Help With MIT Application (in general)- What to do?

PatCS
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:21:19 +0000

I am a rising senior and will be applying to MIT (early) next fall. I am looking for some help on my application - ie: what to put down, what not to put down, what areas to focus on, etc.



Here’s my main problem:
I really have trouble presenting myself as any ‘type’ of person. I know that a lot of people applying to MIT seem to do this, and go either for “science-and-math-wiz-types”, athletes, “artsy-types”, etc, etc. I have a variety of really different interests and I pursue them all with a great deal of intensity.

For example, I have wrestled since I was 8 years old, and I love the sport. I spend many, many hours every week training, I am my team’s captain (I also got MVP last year and "Most Spirited Award my Sophomore year - yes, I know its goofy), and I wrestle year-round on a club team. (A lot of the time that I would be spending on other EC’s, I instead spend on wrestling - which to me seems like probably an undesirable thing, for someone on MIT’s end).

I also love scuba diving. I got my certification 4 years ago, and before the end of the summer I’m going to try and get my Advanced and Rescue Diver certifications.

My primary academic interests are in science and engineering, but again, even those interests are broad. I’m interested in Astronomy, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical (Weapons) Engineering, Nanotechnology, and Biotechnology (specifically study in brain-computer interactions). I have an equally intense passion for all of these areas and I devour books and articles on these subjects. My interests are so broad, however, I simply don’t know how to show MIT how much I really love all this stuff. (I have never done any prestigious science competitions, research papers, or the like.) The only tangible things I have are that I may be able to volunteer as an assistant with a local neurosurgeon for the remainder of the summer and some of the school year (I really want a chance to learn, hands on, about some of the neuro-science that is involved in the area of biotechnology that I’m interested in), and I am working on some engineering projects at home (hopefully they’ll be done - and working - in time for the application). (To add to the engineering area, next year I’m going to work on starting an engineering club at my school to help students pool resources, information and aid for individual engineering projects. …But that’s kind of a work-in-progress.)

Oh, and to add to this already wide variety of things, I have a very intense interest in political science and political philosophy. Again, most of my interest in that area is concentrated in reading on my own time - so its a bit difficult to ‘show’ that in my application. The few tangible examples I can use are that 1.) this year I went to South Carolina Boy’s State, 2.) I will (most likely) be going to the three week Junior Statesmen of America program in DC (the program is competitive entry by application - but still costs a good bit), where I will, among other things, take a summer course in AP US Government. And 3.) next year, a friend and I are going to start a sort of pseudo-debate/politics club to discuss political issues and encourage political activism at our school.




That about sums it up. It just feels like all of the stuff I’m interested in is disconnected (which it is). But I’m afraid that it’ll look like I just went out and did a bunch of random stuff and that I’m not very interested in any of it. When, in truth, it is a bunch of random stuff, but I really love and am passionate about all of it. Again, don’t know how to ‘show’ that in my application.

I’d really appreciate any suggestions, advice, comments, etc… Anything would be helpful.