Vorfield

Not really a chance thread but I need some help with what can give me that *oomph* into that small 10% or so. Well so I visited MIT over spring break and felt right at home (minus the cold). MIT is my #1 school (along with 10000 other students) blah blah. I want to go into Nuclear engineering blah blah

I was wondering if there was anything I could do that would make me appealing to MIT? It's kind of late in the game but it's not over

here is my laundry list of stats

Asian Male, Junior, Public School

SAT – Math: 800 CR: 740 Writing:730
SAT II – Math IIC – 800 (Going to take US History, Chem and Physics down the road)
GPA – UW: 4.00 (Every school does weighted differently so there is no point)
Rank – ~9/11,000 (Might’ve changed – ranks are out of the whole district)
AP – Statistics [5], European History [4] ;(

Current Schedule
IB HL Math – AP Calc AB (IB Math is quite restrictive – school doesn’t offer further math)
IB HL Chemistry
IB HL Physics (non-Calculus so I’m self studying it calc-based)
IB SL History – AP US History
IB SL English – AP English Language
IB SL Spanish
Theory of Knowledge (kinda like a philosophy class)
AP Comp Science A (Online through FLVS)
Earth-Space Science Honors (Online through FLVS)

Next year I have the same IB Classes except I’m taking the AP Chem, AP Physics B (Hopefully C if I have the money), AP Calc BC, AP Spanish, and AP English Lit
Also I’ll have electives AP Psychology and AP Environmental Science

Various Math regional and invitational trophies but not good enough for AIME though
Club Soccer – Played on All-Star team on region, won several tournaments, etc.
Excel Music – Piano & Viola
Award Of Excellence in USF Math & Science Program (Level 2)
Attended Science program at UF

Mu Alpha Theta (President)
Science Club & Olympiad (Varsity Team Captain)
SAMOSA (Student Association Mostly Of South Asians – something like that)
National Honors Society
Spanish Honors Society
Key Club
Student Government (Parliamentarian) – I Do School Clean Ups and stuff
BOLD – multicultural club

Tutoring middle schoolers in mathematics and other walks of life
Volunteer at a Baseball stadium
Volunteer at a Cancer Research Center
Raise funds for American Cancer Society through Relay For Life

I plan on attending the Young Scholars Program at FSU and continuing to volunteer at the Cancer Research Center over the summer

CalAlum

You have a long list of impressive scores, grades, and extracurriculars. Still, the list alone doesn't make it clear why you think MIT is such a good fit for you. You can help your application by taking the time to prepare to obtain good letters of recommendation. Here's what I mean: Go beyond the usual "brag sheet", the long list of accomplishments. Write out some statements about the things that really interest you, things you'd like to learn about and explore at MIT. Visit and read everything in the section for school counselors on the MIT undergraduate admissions website. Pay particular attention to the kinds of letters MIT regards as strong. When you ask teachers for recommendations, make the request in person. It's best to set up a 15-minute appointment for this. Explain why this is so important to you. Print out and share MIT's information about letters of recommendation and ask each teacher quite frankly if he or she believes that he/she could write the sort of recommendation that might garner you serious consideration from MIT. It's hard to ask that question directly of an adult authority, but it's important to try to learn the honest answer. Not every teacher may be willing to write that kind of letter, and a frank and open conversation will be helpful, because it will allow you to be intentional about the teachers you select to write on your behalf. Talk with teachers until you have found a humanities and a math/science teacher willing to write you strong, compelling letters.

Apart from this advice, I think you should relax. You already have a really strong profile. Have some fun this summer. :-)

app2008

This is not intend to discourage you from applying MIT. From what I see throught the application processes for the class 2008, your chane is next to impossible. I have seen many asia boys even qualifying USAMO were rejected. Those boys have near perfect SAT and ACT with tons of APs, and state awards.

Vorfield

Thanks CalAlum! Your post was immensely helpful. I'll be sure to ask my teachers about an MIT-esque letter of recommendation. Also I've started to think of some essay topics for me to write on so that I can incorporate my interests.

app2008 I know it's too late for me to turn around and become USAMO material in a year or so and I know that there are tons of people that are USAMO qualifiers, Intel STS, Siemens, ISEF, etc. But I'm sure there are some people who are admitted who don't have those qualifications. I want to know what those other people did and how they did it so I can make myself a better applicant in the eyes of the MIT admissions people.

niceilike

do research this summer that is very important-my other ecs and scores were very similar to yours-i think its research that got me in. i would say don't listen to app2008- you just have to make yourself not stereotypical. it is true that a lot of usamo people and stuff got rejected, but in favor of people with perhaps less impressive but more unique accomplishments. also, write good essays that try to address the "match" talked about on mit admissions website, not just some bs that will make u seem even more stereotypical.

ask-paul

I second niceilike on the research, that can be a great way of separating yourself from others. Then again, there are many students here at MIT who never did research in high school, so it's up to you.

