hello! as someone who's been taken as a joke his entire life I come to you with this and i ask if people have advice on how i should approach applying to MIT.

MIT (well infact almost all the top ivies) have been dreams of mine since I was 12.

at first i was really disheartened when my counsellor said i have no good ecas to actually go into mit or any ivy (no olympiads, top level research what not)

but recently ive been thinking about projects which ive been involved in since i was 12
as a kid i was huge into minecraft (specifically bedrock) and i realised that there wasn't really a lunar client for bedrock, so i decided to make one with a few others.

although I managed the development team, made the launcher and marketed the product and laid the foundation to it, i wasn't really the one who coded the actual mods itself in game, i simply designed how it would look and how it would behave.
for people curious about metrics at the time when I was still actively managing it it hit around 100k users with almost a million cumulative views on videos where people reviewed the client. right now the project makes around 6k per month usd through patreon (of course i stepped away from the project so i dont rlly make that money, i simply laid the foundation for it)

im wondering how i should really include this in my application. it's been like 2-3 years since i was apart of it and have probably lost the code for the first ever launcher made for it, so making a maker portfolio video is going to be challenging.

do you guys recommend creating a maker portfolio if i do somehow get the launcher? would it hurt my application if i dont?

please give me advice. this is not a chance me.

hello! just to clarify: i started to become involved in these activities before high school yes; but, I made the most progress and biggest impact during my first year of hs (i believe that's freshman in the states?)

freshman was when we released the product, and it exploded, i worked on it for the years before then.

even right now, im still involved w the project but now less development wise, more involved marketing and community lead wise

Hi!

I am an incoming freshman at Columbia University, and I plan to transfer to MIT for sophomore. What are the odds, like is it possible in reality?

I have heard that the elite colleges like MIT, Columbia and other Ivies usually accept transfer students from state universities, community colleges or other low-ranked colleges that don't offer much opportunities. Is this really true?

Thx in advance!

Acceptance rates for EA are slightly higher than that of RD, but is it true that there’s no advantage of applying EA over RD? What about “building a class” advantages that might apply? Could there be some type of benefit to being a non-CS non-physics non-math but still stem applicant?

Hi everyone, I am an international student repeating my final year of high school as I failed it. I am also aged 20 as I had few gap years due to my bad mental health (depression and anxiety) which currently I am under treatment.

Has ever any student like me ever got into MIT despite their health or academic conditions?

Hi everyone. I’m an international student and I’m feeling pretty lost about what the smartest path forward is, so I’d really appreciate honest advice from people who understand MIT admissions.

I recently finished high school and will be starting university in January. Because of the timing, if I apply to MIT as a first-year applicant, I would have to wait until the next admission cycle, rather than starting university this January and immediately moving on to MIT. You can dm me if you want to.

Here’s my situation:

• I have essentially perfect grades in my national high-school/board examinations.
• However, I was not the #1 student in my class.
• I currently have almost no extracurriculars.
• I have an IELTS score of 7.5 overall.
• I’m taking the SAT in October and am aiming for 1550+.
• I’ve started working through Harvard CS50x, but I haven’t completed it yet.
• Other than that, I honestly don't have much of a portfolio right now.

This is where I'm confused.

Option 1: Apply to MIT as a first-year applicant

I could spend the next few months preparing my application and apply normally.

My concern is that my academic grades/test scores might be strong, but my extracurricular profile is extremely weak compared with many MIT applicants. I also don't want to spend the next few months desperately trying to manufacture random extracurriculars just to make my application look better.

Would applying anyway be worthwhile, or would I essentially be wasting an application?

Option 2: Start university and try to transfer to MIT

I could enroll in a university in January, work extremely hard for a year, get a very high GPA, complete meaningful CS projects, find research opportunities, participate in competitions/activities, etc., and then apply as a transfer student.

Option 3: Forget about transferring and build toward a top PhD program

Another thought I've had is to attend a decent/mid-tier American university, try to become one of the strongest students there, get involved in serious research, build relationships with professors, publish/work on substantial projects, and eventually apply for a top PhD program.

In other words, rather than obsessing over getting into MIT as an undergraduate, I could use the next four years to build an exceptional research profile and try for MIT/Stanford/etc. for graduate school.

What would you do in my position?

If you were an international student with:

• excellent national exam grades,
• potentially a 1550+ SAT,
• IELTS 7.5,
• essentially no extracurricular profile,
• and a genuine interest in CS,

would you:

A) apply to MIT as a first-year student anyway,
B) start university and seriously pursue an MIT transfer, or
C) forget about MIT undergraduate admissions and focus on becoming an exceptional undergraduate/researcher and eventually applying for a top PhD?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have actually gone through MIT admissions or transferred to highly selective US universities.

Also, if you think I'm approaching this completely wrong, please tell me. I'm looking for honest advice rather than reassurance.

Thanks!

The applicant portal seems to be restricted.

