<p>Clarifying one thing from previous post: I’d be against a class of all tennis-math-piano-2400s no matter what their races. If Asian applicants tended to have more dissimilar resumes etc., I would be very much against the lower odds they face. As it is, I’m not happy about those odds, but I like the student body here, and so wouldn’t tinker with it drastically in the direction of higher test scores/more quantifiable merit. The definition of merit, as a student here, seems to work for me. I’m willing to forgive somewhat lower test scores for an Asian guy with a passion for physics and fashion from Podunk, Montana, as well as for the kid from the really poor neighborhood in L.A. Bluh. I try not to get caught up in the AA debates on here, but I had to rush off from the previous post, and for some reason decided to post it rather than to wait until I got back here.</p>
<p>Continuing:
You say that your recommendations will be “pretty good.” If your teachers/counselor can tell the adcoms about that one time you really impressed them with whatever talent or personality trait of yours, your recommendations will be exponentially stronger than if they just say that you are very smart and nice. There’s no evidence to that latter statement, and they get a lot of glowing but evidence-free letters. So, go approach the people writing letters for you, and ask them if there’s any information you can provide about yourself that would help them write a better letter. This would be your chance to tell them how much you’re looking forward to studying X in college, and that the subject they taught prepared you for X in happy ways; or that while you’re looking forward to studying X, and their class had nothing to do with that, you liked how it widened your horizons. Or that you were really excited to explain a concept from their class to your little brother this one time. Those sorts of things make your personality come through your application. If your school sends more than a couple students to competitive colleges every year, they’ll probably be able to ask you more specific questions. My previous suggestions are mostly if they’re like “uhh is there anything you want to say?”</p>
<p>Then, spend a lot of time on your essays. You may not be the best essay writer, but read tips on the Internet, look at good essays, read your essays aloud to yourself, get other people to read them, or anything that’s worked for you in the past. (This is not the right place or time [I am so sleepy, and I was in a bit of an accident yesterday that’s left me with a hurting face] to give a Complete Guide on How to Write an Essay. People write books on that stuff.)</p>
<p>PS MIT’s admissions office people have really useful information on their website, particularly re: letters of recommendation.</p>