It’s probably going to be in the details. Are you good enough in sports to get the attention of MIT coaches? What are your research projects about, how difficult are they, did you have a mentor who could write a good letter? What kind of trips where these, did you have to pay to do them, was there competition to participate, or did you just go with your parents to visit relatives who introduced you to some NGO people? Basically, besides grades and scores, are there other objective measures that show how awesome you are?