A Blacksmith's Chance at MIT, Caltech, Ivies?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics:
White Male, 18, North Carolina. Public High School. Bisexual

Intended Major:
Physics, or something sciency, not 100% sure yet

Academics:
ACT:35 (36W,35M,36S,34W,12 essay)
SAT II: Math 2: 800, Physics: 760
Class Rank: 3/450
GPA: 5.0 W, 4.0 UW
AP Classes: Calc AB/BC, Stat, Lang, Lit, Physics, US, HumGeo, Enviro, Psych
Ap Exams: Calc AB/BC, Lang, Stat, Physics 1, US, HumGeo (5’s) Physics 2 (4)
(I’m enrolled in AP physics now, but i self studied and took the exams last year.)

Extracurriculars:

Blacksmithing: Since I was in 7th grade I’ve been forging, casting, and ■■■■■■■ around with forges and fire in my backyard. Since no blacksmiths in my area (understandably) would take on a 12 yearold, I built my own stuff. I used to kinda be shy about it, but now am more open and forge with my friends (wrote my common app essay about opening up my passion to my friends). For MIT, i did a Maker Portfolio on this, [link here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLh2iRToorc)! . Its a bit cringe, I look like I could be 14, and the editing and camera work isn’t that good, but its w/e.

Web Development Team/Class : At my school, the administration is super supportive of the Web Dev program, so it’s both a club and a class. The “teacher” adult-person doesn’t teach coding, but coordinates and helps us plan out projects for the school website, teacher websites, admin tools, and other odd jobs. We learn and teach each other, and the two head teachers and leaders are the Managers, two from the team of ~12. I’ve been on the team since Sophomore year, and been a Manager since Junior year.

Tech Theatre: I’ve been doing tech theatre for the school plays since Junior year, and this year I was “Master Carpenter”, a fancy term for the guy who is in charge of helping design set, and directs all the techies in building all the big stuff. Also in ITS, honor’s club for theatre people.

Science Club: Don’t really know if it counts cause its not off the ground yet, but since Junior year I’ve been working on starting a club where high school students would go into middle schools to teach science in a fun way. Got shot down multiple times due to logistics and funding, but I’m still trying to get it to work.

Math Team: Pretty standard, I’ve been on math team since Junior year, got elected president this year. Highest score from my school at all competitions last year.

Community Service: Besides the science club and the occasional stop hunger now or mission trip, not much.

Schools:
EA: Colorado Mines (accepted), MIT (deferred), NCSU (accepted)
RA: MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, UChicago, Duke, Berkeley

Rec Letters
Calc teacher: 10/10, I come after school and we talk math a lot. We are close enough she has a pet name for me, and we talk about school and people. Funnily enough, the day I went to ask for a rec, some kid broke her desk, so I asked her for it while fixing said desk.
Psych teacher: 7-9/10 Not really sure, we talk a lot and debate a lot after school, and I respect the hell out of him, but i’m not 100% on what he’d say.
WebDev teacher: 10/10 I call her second mom, we are super close, and have worked both on the team together for 3 years and in theatre (shes a Shakespearian god)

Summer Shenanigans
Sophomore Summer: NCSSMSV Science program, spent a month living on campus at UNC Charlotte learning and doing independent research on Biology. Its not one of those “pay to go” scams, its state funded so no cost to go, so you have to apply. Its pretty competitive, but not crazy
Junior Summer: NC Governor’s School for Mathematics: Similar idea to NCSSMSV, but on Meridith Campus, and I did math research instead of bio. Much, much more competitive, it’s ~50ish students from the entire state are selected for math. I got lucky to get in, and it was amazing!

Hooks?
Backyard Blacksmithing?

Questions: Mostly just wondering what you guys think my chances are. MIT is the dream, but most every of these schools seem awesome. Also wondering if you guys think the backyard blacksmithing is a hook, especially for places like MIT that always are talking about “Makers” and stuff. Also wondering how much my very limited com service will hurt me.
Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks!

2

I"d think that MIT would view you as a interesting and strong candidate. Can’t imagine you won’t get an offer. But I have no connection to MIT. You just seem like the type of student they’d want to nab. Seems like you have MIT written all over you.

3

Thanks man, that means a lot!

4

Please come back and tell us how things turn out on Pi Day! Best of luck to you.

PS. I don’t think Volunteer experiences are very important to schools or meaningful to students and those they “volunteer” for except those doing it for any other reason but to report to colleges.

5

I have no idea about your chances, but if I were an admissions person, the blacksmithing would stick out. “Yeah, what about the blacksmith applicant?” they’d be saying around the table.

