Consolidated EA/RD 2012 results thread

[sijmister]

Accepted

Stats:

* SAT: 2140 Critical Reading: 760 Math: 710 Writing: 670
* SAT II: Math Level 2: 700 Chem.: 650 US Hist: 640
* ACT: N/A
* GPA: N/A, Average About 89 Unweighted
* Rank: Top 15 of 120
* Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP US History: 3 AP French: 4 AP English Language and Composition: 4 Currently taking AP European History, AP British and World Literature (AP English Literature and Composition Exam), AP Physics C:M, AP Calculus AB

Subjective

* Essays: I think my essays were pretty d@!# good (keeping it PG here) I just decided to be myself and wrote about something I love to do: drawing. I also had another essay I wrote in which I had to describe myself. I don’t know if I used it for MIT, but I presented myself as a Thinker, a Procrastinator, and one who takes action regarding things that I am passionate about.
* Teacher Recs: I got to wonderful recs, (which I didn’t read but I am sure they were excellent) from my French teacher and my Physics teacher.
* Counselor Rec: I have a great counselor, but I have no idea if she wrote a rec…
* Supplementary Material: Nothing really…
* Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): I didn’t really have a hook, other than that I am a person of diverse interests.

Personal

* Location: Pennsylvania
* High School Type: Boarding School
* Ethnicity: Black (Nigerian)
* Gender: I’m not sure… maybe Male? ;D
* Applied for Financial Aid: Definitely

Other

* Extracurriculars: Freshman Baseball, Basketball 9th and 11th, Chorale 11th and 12th, Drawing 11th, Football 10th, 11th, and 12th, Academic Team 11th and 12th, Anime Club (President) 10th, 11th, and 12th, Math Club 10th, 11th, 12th, African American Student Union 10th, 11th, and 12th, SALT 10th, 11th, and 12th.
* Awards: French Award (9th), National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalist, AP Scholar
* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I was so excited when I got in that I ran all around the dorm screaming and jumping: “I got into MIT!!!!!” I was almost in a mad frenzy. Called my parents as soon as I could breathe again. Gratz to all who got in, good luck in the next round for those who were deferred, and tough luck if you got straight-up rejected. I just want to say this though: being yourself really helps. You have to sell yourself a little bit, but who doesn’t? MIT doesn’t just want to see 2400s, Honor Society, all A’s and what not, they want to see who you are and how you interact with those around you. Plus, don’t try to impress the interviewer. Look good, but don’t overdo anything. If you are natural, the conversation will flow, and you may end up telling the interviewer something interesting about yourself that you may not have said otherwise. Plus, essays people. If you are within the pool of eligibility, that can make or break your acceptance. I wrote about something that I thought was unique, the fact that I like to draw. Not how I almost made it to the National Spelling Bee, not how I am a good student and try to be a good leader, not how our football team won the championships my 10th grade year, but just about who I am. Plus, use elevated language, but all the same don’t be bombastic and sound like you had the Thesaurus sitting next to you while you were writing. If you follow my advice, I am sure that you will find yourself at one of your top choices for college. Sorry if I come on a little strong or arrogant, but I am just trying to help people out here.

[Patsfan59]

Deferred

Stats:

* SAT: 2120 best single day, 690M740C690W
* SAT II: 660 Math II, 690 Biol, 770 US Hist
* ACT:
* GPA: 3.6ish
* Rank: 38/348
* Other Tests US hist (5) Bio (5) English (5)Physics C Mech (3)

Subjective

* Essays: ehh
* Teacher Recs: very nice
* Counselor Rec: very nice
* Supplementary Material: Talked about designing a playground
* Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): football?

Personal

* Location: NH
* High School Type: Public
* Ethnicity: Caucasian
* Gender: Male
* Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

* Extracurriculars: Football, Track, Senior Class Vice President, Academic Decathlon, Quiz Bowl (Captain), Student Council, FBLA
* Awards: AP Scholar w/ Honors, National Merit Commended, Acadeca State Champ, Individual and Team. 2nd Place Lit/Science, 3rd Place Math
* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Why wasn't I rejected? hahaha MIT rocks though and I would really like to go!

