material: art portfolio of my best work, extra recommendation from a professor of the lab in which I worked for the past three summers Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none Personal Location: Central Jersey High School Type: small public Ethnicity: Chinese Gender: Female Applied for Financial Aid: Y Other Extracurriculars: - Volunteer at Local Library for four to twelve hours every week ever since summer before freshman year all the way to summer of junior year before taking on a job at the same library and working until present time - Volunteer at soup kitchen first Friday of every month - Volunteer/Internship at Rutgers University Cell Biology and Neuroscience Lab every summer since freshman year - 9 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday - Editor-in-chief of school newspaper since junior year - Student Congress: Freshman - representative, Sophomore - Treasurer, Junior - Vice President - Captain of Science Bowl (senior year) - 4 Model UN and 3 Model Congress conferences - Physics Captain of school NJ Science-letes team - Art since freshman year - Achieved ABRSM certification in Level 8 piano at the age of 13 Awards: a bunch of art awards - 1 international winning piece, 2 international second place, 1 national winning piece, 1 state winning piece, multiple local and state honorable mentions, Model UN distinguished delegate award and best journalist award. Science-letes: Bio 7th in state, Physics 11th in state, AP Scholar. Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I'm unbelievably excited right now, and this is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for. I'm glad the admissions committee recognized how much I really want to go to MIT, and how much I would be willing to take advantage of every resource they have as well as give back to the MIT community. That's probably all it came down to - the fact that I expressed my passions well and that I showed I'm a normal person who has weird quirks like an obsession with cultural Chinese movies. I also have to thank all the people who wrote me recommendations and my interviewer, and basically everyone that made a difference. Good luck to everyone who got deferred, and those who are applying regular decision! Don't lose hope yet! I thought getting into MIT was impossible, but here I am... still slightly in shock. My thoughts are with all of you! Hang in there!
	Reply