Official MIT Class of 2016 RD Discussion Thread

iceui2
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:00:07 +0000

@mystory: You are actually wrong about this. The reason a lot of people from RSI and Stony Brook get Intel/Siemens is that they are already selected to be among the best of all students. Correlation does not mean causation: RSI doesn’t get you Intel, but because RSI picks out the best applicants in math/science, they are more likely to be successful in their research and hence win the award. Intel/Siemens is more of a meritocracy than any other application process out there - you cannot win unless you have an amazing project. While it’s true that many smart students do not have access to a lab to be able to do these projects, you cannot discount the abilities of the people who do win. You are right in the sense that some students who have amazing mentors are not willing to release their data to Intel - but you have to discuss this with your mentor BEFORE you undertake the project. I think mentors would at least let you mail the paper or an abstract to the school, especially if this is YOUR project.

Imagine if you’re a college admissions officer. You have two applicants who did research. One has won Intel, the other just subtlely mentioned that he wrote a paper that analyzed XXX. If you could only choose one, who are you going to pick? Obviously the guy who won Intel, because his Intel award is testament that his project is not a random high school chemistry paper, or one written by his dad but with his own name pasted on it. Maybe the second guy also had a great project, but there is no proof of that. When MIT has plenty of Intel winners to choose from, they don’t have to take that risk.

Who says you have to go to Stony Brook? I did my research at Texas Tech. I had no connections at all - I applied to Clark Scholars and got in on my merit. Obviously there will be people who take the easy route, but it is possible to get in the door on your own. And those people are the ones MIT will take. I think your thinking about this the wrong way: if you complain on CC every day then you’ll never be able to put in enough effort to succeed on your own. Start taking this matter into your own hands - if you are really passionate about doing research and have the stats to back it up, nothing’s stopping you from doing research.