SAT I (breakdown): 780M,690W, 600R
SAT I superscore (breakdown): same as above
ACT superscore (breakdown): 31
SAT II: 750 Math I; 730 Chem.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
Weighted GPA: 4.2 out of 4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): 4 – US History;
5 - Bio; 3 - Chem; 4 - English Lang.
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB; AP English Lit; AP Physics C; AP Spanish; Band
Number of other applicants in your school: 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): school academic and athletic awards
Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): varsity soccer 4 years (co-captain senior year); class board (co-president junior year; president senior year); National Honor Society (tutoring coordinator).
Job/Work Experience: summer lifeguard, spring and fall soccer referee
Writing
Essays (include subjects):
What You Do For Pleasure: write poetry
Department at MIT: research
Of What Trait are You Most Proud: optimism
World You Come From: diverse high school
Significant Challenge: captain of a young soccer team
Teacher recs: all very positive
Interview: went well
Other
Date Submitted App: 10/31 (deferred in early action round)
State (if domestic applicant): CT
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: European
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Middle
Hooks: soccer recruit
Reflection
Strengths: soccer recruit, leadership
Weaknesses: standardized test scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: see strengths above
What would you have done differently?: take an SAT prep course or use an SAT tutor; proofread essays more closely.
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2070 (610 CR, 800 M, 660 W)
ACT: 32 (30 E, 36 M, 31 R, 30 S)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/45
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (5), Calculus BC (5), Physics C Mechanics (5), Language (2), Literature (2)
Senior Year Course Load: US History, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, Multi-Variable Calculus, World Literature, Art I
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USAMO qualifier, Two-time Natl. "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician" qualifier, 1st in 2011 Natl. Scrabble Championship, Div. 2
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math team, FIRST Robotics member, NHS (Vice president), Orchestra (Trumpet I), Tucson Scrabble Clubs #565, 800
Job/Work Experience: Part-time tutor at Mathnasium
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at children's church, went to China to teach English, set up Christmas programs, NHS
Summer Activities: Tutor at A* Summer Math Camp, Volunteered at VBS
Essays: Alright, I'm not the best writer though...
Teacher Recommendation: Pretty good
Counselor Rec: Excellent, I've known him for ~6 years
Additional Rec: none
Interview: Decent
Other
State (if domestic applicant): AZ
School Type: Public (charter)
Ethnicity: 1/2 Chinese, 1/2 White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: prefer not to tell
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): previously diagnosed with autism
Reflection
Strengths: The awards and extracurriculars particularly stood out, including 1st place at the Natl. Scrabble Championship as well as qualifying to USAMO. Also, the volunteering and interview helped.
Weaknesses: Essays were probably meh. SAT reading and writing scores are weak, and I have those 2's on AP Lang and AP Lit. Almost made Red MOP but failed #5 on USAMO.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was pretty surprised. Got waitlisted at Caltech but I have a feeling that MIT is a better fit for me anyway.
SAT I (breakdown): 2320 - CR 800, Math 770, Writing 750 (essay sucked)
SAT I superscore (breakdown): N/A (only took it once)
ACT (breakdown): Didn't take
ACT superscore (breakdown): Didn't take
SAT II: Biology 800, Chemistry 800, Math 2 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9-ish
Weighted GPA: 4.13
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn't rank...
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry 5, Biology 5, Calc AB 5, Psychology 5, European History 4, US History 4, English Language 5
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP US Gov't, AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics, AP English Literature, Chamber Orchestra, (senior project)
Number of other applicants in your school: At least 3, one of which got in EA
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Nothing too big... a bunch of local piano competition awards as well as a few placings in regional Science Olympiad tournaments.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Volunteering @ hospital, piano, cello (1st chair in school orchestra), Science Olympiad, National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service:
waiting-room hospital volunteer, 170-ish hours total
Writing (Write a brief description and rate quality on 1-10 Scale):
Essays (include subjects):
What You Do For Pleasure: Piano
Department at MIT: Biology
Of What Trait are You Most Proud: Passion for learning
World You Come From: China/Canada/US
Significant Challenge: that one time in middle school where I inadvertently skipped a level of math class and had to catch up to the more advanced class
Other: "Why MIT"
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Bio, pretty good
Teacher Recommendation #2: Either orchestra or AP Eng Lit, I asked them both... really good, at least for orchestra
Counselor Rec: REALLY good
Additional Rec: research PI from internship, REALLY good
Interview: pretty good, although the guy was a bit creepy
Art Supplement:
piano pieces
Other
Date Submitted App: October
State (if domestic applicant): OH (high school)
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: somewhere in middle class
Hooks:
female and passionate about learning... that's about it
Reflection
Strengths: passion for learning, extreme interest in MIT
Weaknesses: lack of leadership?
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Again, passion for learning. Other than that, idk.
What would you have done differently?:
Maybe made my additional essay better?
Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe I got in, seeing that I'm technically and international student and haven't won any significant awards. It truly is a miracle.
Congrats to everyone that got accepted!