Hi, I am an international student who really wants to study at MIT. Sadly my high school stats aren't that impressive so ill be doing my undergrad from a local college. I wanna hopefully come to MIT for postgrad studies, but unfortunately I would need significant funding. I haven't decided my major yet but it will most likely be Maths or CS.

My first question is how do PostGrad admissions differ from undergrad admissions and what aspects are most important. And secondly what route is more realistic, a funded masters or a phd. Additionally any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for asking but can anyone please clarify?

Can students apply to MIT Early Action and, at the same time, Early Decision to another school?

What does this sentence mean (from the MIT website):

“if you apply to another school that is “single choice”—meaning that you can only apply there during the early period—you may not simultaneously apply to MIT”

The first paragraph below is very clear but the sentence above in the second paragraph is not clear to me.

The MIT website states:

Our Early Action isn’t single-choice, binding, or anything like that. If you choose to apply to MIT during Early Action, we do not place any limits on where else you may apply, nor do we require you to attend if admitted.

However, if you apply to another school during Early Action that does have a restriction, MIT requires that you respect those rules. So for example, if you apply to another school that is “single choice”—meaning that you can only apply there during the early period—you may not simultaneously apply to MIT, and if you’re admitted somewhere “binding,” then even if we admit you, you must go there instead. So choose wisely!

Okay, I completely get this advice and why everyone says it. But if it is all about "being yourself" then what separates someone who gets in from someone who doesn't? Is it about excelling in the specific skill that is unique to you? Even then, some things are just undeniably harder, for example getting an Olympiad medal is just harder and displaying for merit than dancing or whatever. I am not saying you need to do either, just that shouldn't unis be evalvuing for merit?

Also second, this is more unique to me, but what does MIT look for? I am deeply interested in philosophy and some people told me that it's not what MIT looks for, but then getting accepted gets you admitted to the school not a major so I am not sure then. It's less will MIT accept me, and more what does MIT want, so I can decide if I even want MIT.

I had a job at LM this summer (working on high school QUEST programs), but I don't know if I should put it on my application given that it's technically a large-scale corporate weapons company..?

edit: also to add to this, I alr have 7-8 jobs/internships I am putting on the application (90% of my ecs are internships), so I was wondering how many is 'too much' if all of them are valuable to me/i could write a lot about

Title. I know a lot of schools---including MIT---care about depth so my question is, does depth always/only look like achievements and/or impact?

One of my main ECs is an instrument I've been playing for many years. My current high school unfortunately lacks a music department and funding so I can't play in a school orchestra/ensemble. We do have a very small music club (with a paid instructor from outside of school) that I did try but later left because I didn't find myself enjoying it due to the "theme" of the club (sorry, trying to be as vague yet as specific as possible). I have looked at other opportunities outside of my area but transportation is my biggest limitation. As a result, I've only been practicing independently with a private teacher. I often choose pieces that interest me and bring them to my teacher to work on.

I'm a senior in high school (yay last year) who just got done with a summer semester diff eq course (at the local university), and I'm slated to take calc 3 at the local community college this fall. To be clear, because I see a lot of this, I'm not taking the classes for college admission; I just like math lol.

Although having gone so far out of my way to get to the point where I am: I wanted to know if it's potentially worth highlighting at all in my application, if it would actually move the needle at all, should I focus on other things when applying and having it on the report card is enough?

Hey everybody,

As a rising college freshman, I wanted to just share my thoughts about this sub and others similar (which I'm also posting this in). I'm heading to MIT this fall, and was also admitted to 2 other T5s (H, Stanford) and a couple of other T20s. During the college admissions process, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on subreddits like this, but now that it's all over, I've spent some time looking through- and to be honest, I'm absolutely shocked at how some people act.

Firstly: I think it's absolutely ridiculous that someone can take a look at another student's activities list and test scores, which reveals probably 1% about who that person is as a human being, and pretend to accurately predict exactly which schools they'll be admitted to. This is flawed in so many ways.

If you're looking through these subs and developing depressive symptoms because all of these superhumans seem like they have all the research and internships in the world, trust me; schools do NOT look upon these activites any more highly than if you spent that time, I dunno, crocheting or something. Who are they to judge if you prefer crocheting to conducting research? It's all about developing your own profile and how the activity fits into the context of your application.

Which leads into my next point: Context. Everything matters in context. Where you're from and the pool of applicants (which in turn, affects institutional priorities at each school) are the biggest factors, and guess what? You can't control either them one bit.

Secondly: admittedly, I also did once put my info up on Chanceme one time. You know what they said?

>t20 no chance, t50 if you're lucky

>You're delusional, but gl

>😬

My EC list, in order, was:

1. Athletics
2. Athletics
3. Athletics
4. Music
5. Music
6. Music
7. Research
8. Volunteer
9. Hobby
10. Work

And no, I was not a recruited athlete. Since I had nothing major-related, I suppose people like to assume that I was an auto-reject from my dream colleges.