[theshirt23]

Deferred

Stats:

* SAT: 2270 (Math 720, CR 780, W 770)
* SAT II: 750 Math II, 740 Physics, 760 US History
* GPA: 4.67W(current), 4.40W(cum.), 3.95UW
* Rank: N/A, but top 5 out of 250
* Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
AP US History 5, AP Calculus AB 5, AP English Language 5


Subjective

* Essays: Not terrific, but pretty good- I'm a good writer; they were not my best work, but certainly good
* Teacher Recs: One was the whole "one of the best students i've ever taught" and the other was pretty similar, just not outright stated. So they were great.
* Counselor Rec: Probably great
* Supplementary Material: None submitted
* Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none, in terms of recruitment...my ECs were unique though--I'm Domain Admin of my school network, same access, control, and responsibility as our CIO

Personal

* Location: Philly, PA, USA
* High School Type: Private
* Ethnicity: Caucasian
* Gender: M
* Applied for Financial Aid: Yes


Other

* Extracurriculars:
- Band: Competition Jazz Band, Concert Band, and Pep Band
- Mathletes
- "Network Management"- I have worked through the program to be a Domain Administrator, as explained above
- National Honor Society

* Awards:
- National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist
- AP Scholar

* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:
- Should have spent more time on my essay
- Will be sending in supplementary materials and another rec.
- Would advise future applicants that this is NOT the time to be modest.

[locke]

Deferred

Stats:

• SAT: never took it =] no one does over here
• SAT II: 740 MathIIC, 720 Bio, 700 Chem
• ACT: 33 Comp
• GPA: 4.809/5 weighted
• Rank: 1/450
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Stats 5, Bio 5, World Hist 5, Chem 4, Euro Hist 4, US Hist 3
• Current Classes: AP Econ, AP Calc, AP Physics, AP English, Spanish 4, AP Env. Sci

Subjective

• Essays: creative, one on dreams and how my out of the ordinary education and diverse school shaped them, and another one on how I create stuff? how I create facial expressions. =] cool.
• Teacher Recs: one exceptional, one average
• Counselor Rec: good I think.
• Supplementary Material: none, I filled out the additional essay.
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none.

Personal

• Location: Midwest
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Caucasian/Asian
• Gender: Female
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: varsity swim captain, varsity soccer team, community art council director and intern, band, math team, nhs officer... other stuff. Environmental advocacy (i'm really involved in this and didn't tell MIT about it except in the interview- I think I'm going to write them about it. =] that was dumb of me.)
• Awards: nm commended, ap scholar, state science contest, team sportsmanship award... etc.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I've got a lot to update them about. to all you deferred... we get another chance, and we're good enough to be competitive in the applicant pool, and that's good enough for me! My counselor was like, "Wow, you got deferred!? Nice job!" lol. oh and also, someone told me: we're all motivated and will probably be working together to engineer stuff to save the world when we get out of school, regardless of where we go to college. and it's true. =]

[CountingDown]

DS was accepted --

* SAT: big score
* SAT II: Math Level II, Physics, World History, big scores
* GPA: decent, but UW not as high as everyone thinks. 4.6 weighted
* APs and other tests: 10th grade: Calc BC, Comp Sci AB and US Gov't, 11th grade: Stat, World Hist and Eng Lang. Got 5s on all. Taking Physics C & Comp Gov't senior year. Also taken 11 post-AP courses in math, CS and physics.
* AMC12 & AIME = respectable, but not USAMO level
* Rank: school doesn't rank (thank goodness -- borderline top 10%)

* Supplemental material: Did NOT submit research paper, though he talked about it in his optional essay. (The essay really rocked.)
* Essays: quirky, fiercely intellectual, passionate. Very much reflected who he is.
* Teacher Recs: Haven't seen them, but expected CS to be really good, and World Hist to talk about how DS likes to argue in class discussions. Also submitted recs from his mentor about depth of DS's research and from director at summer math program about his personal growth.
* Counselor Rec: excellent (haven't seen that either, but she knows him well and they get along)

* Hook: No music, drama, art or sports. Lots of research and teaching experience. Huge academic risk-taker -- would take a B in a challenging class any day over an easy A. Finalist for couple of very big national awards. Loves humanities.
* Intended major: 18/6, but also very interested in philosophy, history and poli sci

* Location: planet earth
* High School Type: public, highly selective program
* Ethnicity: white
* Gender: male
* Applied for Financial Aid: yes

* Extracurriculars: a couple of them, pursued very deeply since before middle school, that wound up developing into leadership positions and big national awards. Proud member of Yellow Pig Alumni Association. 17= <3.

