Official MIT Class of 2012 Early Action Decisions Thread

DannyWrigley · December 17, 2007, 9:19pm

DEFERRED

Stats:

SAT: 2180 - 760(M), 760 (R), 660 (W)
SAT II: Math 2c-670, Physics - 640, Lit - 700
ACT: Did not take
GPA: 5.9/7 (Weird grading scale, had a kid get into columbia with a 5.9 last year) Upward trend.
Rank: N/A
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 microeconomics 5 calc ab 4 macroeconomics

Subjective

<ul>
<li>Essays: Decent.</li>
<li>Teacher Recs: Have no idea, I would assume good. My calc teacher considered me the equivalent of Will Hunting, according to a friend who talked to him about me, and my Econ teacher continually lauded my ability to foresee patterns and know the material intuitively before he taught it last year, often stopping to literally applaud me in the middle of class.</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: He likes me, we share laughs on occassion, I assume it’s good.</li>
<li>Supplementary Material: Wrote the extra essays, submitted a URL to my music.</li>
<li>Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): MIT’s top basketball recruit, experienced singer/songwriter.</li>
</ul>

Personal

Location: I live in Reston, VA. My school is located in Hudson, OH.
High School Type: Top shelf boarding academy.
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Applied for Financial Aid: Yes

Other

<ul>
<li>Extracurriculars: Music and basketball</li>
<li>Awards: Nothing egregious.</li>
<li>Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: My grades aren’t on par with my potential; I hadn’t sent in a mid-year grade report because it was not yet available. Perhaps they want to see that before they make a final decision?</li>
</ul>

Oisin · December 18, 2007, 12:13am

Deferred

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: 2200 best single day, 2290 composite
[]SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Biol, 790 Chem, 720 US Hist
[]ACT:
[]GPA: 4.5 approx weighted
[]Rank: Not ranked, top 5% approx in 300
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AMC dont remember, just short of AIME qual. AP 5 in USH, Biol, CalcBC, AP 4 in MacroEcon. (Studied AP Econ in online course during Summer 06) Taking AP Stats, Psych, Spanish, Physics this year.
[/ul]
Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: Fairly good but not exceptional
[]Teacher Recs: Saw one, very good. Didn’t see the other
[]Counselor Rec: Didn’t see
[]Supplementary Material: Short essay about preferred major/minor
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none except possible URM [/ul]
Personal[ul]
[]Location: MA
[]High School Type: Public
[]Ethnicity: Mexican American, Caucasian
[]Gender Male
[]Applied for Financial Aid: Y/N[/ul]
Other[ul]
[]Extracurriculars: 4 yrs varsity tennis (all conference Jr year), cross country, football (1 yr varsity), Math team, Science Olympiad (State champion), Tenacity volunteer 1 month (tennis coach inner city children)
[]Awards: National Hispanic Scholar finalist, AP Scholar, National Merit Commended (PSAT not good)
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: My son would really like to have been accepted. I am in awe at the qualifications of both accepted and deferred candidates posting here. I just don’t believe that these qualifications are all that common and I suspect that many of the deferred candidates posting here will get good news in the Spring – from MIT or somewhere better. My son’s deferral notice mentioned providing mid term grade reports which will be available in January. His interim grades this semester look quite promising so I hope those boost his chances in the next round.[/ul]

sijmister · December 18, 2007, 12:20am

Accepted

Stats:

<pre><code>* SAT: 2140 Critical Reading: 760 Math: 710 Writing: 670

SAT II: Math Level 2: 700 Chem.: 650 US Hist: 640
ACT: N/A
GPA: N/A, Average About 89 Unweighted
Rank: Top 15 of 120
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP US History: 3 AP French: 4 AP English Language and Composition: 4 Currently taking AP European History, AP British and World Literature (AP English Literature and Composition Exam), AP Physics C:M, AP Calculus AB
</code></pre>

Subjective

<pre><code>* Essays: I think my essays were pretty d@!# good (keeping it PG here) I just decided to be myself and wrote about something I love to do: drawing. I also had another essay I wrote in which I had to describe myself. I dont know if I used it for MIT, but I presented myself as a Thinker, a Procrastinator, and one who takes action regarding things that I am passionate about.