The truth is, people develop such a narrow field of view regarding what 'looks' like a successful college application, but in truth, everybody spends their time differently, and whatever it is, AOs want to hear about it and how it defines who you are. If you lean into your love for frog-catching better than someone who did research at a big uni, you're in a better spot than they are.

In my case, I just really leaned into the things I loved - music and sport were my two big "things" in high school. I got really good at what I loved, and I got involved in my community through these things too. I made sure to let my passion shine through in my essays, and I'm sure that went a long way.

The takeaway I want to make clear is this: As a human being, you are infinitely more multifaceted as a human being than 10 extracurricular activities and a couple test scores define you as. There is nothing within these metrics that could possibly predict T20 school admissions. So I advise you all: Stay off of these subreddits, don't listen to a single soul, and discover who you are.

Cheers. Feel free to reach out with questions if you have any

P.s. SUPER SHORT GUIDE ON GETTING INTO T5 (in order of importance)

1. Have good grades and scores
2. Have good grades and scores
3. Have good grades and scores
4. Do what you love, show others what you love, teach others what you love, show your love in your writing, get good at writing so can show your love for what you love. In other words: PASSION gets you into your dream school.

I am from India and I am planning to give the IOAA olympiad. I know there are levels to it starting with NSEA. I am in 11th grade right now. I want to pursue Chemical Engineering but I just can not give NSEC, it's way harder than NSEA and IF, ONLY IF, I go to the final stage, I would have to give a PRACTICAL EXAMM, which freaks me out because I wouldn't have a lab or something to prepare for that exam.

Please help me guys, I really want to know it I should do this or not.

Hello everybody , I am from Pakistan and I have a dream to complete my PhD from MIT , I have just completed my freshman year now and moving towards sophomore year . I am persuing Electrical engineering right now which will be completed by 2029 what things I should do side by side and where should I focus on to get admission in PhD In MIT

Anyone can guide me about

Portfolio

No of research

And all things which will make high chances for getting admision.

I messed up and received a D in precalculus last year, there were no extenuating circumstances and I failed because I didn't think it was a big deal, barely studied, and was absent alot. I retook the class and got the grade replaced to an A, and my D got excluded from my cumulative college GPA.

But the D will be living on my college transcript forever. I got all As on Calc I & II, a 5 on AP Calc BC, and a 760 Math on the SAT. Highest math course I'll be taking will be Linear Algebra. No saving atp? Not even STS?

Thank you, appreciate any replies!

PS: Not a chance me!! just wondering if I'm a lost cause

Hey everyone! I have a couple of questions, and I am aware I am asking them late, but I would still like to know :) I'm a senior at a high school and am doing pretty well in my class. My question is, I always see all of these people getting admitted into MIT being absolutely incredible and amazing, and it leaves me in awe. But if those opportunities were hard to find where you are currently or basically impossible, how can you make yourself stand out?

All I really have, for example, is two internships which were hard to come by; they are both heavy on engineering, but I missed my opportunity to have an E.C. in school that was engineering-related because I moved schools. How could one make their application stronger if there are limited ways? And how can I provide admissions officers with the information in a way that isn't searching for pity or excuses but truly just informative?

Thank you! Any feedback is appreciated :)

I am currently a sophomore majoring in Applied Mathematics at Columbia and plan to pursue a PhD in the future, likely in Operations Research, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or Machine Learning.

My long-term goal is to work in quantitative research at a top-tier hedge fund rather than remaining in academia. Which option would you recommend?

My current understanding is as follows:

* MIT’s strengths lie in its theoretical training, research intensity, interdisciplinary resources, and overall academic reputation;

* Columbia’s strengths lie in its New York location, closer ties to the finance and quant industries, and greater convenience for internships and networking.

If the ultimate goal is clearly to enter quantitative research rather than pursue a tenure-track academic career, do MIT’s research training and brand prestige outweigh Columbia’s geographical and industry advantages?

I would also appreciate insights from anyone familiar with the MIT ORC, Columbia IEOR, or Applied Mathematics PhD programs regarding program culture, research pressure, mentorship, quant placement, and the actual employment experiences of international students. Thanks!

Hi. My son has MIT as his dream college. I’d like him to have a shot at this with the few things he has going for him. Asking for genuine and honest recommendations for a good college guide/counselor if anyone knows of anyone. We’re practical but also hopeful. Thank you.

My son is currently a freshman in high school. He wanted to accelerate to precalculus honors in freshman year so he can take multivariate calculus in junior year at a neighborhood community college. His application will be anchored on math, as that’s what he wants to do. His fellow math buddies who are similar level motivated as him in math have all accelerated to pre calculus honors. However my son did not clear the placement test to accelerate and will
End up doing algebra 2 honors in 9th grade. He is a AIME qualified, so it’s not like is not good at math, maybe had a bad day. We plan to accelerate externally(outside of school). Given a few other kids from his school will also apply to MIT and would have completed through school calculus BC in 10th grade, does external acceleration still work ?