[neforrester]

Accepted! W00t!

Stats:

• SAT: CR: 800(I was surprised) MA:760, WR: 650
• SAT II: Math2: 800, Chem: 800
• GPA: 3.8 or so
• Rank: top 15% of 377
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Chem: 4

Subjective

• Essays: Worked very hard on them (obsessed over them?)
• Teacher Recs: Good, I think.
• Counselor Rec: Good, I think.
• Supplementary Material: Description of my very cool junior year science fair project
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Awesome Summer Job involving CS and EE, 4th place in CS at International Science and Engineering Fair, legacy

Personal

• Location: New England
• High School Type: Public, medium/large, suburban, not super great, but pretty good.
• Gender: Male
• Applied for Financial Aid: N

Other

• Extracurriculars: Very cool summer job with EE and CS, Science fair projects, Martial arts (2nd degree black belt), Math team (co-captian), Sailing, Mock trial.
• Awards: 4th place in CS at International Science and Engineering Fair (and a bunch of other science fair awards), National Merit Scholarship Competition Semi-finalist, and the usual stuff (honor roll, geometry student of the quarter, that sort of thing)
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Extracurriculars > Acedemics in my opinion. Really bad grades, scores, etc can keep you out, but Good grades won't get you in by themselves. I noticed that I got in where students near to the 4.0-2400-AP Scholar ideal got deferred. I showed that I can get out and solve real world problems, not just regurgitate material learned from a textbook. Also, I did my Extracurriculars consistently. I've been doing martial arts since first grade, math team, mock trial and sailing since my Freshman year, science-fair projects since 3rd grade, my job for 3 summers, etc. It shows that I really care about those things, and I'm not just using them as resume stuffers.

[Kamera]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2360 (800CR, 800W, 760M)
• SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Chemistry
• GPA: A- average, improvement since freshman year to mostly A's first trimester this year.
• Rank: School does not rank
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 94.5 AMC12 2007, made it to AIME in 10th grade, got a 2.

Subjective

• Essays: Great (as said by college counselor/english teacher.)
• Teacher Recs: CS and Japanese, probably awesome.
• Counselor Rec: Good, I hope.
• Supplementary Material: Letter from reseach mentor who went to MIT.
• Hook: variety?

Personal

• Location: Northern New England (not Cambridge/Boston area)
• High School Type: Prep
• Ethnicity: Latina
• Gender: Female
• Applied for Financial Aid: No

Other[list][*]Extracurriculars: Math Team, Research at local university.[*]Awards: Submitted to Intel, haven't heard back yet. Nothing else spectacular.[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I got into MIT with a B+ in freshman year geometry. Working hard and being a real person is way more important than getting straight A's. Do the things you want to do, or at least things you wouldn't mind doing without the college pressure, and you'll be a much happier person. Do an overnight visit and talk to people at MIT. Be nice to your interviewer. Good luck for people who haven't gotten in yet, and congrats to everyone else who has!

[matthewlnk22]

Deferred

Stats:

• SAT: (1550/2270) 800CR 750M 720W
• SAT II: MathII-710 Physics-650
• ACT:
• GPA: 4.2W
• Rank: 33/339
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 AP Spanish, 4 AP Eng Lang, 5 AP USH, taking 6 APs this year

Subjective

• Essays: honest, maybe too honest
• Teacher Recs: sounded very strong, IMO (english and math teachers, had both in class for 3+ years)
• Counselor Rec: no idea, counselor doesn't know me well
• Supplementary Material: none
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): URM?