Teacher Recs: I got to wonderful recs, (which I didnt read but I am sure they were excellent) from my French teacher and my Physics teacher.
Counselor Rec: I have a great counselor, but I have no idea if she wrote a rec
Supplementary Material: Nothing really
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): I didnt really have a hook, other than that I am a person of diverse interests.
</code></pre>

Personal

<pre><code>* Location: Pennsylvania

High School Type: Boarding School
Ethnicity: Black (Nigerian)
Gender: Im not sure maybe Male? ;D
Applied for Financial Aid: Definitely
</code></pre>

Other

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Freshman Baseball, Basketball 9th and 11th, Chorale 11th and 12th, Drawing 11th, Football 10th, 11th, and 12th, Academic Team 11th and 12th, Anime Club (President) 10th, 11th, and 12th, Math Club 10th, 11th, 12th, African American Student Union 10th, 11th, and 12th, SALT 10th, 11th, and 12th.

Awards: French Award (9th), National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalist, AP Scholar
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I was so excited when I got in that I ran all around the dorm screaming and jumping: I got into MIT!!! I was almost in a mad frenzy. Called my parents as soon as I could breathe again. Gratz to all who got in, good luck in the next round for those who were deferred, and tough luck if you got straight-up rejected. I just want to say this though: being yourself really helps. You have to sell yourself a little bit, but who doesnt? MIT doesnt just want to see 2400s, Honor Society, all As and what not, they want to see who you are and how you interact with those around you. Plus, dont try to impress the interviewer. Look good, but dont overdo anything. If you are natural, the conversation will flow, and you may end up telling the interviewer something interesting about yourself that you may not have said otherwise. Plus, essays people. If you are within the pool of eligibility, that can make or break your acceptance. I wrote about something that I thought was unique, the fact that I like to draw. Not how I almost made it to the National Spelling Bee, not how I am a good student and try to be a good leader, not how our football team won the championships my 10th grade year, but just about who I am. Plus, use elevated language, but all the same dont be bombastic and sound like you had the Thesaurus sitting next to you while you were writing. If you follow my advice, I am sure that you will find yourself at one of your top choices for college. Sorry if I come on a little strong or arrogant, but I am just trying to help people out here.
</code></pre>

Tsenguun · December 18, 2007, 3:46am

Congrats all!!!

Patsfan59 · December 18, 2007, 4:20pm

Deferred

Stats:

<pre><code>* SAT: 2120 best single day, 690M740C690W

SAT II: 660 Math II, 690 Biol, 770 US Hist
ACT:
GPA: 3.6ish
Rank: 38/348
Other Tests US hist (5) Bio (5) English (5)Physics C Mech (3)
</code></pre>

Subjective

<pre><code>* Essays: ehh

Teacher Recs: very nice
Counselor Rec: very nice
Supplementary Material: Talked about designing a playground
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): football?
</code></pre>

Personal

<pre><code>* Location: NH

High School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Applied for Financial Aid: Y
</code></pre>

Other

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Football, Track, Senior Class Vice President, Academic Decathlon, Quiz Bowl (Captain), Student Council, FBLA

Awards: AP Scholar w/ Honors, National Merit Commended, Acadeca State Champ, Individual and Team. 2nd Place Lit/Science, 3rd Place Math
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Why wasn’t I rejected? hahaha MIT rocks though and I would really like to go!
</code></pre>

theshirt23 · December 18, 2007, 5:31pm

Deferred

Stats:

<pre><code>* SAT: 2270 (Math 720, CR 780, W 770)

SAT II: 750 Math II, 740 Physics, 760 US History
GPA: 4.67W(current), 4.40W(cum.), 3.95UW
Rank: N/A, but top 5 out of 250
Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
AP US History 5, AP Calculus AB 5, AP English Language 5
</code></pre>

Subjective

<pre><code>* Essays: Not terrific, but pretty good- I’m a good writer; they were not my best work, but certainly good

Teacher Recs: One was the whole “one of the best students i’ve ever taught” and the other was pretty similar, just not outright stated. So they were great.
Counselor Rec: Probably great
Supplementary Material: None submitted
Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none, in terms of recruitment…my ECs were unique though–I’m Domain Admin of my school network, same access, control, and responsibility as our CIO
</code></pre>

Personal

<pre><code>* Location: Philly, PA, USA

High School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: M
Applied for Financial Aid: Yes
</code></pre>

Other

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars:

Band: Competition Jazz Band, Concert Band, and Pep Band
Mathletes
“Network Management”- I have worked through the program to be a Domain Administrator, as explained above
National Honor Society

