Graduate Admission into MIT

v_90
Thu, 29 May 2008 07:11:16 +0000

I am currently an undergrad student in Australia (at Sydney Uni), and for post-graduate, I am quite interested in going to MIT. In a nutshell, I was wondering if people could advise me, in general, what activities I should become involved in, to increase my chances of admission. In particular, what extracurricular activities could I become involved in, and what else could I do that could impress MIT? (eg perhaps learn more computer programming, or something along those lines).
A little bit about me: My main interest in maths. In high school, I was particularly interested in Mathematical Olympiads, and I participated in IMO (International Maths Olympiad ) twice (I didn’t do extraordinarily well, like some people that go to highly regarded unis in America have, but I did get a medal both times) ; as well as other less prestigious Olympiad competitions in Australia. I don’t have any great extracurriculars, but I do play guitar and tennis. In university in Australia, I don’t think there are any significant maths competitions (eg like Putnam in America). However, I am very interested in uni maths, and I’ve been working through some interesting courses I’ve found on MIT open courseware. Generally I don’t do that well in exams (i.e., I’m not the type of person that would get 2400 on SATs), especially subjects I find boring, but I think I do reasonably well in subjects that I do enjoy.
Thanks. Sorry if this post is in the wrong forum - I’m not sure if there is a separate forum for post-grad entry.