Personal

• Location: south FL
• High School Type: parochial
• Ethnicity: hispanic
• Gender: male
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: President of Young Democrats, Secretary/Treasurer in Model UN, Newspaper/Yearbook Photographer, founding member of Math Honor Society, Producer and Host of original weekly TV segment
• Awards: National Hispanic Scholar Finalist, a few local science competitions
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Can't say I was surprised. I'm actually glad I didn't get flat-out rejected. Most likely the low GPA and SATIIs are what got me. My midyear report should be excellent, and I'll be retaking the SAT Physics.

[arwen15]

ACCEPTED!

College Class Year: 2012

ACADEMICS
High School: Top 100 US Public High Schools
GPA: UW: 4.00 W: 4.80
Class Rank: top 5 students
AP [5's]: CALC BC, CHEM, PHY C MECH, ENG LANG, USH
SR YR AP: BIO, ENG LIT, FR LANG, PHY C E&M, G&P, STAT
SAT I: 2340 (CR 740)
SAT IIs: IIC: 800 CHEM: 760 BIO/M:760 USH: 790
OTHER: EPGY Computer Science, Math, Physics, English Courses

EC
Key ECs:Research, Running, Ultimate, Publishing; Author of Science Puzzle Book

Leadership positions: President Math Club, Editor-in-chief School
Magazine, President Chess club

Athletic Status: Non-varsity, 5K average 6:25 mile running pace

Volunteer/Service Work: Fund raising (~ 80 hours) through performances

HONORS AND AWARDS
Siemens, Bausch & Lomb, Intel ISEF
Multi-time AIME qualifier and school top scorer,
AP Scholar with Distinction, Numerous[5] State/Reg Science Fair Awards,
National Chess Championship (2nd Place), Numerous [12+] top student Course Awards

APP


Essays: Light tone+self depreciative humor (essentially my voice)
followed Geraldine Woods' and Harry Bauld's advice for college essay writing

Reccs: Probably one outstanding, one somewhat critical; The GCs recc would
have been decent

Hooks: Really fun interview with EC ....?

OTHER: Supplementary material of my performane on stage sent on DVD

[GrenadeJumper]

Rejected


Stats:

• SAT:2270 (720 CR 760 M 790 W)
• SAT II:800 Math 2c, 760 US, 720 Chem
• ACT:N/A
• GPA: 4.4 w, 3.93 UW
• Rank: School Doesn't but top 3%
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Bio-4, Ap Chem-5, AP stat- 5 AP us- 4, AP euro-5 taking five more this year (Calc BC, Lit, Spanish lang, Gov, Physics C)

Subjective

• Essays: great, about scuba diving haha
• Teacher Recs:strong
• Counselor Rec: strong
• Supplementary Material: none
• Interview: lasted like two and a half hours
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Being Caucasian from California really helps haha

Personal

• Location:CA
• High School Typeublic
• Ethnicity:white
• Gender: male

Other

• Extracurriculars:Eagle Scout, Various Clubs with leadership, COSMOS and UCSD, lots of volunteer work, trombone player, swimming, nothing special.
• Awards:Eagle Scout, Valedictorian, AP Scholar with distinction.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:applied on a whim, I wasn't expecting much so its fine. I also didn't write the optional effort, too much work. plus i got into wesleyan yesterday so im happy.

Congrats to all who got in!!

[la montagne]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2350 (780M, 800W, 770CR)
• SAT II: 800 Chem, 780 Math 2 (and 770 French and 740 Bio M)
• ACT: 36
• GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.72 W
• Rank: 3/316
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AMC and AIME, and 6 AP tests (5 5s and 1 4 in French Language)

Subjective

• Essays: Decent?
• Teacher Recs: GREAT. Both best in career.
• Counselor Rec: Pretty good
• Supplementary Material: A letter after my deferral, and an article about me from the newspaper.
• Interview: Not bad... but not spectacular.
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Don’t got one.

Personal

• Location: NJ
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: Female

Other

• Extracurriculars: A lot. Including leadership and community service. I don’t feel like summarizing.
• Awards: Also a lot... one national award, a whole bunch of state awards, and some other stuff. Nothing really too major.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:

Deferred EA AND I GOT IN!!!! I'M SO FRIGGIN EXCITED I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M GONNNA DO NOW THIS MAKES MY LIFE!!

