I got a brochure from MIT called "You and your fit with MIT" that outlined what they were looking for, and the one I took to heart the most was "Be kind". MIT's early application deadline is November 1 and students are notified in mid-December. The MIT essay prompts are designed specifically to get to the heart of what makes youwell, you. Ive strengthened my Japanese and Spanish ability, leading to two utterly phenomenal IAPs in those aforementioned countries. It's important to see the benefits to your STEM education that are possible if you get into Stanford, and to convince yourself it's worthwhile to put in the grind that's often necessary to get good grades in school. Over this past weekend, many prefroshies asked me a very interesting question and I believe that this warrants a more drawn-out response from me. In short, it helps set you apart and makes you unique. When you say a school is "good in the humanities," you still can't take every single class that the school offers. MIT students don't fit into any particular profile, except that they're all highly, highly talented. With 3.7 million high school seniors a year, this is about 37,000 studentsmany times larger than the roughly 2,300 students Stanford accepts each year. You should also be taking the most difficult STEM courses offered at your school. Again, I hate doing the been there-done that talk (really! Fred is co-founder of PrepScholar. After you choose your field and mentor, having the tenacity and focus to put your creative thinking toward the problem is key. If you're looking for test-prep tips, take a look at our expert guides to SAT prep and ACT prep. If you're above these, you can assume your test scores are sufficient. It's OK to be lopsidedin fact, it's even desirable! (The school does provide other admissions statistics like average test scores.) Even from my school you need an absolute 4.0. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews. 5. In other words, 75% of admitted students score above a 1510 on the SAT. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community. For your Stanford application, it's better to rank in the top 1,000 of one of the most prestigious competitions than it is to rank in the top 100 of a competition of middling prestige. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. MIT students are genuinely excited to learn and innovate. Lets hear more from Lillian below. For me, I started out in a C. elegans lab with absolutely zero biology lab experience aside from looking at pretty slides and dissecting rats in AP Bio. But all these schools follow the same pattern of being highly ranked and having a slight engineering tiltand all have a common admissions pattern. College Info. Think outside the box. Wondering what your chances of getting into an Ivy Leave or Ivy League caliber school is? MIT has a very low acceptance rate, so it's important that your application is as strong as possible to be considered. When it comes to prestigious STEM competitions, two of them take the cake: the US Math Olympiad (which I'll refer to as the "USAMO series") and the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF). Fred graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor's in Mathematics and a PhD in Economics. The next two sections will give you advice based on which subjects you plan to study in college. The SAT/ACT is not competitive mathdoing well on this section doesn't mean you're nationally ranked in math. Your test-prep strategy will center around the fact that the SAT/ACT is an analytical test. One of the most natural environments to be ranked in is a competition. Or you could build something new, such as a computer program, a cool robot, or a fun electronics project. Think top-100 football player in California, or top-1,000 math competition student in the United States. Competitions provide a direct way for admissions officers to see how good you are, but you can also do other tasks that qualitatively seem similarly accomplished. You'll see that Stanford is in the US News' top-ranked engineering schools, while Harvard and Yale are nowhere near the top 10. Describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). Our guide lists hundreds of extracurriculars, which you can use to brainstorm how you can build a diversified base. This post I think made me sure of my decision to go to MIT. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. eegyvudluk pootoogook / stacey and dave forsey net worth / is it easier to get into mit for humanities. MIT is characterized as drinking from a firehose, and that is equally true for all majors. Because if you're above these thresholds, your test score won't reveal your true math skills, which are likely off the SAT/ACT charts; you need to upgrade to the USAMO series to show off all your math skills, even if you don't perform amazingly. For example, if you started a theater club that has an impressive number of audience members or consistently do journal-quality academic research on Victorian English literature, you'd be well positioned for your spike. On the other hand, MIT applicants are much more likely to self select. Download it for free now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '688715d6-bf92-47d7-8526-4c53d1f5fe7d', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '03a85984-6dfd-4a19-93c8-5f46091f5e2b', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. In