Regarding your extracurriculars...which of them are you most passionate about? Any in which you have taken a particular leadership role?

ducktape

To the OP, your academic profile as it stands is very strong (that rank is ridic!), though your EC list concerns me. I get that you like math and soccer, but the rest of your clubs are all over the place. Sit yourself down, go through your resume, and figure out why you did each activity. Just to look good? Because you really loved it? Because you needed an organized way to make sure you got some service hours? Drop the ECs that you're not in because you absolutely love, and focus on really excelling in the rest. MIT only gives you 5 spots on the application for ECs, so you might as well make the best of them (for the record, I listed only 4, none of which were math or science related).

Regarding teacher recommendations, CalAlum brings up some great points. When asking my teachers for recs, I asked them if they'd like to first, then came back the next day with a folder which had little paper clipped packets for each school. MIT's had the recommendation form, the envelope (stamped and addressed!) for it to be mailed in, and then a summary sheet on top which had the postmark date and then a "What they're looking for:" spot at the bottom which was pretty much a summary of this page.

You're in a good place, but now you have to focus on showing MIT that you belong there.

neuron39

I personally know two MIT students who attended the YSP at FSU, and my son (accepted EA for the Clas of 2012) spent last summer at UF-SSTP doing Computer Science research. Both programs are well-known to, and respected by, the MIT Admissions Office. These programs do make you stand out a little more.

I think the essays are very, very important. Your standardized test scores are very good, but so are the scores of most applicants. Somehow, try to show your resiliency, your "ability" to fail and recover. Focus on something simple and even mundane; you haven't cured cancer yet. A laundry list of awards and accomplishments will not help at all; that's why the MIT application limits you to only a few lines for awards, etc.

Good luck.

Vorfield

!Thanks you all for your amazing advice! It’s very reassuring when so many people are willing to assist.

Niceilike, I’ve recently started looking out for research opportunities that I can do during the school year and during the summer. Or if there aren’t any I’m sure I can find a lab to work at (I’ll just need to think of a great research area ).

ask-paul, I agree with the fact that research that set me apart from the other applicants. I feel somewhat obligated to get my hands working on some scientific research so I can be prepared for college. The EC that I’m the most passionate about is my school’s math club. I’ve been very involved with it trying to get our teams better and better for the competitions. Though I’m worried that a large portion of the MIT applicants also have some similar story of where they took the club by its horns and steered the school to greatness.

ducktape, I admit that I joined and got involved in some of my clubs because I thought the more the merrier; that more ECs would make me look better. It’s actually a pretty common practice at my school. But now that I’ve received all these helpful comments and looked through the sites I know that I was wrong. I’m going to try to put more emphasis on my math team, soccer, and volunteering.
And thank you for the link! That was just the thing I was looking for.

neuron39, I looked down the list of past YSP students and I was so amazed at where they were (so many of them were at top schools). I had some friends that attended SSTP this past summer. They had so many great stories and were also worked on really high level subjects. I’ll be sure to make sure I put a lot of work into my essays because it seems to be the make or break thing. My life has been pretty simple and mundane so far so I’m sure I can find an area to pinpoint ;p.

collegealum314

Since you are most passionate about math team, have you thought about doing a summer program in mathematics instead of research? There was one at Hampton College (sp?) that was very good and was geared toward creative, math contest type problems. One of my MIT classmates did this program one summer in high school.

Don't do research just because you think that MIT wants to see it. I never did research in high school--instead I took summer classes.

collegealum314

I can't seem to find that program at Hampton University--maybe it doesn't exist anymore.

collegealum314

I got the name wrong. It is Hampshire College, not Hampton University. The full name is the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics for Mathematically Talented High School Students.

Here is a link: HCSSiM

R-DNA

CalAlum...i love your advice. Thanks a lot.

ducktape

I've heard HCSSiM is awesome, as well. Just throwin' that out there.