<p>After months of work on my application, it feels quite sad to end up with only a standard rejection letter for an answer. I’ve never posted any of these “what are my chances” threads before, but now I would really like to have someone’s opinion on my application. Was it competitive at all? What were my big weaknesses? Should I have bothered applying at all?</p>
<p>I am a 19 year old guy from Montreal, going to a large public French school, which I am sure has never sent anyone to MIT. My grade average is around 90, but in my educational system students are compared using “R-scores”. They are essentially adjusted Z scores, and mine would roughly translate into a 2.4, which would place me in the top 0.5% or so of the bell curve of Quebec students. All the other stats are on the application.</p>
<p>International apps are hard… and your awards consist of only three school ones (which are only concerned with grade average) and two programming ones.</p>
<p>You are an impressive candidate, and being an immigrant from Bulgaria, I can relate to a lot of what you talked about in your essays. But the applicant pool is so amazing (especially the international one) that a lot of it is just pure chance - so dont let it define you - the admissions officers say that they could easily fill 3 or 4 classes with amazing people and the success and spirit of the MIT student body wouldnt change. Rejection sucks and that will never change, but for what it’s worth, I admire your character (from what I saw in the app) and you will go far regardless of where you study</p>
<p>I think your problem could have been that you didn’t maintain enough focus on yourself. I heard a lot of info about your father and your internet advertising thing and those started taking up my attention when I should have been focusing on you. Also, you could have whipped the optional info part into a third essay. Otherwise you seem like a pretty cool guy, good luck.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, volodia, you’re not the only one who’s feeling that way. It’s hard to come to terms, but just know that you’re an intelligent and hard-working person, and if you don’t let setbacks get to you, you can excel in any environment. I wish you luck through your ‘recovery’; I’m struggling through mine.</p>