Awards:
- National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist
- AP Scholar
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:
- Should have spent more time on my essay
- Will be sending in supplementary materials and another rec.
- Would advise future applicants that this is NOT the time to be modest.
 </code></pre>

locke · December 18, 2007, 10:43pm

Deferred

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: never took it =] no one does over here
[]SAT II: 740 MathIIC, 720 Bio, 700 Chem
[]ACT: 33 Comp
[]GPA: 4.809/5 weighted
[]Rank: 1/450
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Stats 5, Bio 5, World Hist 5, Chem 4, Euro Hist 4, US Hist 3
[]Current Classes: AP Econ, AP Calc, AP Physics, AP English, Spanish 4, AP Env. Sci 
[/ul]
Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: creative, one on dreams and how my out of the ordinary education and diverse school shaped them, and another one on how I create stuff? how I create facial expressions. =] cool.
[]Teacher Recs: one exceptional, one average
[]Counselor Rec: good I think.
[]Supplementary Material: none, I filled out the additional essay.
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none.[/ul]
Personal[ul]
[]Location: Midwest
[]High School Type: Public
[]Ethnicity: Caucasian/Asian
[]Gender: Female
[]Applied for Financial Aid: Y[/ul]
Other[ul]
[]Extracurriculars: varsity swim captain, varsity soccer team, community art council director and intern, band, math team, nhs officer… other stuff. Environmental advocacy (i’m really involved in this and didn’t tell MIT about it except in the interview- I think I’m going to write them about it. =] that was dumb of me.) 
[]Awards: nm commended, ap scholar, state science contest, team sportsmanship award… etc.
[]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I’ve got a lot to update them about. to all you deferred… we get another chance, and we’re good enough to be competitive in the applicant pool, and that’s good enough for me! My counselor was like, “Wow, you got deferred!? Nice job!” lol. oh and also, someone told me: we’re all motivated and will probably be working together to engineer stuff to save the world when we get out of school, regardless of where we go to college. and it’s true. =] [/ul]

CountingDown · December 18, 2007, 11:05pm

DS was accepted –

<ul>
<li> SAT: big score </li>
<li> SAT II: Math Level II, Physics, World History, big scores</li>
<li> GPA: decent, but UW not as high as everyone thinks. 4.6 weighted</li>
<li> APs and other tests: 10th grade: Calc BC, Comp Sci AB and US Gov’t, 11th grade: Stat, World Hist and Eng Lang. Got 5s on all. Taking Physics C & Comp Gov’t senior year. Also taken 11 post-AP courses in math, CS and physics. </li>
<li> AMC12 & AIME = respectable, but not USAMO level</li>
<li>Rank: school doesn’t rank (thank goodness – borderline top 10%)</li>
<li>Supplemental material: Did NOT submit research paper, though he talked about it in his optional essay. (The essay really rocked.)</li>
<li>Essays: quirky, fiercely intellectual, passionate. Very much reflected who he is. </li>
<li>Teacher Recs: Haven’t seen them, but expected CS to be really good, and World Hist to talk about how DS likes to argue in class discussions. Also submitted recs from his mentor about depth of DS’s research and from director at summer math program about his personal growth. </li>
<li>Counselor Rec: excellent (haven’t seen that either, but she knows him well and they get along)</li>
<li>Hook: No music, drama, art or sports. Lots of research and teaching experience. Huge academic risk-taker – would take a B in a challenging class any day over an easy A. Finalist for couple of very big national awards. Loves humanities.</li>
<li>Intended major: 18/6, but also very interested in philosophy, history and poli sci</li>
<li>Location: planet earth</li>
<li>High School Type: public, highly selective program</li>
<li>Ethnicity: white</li>
<li>Gender: male</li>
<li>Applied for Financial Aid: yes</li>
<li>Extracurriculars: a couple of them, pursued very deeply since before middle school, that wound up developing into leadership positions and big national awards. Proud member of Yellow Pig Alumni Association. 17= <3.</li>
</ul>

oasis · December 19, 2007, 10:06pm

Congratulations to those that got in!

I’ve seen a lot of some of you guys’ posts around, and it’s really awesome to find out that you were accepted.