[bballdude]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2240 (M: 780, R: 720, W: 740)
• SAT II: Math II: 800, Chem: 780, Physics: 770
• ACT: 35 (W: 34, M:36, R: 34, S: 36)
• GPA: UW 4.0, W: 4.911
• Rank: 1/350 both UW and W
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AMC:101ish, 5 APs with 5s, taking both Physics C, AP CS AB, and AP Bio this year

Subjective

• Essays: alright
• Teacher Recs: should be good
• Counselor Rec: should be good
• Supplementary Material: Scholarship apps (got research scholars and biomedical summer)
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): research

Personal

• Location: MI
• High School Type:semi-competitive. Selects top applicants from across the county
• Ethnicity: Caucasian
• Gender Male
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: Extracurriculars: Research, Captain of tennis team, Editor in chief of literary magazine, piano for 7 years, computer programming team, coach for a FIRST lego mindstorms middle school team (counts as volunteer), volunteer at hospital, started a tutoring program
• Awards: Siemens semifinalist
  AP Scholar with Distinction
  NM finalist
  Caltech Signature Award
  won tennis state championship as a team last year, fourth place this year
  multiple AIME qualifier, top 202 in Michigan Math Prize Competition (14000 take it)
  USACO silver division, ACSL awards
  many regional, local awards in math/science
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:I was deferred, but i got in. I cannot believe it! This is amazing. See you all at CPW

[Chelmar]

Waitlisted

Stats:

• SAT: 2340 (800M, 800CR, 740W)
• SAT II: 800 Bio E, 800 Math 2, 800 Lit, 800 USH, 800 Physics
• ACT: N/A
• GPA: 4.963 W, 4.0 UW
• Rank: 1/~300
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AIME 5/4, AMC12 116/115.5/120, 5 AP's (4x 5, 1x 4)

Subjective

• Essays: Well written!
• Teacher Recs: Excellent!
• Counselor Rec: Excellent!
• Supplementary Material:
• Interview: Decent, but not spectacular.
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize):

Personal

• Location: PA
• High School Type: public
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: M

Other

• Extracurriculars: Science Olympiad (Captain), Academic Competition Team (Varsity Captain), Math Team (Captain), Mock Trial (Co-captain/attorney), Literary Magazine (Editor), Varsity Swimming, Volunteering
• Awards: Science Olympiad, USAPhO Semifinalist, USABO Semifinalist, AIME, various math and science, and youth-related, etc.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I was actually pretty confident that I would get in, but I guess it was some premature speculation. Good luck for everyone who's waiting for theirs =)

[endersadvocate]

Stats:

• SAT: 2130 800R 740M 590W
• SAT II: 730Math2 710Chem
• ACT:
• GPA: 4.3W 3.9UW
• Rank: unknown
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Euro Hist:3, 7AP tests this year.

Subjective

• Essays: eh. they were not as good as my chicago ones.
• Teacher Recs: how would i know?
• Counselor Rec: how would i know?
• Supplementary Material: none sent
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): nope

Personal

• Location: Fl
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: White as can get.
• Gender M
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y
• Extracurriculars: All county Academic team, founded hs physics club, boy scouts, etc etc.
• Awards: a few general scholarships.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:

Was what i expected Hopefully chicago will admit meh!

[stupidkid]

Accepted


Stats:

• SAT:2350
• SAT II:2400
• ACT:
• GPA:3.95
• Rank:
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):136.5 AMC12, 140.5 AMC10, 8 USAMO, 9 AP's

Subjective

• Essays:crap
• Teacher Recs:good
• Counselor Rec:good
• Supplementary Material:research paper
• Interview: ok
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize):

Personal

• Location:
• High School Type: public
• Ethnicity:azn
• Gender: m

Other

• Extracurriculars:
• Awards:siemens regional finalist, usamo qual, usnco qual, intel sts semi
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:going to stanford since they have better financial aid and better weather. and im not happy that mit deferred me early