SAT I superscore (breakdown): All done in one sitting
ACT (breakdown): 30E 36M 22R 35S; Essay: 9
ACT superscore (breakdown): All done in one sitting
SAT II:
Math: 800
Phys: 740
Chem: 720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 out of 64
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (3) //I don't know if MIT saw it though
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load:
Fall Semester- Statistics, Math Seminar, Materials Engineering, English (college-level), English 4, Economics, Spanish 3, Senior Project
Spring Semester- Differential Equations, English 4, Government, Political Science, Spanish 3, History of American Music, Senior Project
Number of other applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
n/a
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Yearbook (Editor-in-chief)
Leadership (Chair of Recycling Committee, Chair of Penny Wars fundraiser)
Journalism (co-founder, Web Master)
Interact
Math Engineering Science Achievement
Job/Work Experience: Chemistry Lab Assistant at Contra Costa College (01/11-05/12)
Volunteer/Community service
TV Assistant at Contra Costa College
volunteer at Vacation Bible School for different local churches since 2005
attend creek and zoo cleanups throughout high school
Writing (Write a brief description and rate quality on 1-10 Scale):
Essays (include subjects):
I wrote about my unique hobby of making scoubidous, a.k.a lanyards. Also wrote about my social challenges. My writing skills were probably mediocre in my opinion, but I did get good feedback from other people.
What You Do For Pleasure: Make scoubidous, play piano and guitar
Department at MIT: back when I applied, Materials Science and Engineering
Of What Trait are You Most Proud: Being able to overcome my shyness
World You Come From: Using the best of the courses that the community college offers and taking a lot of math classes and later wanting to explore Chemical Engineering.
Significant Challenge: I couldn't speak Korean and was an outcast. Then after a lot of effort I was able to carry conversations and am now treated with respect.
Other:
Teacher Recommendation #1: English Teacher who I had for 3 classes during the past 2 years. I saw a glimpse of it, and she did NOT check off "outstanding" on all the categories.. she gave me something like "need to improve" in some of them.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Science teacher who I had in 10th grade and who was my teacher for Materials Engineering. I don't know what he put.
Counselor Rec: I don't know.
Additional Rec: none
Interview: I personally thought the conversation was a bit awkward, and I did not know what to expect. For one, the person who interviewed me was wearing casual clothes and flip-flops while I was dressed in business casual. Also, we ended talking about me taking a class at Harvard since it wasn't offered at MIT. And for one of the other topics we talked about, he ended up jotting down the fact that I was really shy.
Art Supplement:
none
Other
Date Submitted App: some time in October
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: ~60,000
Hooks:
??
Reflection
Strengths: being able to talk to other shy people, high math and science scores
Weaknesses: somewhat low scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: After I visited MIT for the preview weekend, I realized there were a lot of people who I could relate with and the culture in general was something I really liked. Maybe in a way the interview really helped.
What would you have done differently?:
spend less time stressing over SATs and focus more on ACTs which I was actually better at.
Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: I'M DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL.
ACT (breakdown): sat was enough; i hate standardized testing
SAT II: 800 on math2, chem, ushistory
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9ish
Weighted GPA: 4.4ish
AP (place score in parentheses): 5's on us history, bc calc, apc physics, stats, comp sci
Senior Year Course Load: english, chem, bio, econ
Number of other applicants in your school: 10+
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): intel semifinalist, 4-time USAMO reject
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): the stereotypical stuff asian nerds do (math, science, chess club) complete with the stereotypical high school club sequence (member, member/officer, officer/copresident, president)
Job/Work Experience: did some research summer between junior and senior year
Volunteer/Community service: shelved books at the library
Writing (Write a brief description and rate quality on 1-10 Scale):
Essays (include subjects):
What You Do For Pleasure: vigorously pleasuring myself through natural discovery (7)
Department at MIT: 6 (3)
Of What Trait are You Most Proud: resilience. "I'm like a cockroach - you can't stop me!" (3)
World You Come From: my home is a chessboard. "I like neon pink" (6)
Significant Challenge: more on how resilient i am (3)
Other: did not disclose the identity of my significant other
Teacher Recommendation #1: from a 10th grade teacher; didn't read
Teacher Recommendation #2: from another 10th grade teacher; didn't read
Counselor Rec: didn't read
Additional Rec:
Interview: talked and let coffee get cold. proceeded to spill coffee on myself. did not make eye contact with interviewer again post coffee spilling incident. nor talk. apologized over email. hehe. hai, my name is awkward; what's your name? (10)
Art Supplement:
Other
Date Submitted App: day before early was due
State (if domestic applicant): ca
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: male
Income Bracket: <150k
Hooks: i know karate and i've got a mean right hook! unfortunately, that's the only hook i have
Reflection
Strengths: i'm pretty (according to my mom. exception being when i bring home a bad test grade)
Weaknesses: asian boy from california. statistically, we have like less than 5% admit rates. mit friendzoned a lot of my friends
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: i didn't embellish details. i told everything truthfully, humorously (well, i laughed at my jokes), and concisely.
What would you have done differently?: join the debate club and do more with key club. and not wear a white shirt to the interview
Other Factors: i might have made an admit officer laugh! or cringe distastefully at my puns. i had an average of 1 pun per every 4 sentences throughout my essays (and 0 good puns per application)
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: don't take life too seriously and do enjoy yourself! just don't say 'yolo' and i'll promise to treat you (relatively) nicely once i take over the world (cue pinky and the brain theme song).
also this stuff with square brackets and formatting text is stoopid. why can't we use carets like normal web developers? (okie, socially well adapted web developers may not exist, but standards compliant web developers?)