MIT is an amazing place. Come here and experience it for yourselves! See you at CPW! =D

For those who are deferred/rejected -

Don’t lose hope. An MIT deferral is not a judgment on your character or your abilities. Just get to work on those regular applications and make them good. 70% of the class get in in April, so it’s not like you don’t have a chance! I was deferred when I applied to Princeton last winter, and my morale was so crushed when I knew…but you might just get a surprise in the spring. I ended up having a LOT more surprises in the spring (MIT was one of them!) Keep the good work up! =D

hallomar · December 19, 2007, 10:14pm

My son is applying there but did not do EA. But someone in his class was accepted EA. I would be interested to know what the gender breakdown of acceptances is.

CalAlum · December 19, 2007, 10:55pm

Last year, MIT’s newspaper The Tech reported demographics for the 2011 early action admits. More boys than girls were admitted. Because something like five boys applied for evey girl who applied, the percentage of girls admitted was higher. You could search through the Tech’s online archives to find that article; just Google “The Tech” on MIT’s website. In 2011, MIT admitted only 11% of early action applicants; this year the figure is cose to 15%.

Last year about 11 boys and 1 girl from my daughter’s high school aplied to MIT, and only my daughter was accepted. Fortunately, no one at the school was surprised, and no one assumed this was because of her gender. In addition to many other strengths (which I won’t list here), she had presented original scientific research at an actual science conference, and she had also won both state and national art awards. On the other hand, we were shocked that two of the boys who applied didn’t get in, because they were also top students. One boy was also deferred from Stanford, his top choice. Ultimately, he was rejected by both Stanford and MIT, but accepted by Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania. Lots of choices!!! Of the other boys deferred by MIT, several went to top ivy league schools.

So what does it all mean? All I can say is that right now my daughter is happy as a clam at MIT, and the two other top students at her school last year are each having a great time at Harvard. From where we sit now, it looks as if each student found his or her perfect match, in fact.

So…it’s disappointing not to get good news early. But there is still lots of good news ahead for the students who’ve posted on this board.

neforrester · December 19, 2007, 11:09pm

Accepted! W00t!

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: CR: 800(I was surprised) MA:760, WR: 650
[]SAT II: Math2: 800, Chem: 800
[]GPA: 3.8 or so
[]Rank: top 15% of 377
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Chem: 4
[/ul]
Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: Worked very hard on them (obsessed over them?)
[]Teacher Recs: Good, I think.
[]Counselor Rec: Good, I think.
[]Supplementary Material: Description of my very cool junior year science fair project
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Awesome Summer Job involving CS and EE, 4th place in CS at International Science and Engineering Fair, legacy[/ul]
Personal[ul]
[]Location: New England
[]High School Type: Public, medium/large, suburban, not super great, but pretty good.
[]Gender: Male
[]Applied for Financial Aid: N[/ul]
Other[ul]
[]Extracurriculars: Very cool summer job with EE and CS, Science fair projects, Martial arts (2nd degree black belt), Math team (co-captian), Sailing, Mock trial.
[]Awards: 4th place in CS at International Science and Engineering Fair (and a bunch of other science fair awards), National Merit Scholarship Competition Semi-finalist, and the usual stuff (honor roll, geometry student of the quarter, that sort of thing)
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Extracurriculars > Acedemics in my opinion. Really bad grades, scores, etc can keep you out, but Good grades won’t get you in by themselves. I noticed that I got in where students near to the 4.0-2400-AP Scholar ideal got deferred. I showed that I can get out and solve real world problems, not just regurgitate material learned from a textbook. Also, I did my Extracurriculars consistently. I’ve been doing martial arts since first grade, math team, mock trial and sailing since my Freshman year, science-fair projects since 3rd grade, my job for 3 summers, etc. It shows that I really care about those things, and I’m not just using them as resume stuffers.[/ul]

rlaqhdus · December 20, 2007, 1:29pm

Great story, CalAlum

Kamera · December 21, 2007, 11:32am

Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: 2360 (800CR, 800W, 760M)
[]SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Chemistry
[]GPA: A- average, improvement since freshman year to mostly A’s first trimester this year.
[]Rank: School does not rank
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 94.5 AMC12 2007, made it to AIME in 10th grade, got a 2.
[/ul]
Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: Great (as said by college counselor/english teacher.)
[]Teacher Recs: CS and Japanese, probably awesome.
[]Counselor Rec: Good, I hope.
[]Supplementary Material: Letter from reseach mentor who went to MIT.
[]Hook: variety? [/ul]
Personal[ul]
[]Location: Northern New England (not Cambridge/Boston area)
[]High School Type: Prep
[]Ethnicity: Latina
[]Gender: Female
[]Applied for Financial Aid: No [/ul]
Other
[list]
[]Extracurriculars: Math Team, Research at local university.
[]Awards: Submitted to Intel, haven’t heard back yet. Nothing else spectacular.
[]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I got into MIT with a B+ in freshman year geometry. Working hard and being a real person is way more important than getting straight A’s. Do the things you want to do, or at least things you wouldn’t mind doing without the college pressure, and you’ll be a much happier person. Do an overnight visit and talk to people at MIT. Be nice to your interviewer. Good luck for people who haven’t gotten in yet, and congrats to everyone else who has!

