Alcator

Accepted. OhmyGod.


Stats:

• SAT: 770M 760CR 750W (9 essay) 1530 / 2280 superscored
• SAT II: 780 Math II, 760 Physics, 740 Chemistry
• ACT: 33English 35Math 32Reading 35 science 33Composite
• GPA: 3.71 / 4.0 Unweighted, school doesn't weight
• Rank: School doesn't rank
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Ap's: 4 Chemistry, 5 Calc AB, taking as a senior: Calc BC, Physics, Statistics

Subjective

• Essays: Long one about my community service, voluinteering at a camp for disabled children, and the optional one about my research. Fun one about playing guitar and the MIT program/department one about thier alternate energy research program. I did a million and one drafts for each, and I was pretty happy with them.
• Teacher Recs: Science teacher: best in career, english teacher pretty good.
• Counselor Rec: Really good, I know her really well, and she likes me. She even flew up to Boston from FL to plead my case to the admissions officers.
• Interview: I thought it went pretty well. We talked for almost two hours.
• Supplementary Material: Research paper & abstract, picture of a prototype of my patented solar iPod charger.
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Research, Community service (1100+ hours)

Personal

• Location: Northeast Florida
• High School Type: Reasonably selective independent / religious school. Sends about 3-5 out of 150 to ivys, but none to MIT for ~20 years.
• Ethnicity: vanilla
• Gender: quite manly, I daresay

Other

• Extracurriculars:
  On app:
  Varsity Cross Country (team captain in 12th grade)
  Play Guitar
  Sound board manager for school plays
  Science olympiad
  8th grade trip counselor
  
  Not on app (but in resume):
  Community Builders Leader
  School Ambassador
  Track (one year only)
  
• Awards:
  On app:
  ISEF 2nd place, energy & transportation
  AFCEA National Science Fair winner
  Florida Junior Academy of Science state competition winner
  Rotary club of NE Florida Student / Volunteer of the Year
  President's volunteer service award (national)
  Bausch & Lomb award
  Drexel University ISEF award / $120,000 scholarship
  Siemens Semifinalist (sent in email to admissions)
  Patent Pending (in email to admissions)
  
  Not on app (but in resume):
  ISWEEP International Science fair gold medalist
  State Science fair 4th place X2, 2nd place X1
  Winner of school science fair X3
  Cornell University Book Award
  NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, Joe Berg Honors Society
  Foreign Language Honor Society
  JETS competition bronze medalist
  Science Olympiad state Silver, Bronze medalist
  30+ special awards at regional, state and international science fairs
  
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:

I think the research and awards helped, and the community service put me over the edge. Plus, I talked to two of the admissions officers (Matt and Mcgreggor) when I visited MIT, and they really liked my research. To the deferred: At least you still have a ~10% chance in RD. Keep your spirits up, I'll be pulling for you! To the rejected, I'm sorry. From the looks of things, there were many well qualified and deserving students. I know I hate being told this, but it really is the person that makes the college, not the college that makes the person. I'm sure you will succeed wherever you go.

MIT '13!!!!!!!!!!