With those super stats, you have as good a chance as anybody applying to schools with a less than 10% acceptance rate.

Let us know how it turns out!

6

You have a pretty good shot at all of the tech schools my only ?s are Harvard and Stanford it all depends on ur essays

7

@lostaccount Yeah, that’s my justification for not having much. I’d always feel weird if the only reason I was doing something was to put it on a college app.

8

OP, I absolutely love your profile. There is something about you that screams different. I think you’d be a great fit to join me at UChicago (but I’m biased because I’m going there) because it’s a really quirky school filled with geniuses who care about their own thing really intensely, and you seem to have that thing you’re really passionate about, and that is blacksmithing. Blacksmithing is not a hook per say, but it’s really interesting and unique, which should help you out a lot. To answer your question, however, I’ll give you these chances:

MIT - Accepted/Rejected (In other words, it depends) (Here’s the thing, if you weren’t accepted EA, then it’s hard to see why they would take you RD. Obviously you have the stats and the ec’s, but has your profile changed in any substantial way since you applied? If so, then you have got a chance. I’m quite surprised you didn’t get in EA because you do scream MIT to me as well, more than most STEM applicants.)

Caltech - Waitlist/Reject (Just not enough spots, and while you have a great profile, you don’t have the national awards they are looking for. I’m not sure you’d like it there though. It’s science 100% of the time. Even MIT has more balance than Caltech. I would choose MIT over Caltech in a heartbeat.)

Harvard - Waitlist (Crapshoot to be honest. You’re qualified though.)

Princeton - Waitlist (Crapshoot again, but you’re qualified.)

Stanford - Waitlist (Another crapshoot.)

Chicago - Waitlist/Accept (If you’re essays were unique and really good, I think you’re in. You exude Chicago to me. Seriously consider coming here if you manage to get in. It may not seem the best fit at the moment, but all I ask is that you consider it because you seem like a person who would do well here).

Duke - Waitlist/Accept (I think they like in-state students a bit more. I think you’ll get in.)

Berkeley - Accept (It’s hard to get in OOS, but you will. You’re qualified.)

Honestly, you could get into all these schools just as easily as you could get into none of them. I’d be absolutely shocked, though, if you didn’t get into at least one. You just seem different. Good luck, and message me if you are interested in learning any more about Chicago (though I’m going to probably major in philosophy/political science and am the least science-y person out there lol). Overall, you seem like you’d fit best at MIT/UChicago.

9

I have looked into UCHICAGO a bit and I really do like the culture! It seems like a place stuff like theatre and art don’t take as much as a backseat to sciences when compared to other schools. I’ve heard that the squirrels are agreesive, but the milkshakes are cheap :slight_smile:

10

I agree with @jarrett211 that the OP has a very distinctive profile, that should make him stand out to adcoms. That combined with strong academics should make him an attractive applicant. I’m not sure why he was deferred EA from MIT, though MIT normally has around a 9% EA accept rate and a ridiculously qualified pool of applicants.

11

@renaissancedad Honestly, I think my essays for MIT were pretty weak. I waited until the week before to start working on the application, and didn’t get many people to look over them.

12

^ That could easily have been a factor. Have you followed up with a letter of continued interest?

13

Not yet, but I’m planning on doing the February Update form which has an essay component

14

jarrett211 there are tons of students at MIT who were deferred from EA to regular and then accepted. Those applying EA are admitted at a considerably higher rate than those that apply only Regular but they are often deferred and then accepted at regular admissions. I know a lot of MIT students who were deferred and then accepted. That is why the OP may be accepted in the regular cycle whereas he was deferred Early Action.

15

@lostaccount I never said OP couldn’t get in RD.

16

jarrett211 " (Here’s the thing, if you weren’t accepted EA, then it’s hard to see why they would take you RD"

17

@lostaccount “Here’s the thing, if you weren’t accepted EA, then it’s hard to see why they would take you RD. Obviously you have the stats and the ec’s, but has your profile changed in any substantial way since you applied? If so, then you have got a chance.” Read the last sentence please. Regardless, this is a trivial argument.

18

Any advice for the update letter to MIT? Should it be more about the things I’ve been doing since I applied or more focused on how much I still want to go there. It’s only like 200 words so I don’t think I could do both effectively.

19

^ You can affirm your continued interest in MIT, but I would focus on what you’ve been doing. You want them to accept you, and no matter how badly you want to go there, that won’t do it.

20

Sending the Update form today. Does anybody else have any ideas on how to increase my chances at MIT? I’d be down to do practically anything, like I’d be down to drive up there if whatever had to be in person. It’s my dream so anything legit to get in I’d do.