matthewlnk22 · December 21, 2007, 1:07pm

Deferred

Stats:[ul]
[]SAT: (1550/2270) 800CR 750M 720W
[]SAT II: MathII-710 Physics-650
[]ACT:
[]GPA: 4.2W
[]Rank: 33/339
[]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 AP Spanish, 4 AP Eng Lang, 5 AP USH, taking 6 APs this year
[/ul]
Subjective[ul]
[]Essays: honest, maybe too honest
[]Teacher Recs: sounded very strong, IMO (english and math teachers, had both in class for 3+ years)
[]Counselor Rec: no idea, counselor doesn’t know me well
[]Supplementary Material: none
[]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): URM? [/ul]
Personal[ul]
[]Location: south FL
[]High School Type: parochial
[]Ethnicity: hispanic
[]Gender: male
[]Applied for Financial Aid: Y[/ul]
Other[ul]
[]Extracurriculars: President of Young Democrats, Secretary/Treasurer in Model UN, Newspaper/Yearbook Photographer, founding member of Math Honor Society, Producer and Host of original weekly TV segment
[]Awards: National Hispanic Scholar Finalist, a few local science competitions
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Can’t say I was surprised. I’m actually glad I didn’t get flat-out rejected. Most likely the low GPA and SATIIs are what got me. My midyear report should be excellent, and I’ll be retaking the SAT Physics.[/ul]

arwen15 · December 29, 2007, 12:29pm

:) ACCEPTED! :)

College Class Year: 2012

ACADEMICS
High School: Top 100 US Public High Schools 
GPA: UW: 4.00 W: 4.80
Class Rank: top 5 students
AP [5’s]: CALC BC, CHEM, PHY C MECH, ENG LANG, USH
SR YR AP: BIO, ENG LIT, FR LANG, PHY C E&M, G&P, STAT
SAT I: 2340 (CR 740)
SAT IIs: IIC: 800 CHEM: 760 BIO/M:760 USH: 790
OTHER: EPGY Computer Science, Math, Physics, English Courses

EC
**Key ECs:**Research, Running, Ultimate, Publishing; Author of Science Puzzle Book

Leadership positions: President Math Club, Editor-in-chief School
Magazine, President Chess club

Athletic Status: Non-varsity, 5K average 6:25 mile running pace

Volunteer/Service Work: Fund raising (~ 80 hours) through performances

HONORS AND AWARDS
*Siemens, Bausch & Lomb, Intel ISEF *
Multi-time AIME qualifier and school top scorer,

AP Scholar with Distinction, Numerous[5] State/Reg Science Fair Awards,*
National Chess Championship (2nd Place), Numerous [12+] top student Course Awards

APP

Essays: Light tone+self depreciative humor (essentially my voice)
followed Geraldine Woods’ and Harry Bauld’s advice for college essay writing

Reccs: Probably one outstanding, one somewhat critical; The GCs recc would
have been decent

Hooks: Really fun interview with EC …?

OTHER: Supplementary material of my performane on stage sent on DVD

la_montagne · December 29, 2007, 2:51pm

^^ wow. VERY impressive resume. :)

WorrieMom · January 27, 2008, 10:30pm

Hai. . . . . .

linds · March 17, 2008, 9:25am

you guys are crazy… all very impressive and all. i go to MIT right now, and i was just curious about whether things were the same for prefrosh as they were for me last year.
i guess it’s important to to know what kind of things got you into MIT, but those things don’t really matter anymore once you get here. the amount of work is insane, and everyone is in it together, thank gosh, because unless you are a complete genius (which some people here, and probably some of you are), you can’t do it alone.
just wanted to let you know that the college craze will be over soon, your SAT scores won’t matter, your volunteer work in high school will fall off your resume, etc. etc. etc.
but yeah, come to MIT, go beavers…

Official MIT Class of 2012 Early Action Decisions Thread

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