all other areas, it suffices to be in the 99th or even 90th percentile. For the awards from the Foreign Language department, what languages are eligible for those? With the USAMO, doing well on SAT/ACT Math is a good predictor of performance; being fast and being good on tests is important. Its ridiculously difficult but worth it for MIT. Of course, rigorous academics are important--I took nearly the hardest course load possible at my school, but mainly because I wanted to see what I was capable of and see what subjects I liked. and Im still enjoying every moment of my humanities education at MIT. You don't need to be captain of the football team, the co-chair of the debate team, and the first chair violinist in the school orchestra to get into MIT. In this section, I'm going to tell you the critical three truths and two myths you absolutely need to know in order to get into Stanford. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations? The photo-heavy blogs take forever!! If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission. If you're naturally talented at STEM and are taking the hardest courses, there's a high probability you'll get great grades; however, you want to turn that high probability into a certainty. I must have spent more than 100 hours explicitly on Stanford admissionsand I ultimately got in: A letter from my admissions officer to me after I was accepted to Stanford discussing the admitted-student weekend details. What is the probability that the chosen numbers are the side lengths of a triangle with positive area? If your application is average or weak, you will not get in. 1211. Now, obviously, the more recognized the competition, the better. ), taking them and getting a 4 or 5 on the AP tests and an A/A- in the class will definitely benefit you in the end. In fact, I am quite sure that any humanities-heavy application that would do well at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton would do equally well, if not better, at Stanford. Your essays are the best opportunity to show off your skills and your unique interests. There are a ton of other IAP trips though through various MIT departments if you look for them. Uncategorized. Using this method, you can find ways to show off your spike outside the set ones above. Menu and widgets. MIT want students who break moldsthey're incredibly intelligent, but they also think outside of the box. To estimate prestige, first look at how many people participatethe more people who participate, the more impressive it'll be on your Stanford application. MIT has a small humanities program, but what we have are excellent. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. If you're not a native speaker and aren't fluent, I suggest you make this a priority, probably through immersion in an English-speaking country.). The best way to sign up is to ask your high school math teacher. For your Stanford spike, you could brainstorm an amazing discovery, such as a biological process, an electrical engineering discovery, or something else entirely. MIT Yield Rate A college's yield rate is the percentage of applicants who have received an offer of admission and choose to accept it. Stanford cares about far more than just academics, so try to squeeze in some good extracurriculars and volunteer experience. Learn how to nab a perfect 1600 on the SAT or a perfect 36 on the ACT. This is the true purpose of community service: don't pick up trash for hours if you don't grow from it or see why it is important. You should look to get mainly As, with a high few Bs on your transcript. MIT will completely revamp the way that you think about science. The USAMO series is so prestigious that I've known Stanford students whose main spike was placing within the top 1,000 or 2,000 in this competition. Get a score in the 95th percentile or higher on your SAT or ACT. But I did a summer program at MIT, and my brother went to MIT, and I really love the community and the mentality that exist at MIT. First off, here are a few things that you should really ask yourself about MIT, just to begin with: 11. =p. A few dozen hours of volunteering is fine. I personally participated in each one of these while in high school. YayYou are very strongHow is your grade like in MIT? You'll need to answer four short prompts (each answer should be roughly 200 words) on various aspects of your life: a description of your background, what department you're interested in at MIT, what you do for fun, a way that you contribute to your community, and a challenge that you have faced in your life. Think about it: if you break a bone, you want to see a doctor who's great at resetting bones, right? sounding like an old man) in my entries soon. I appreciate your ~4 hours of work on this entry. Also, if you followed the link, youll see that there are also language-specific awards given to students studying French and German. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. I never did anything for college, just pursued whatever seemed fun. If you show that positive contributions are a part of your modus operandi as a student, MIT will feel confident that you'll bring that attitude to its campus, too. I think a lot of people spend so much time growing their brains that they forget to grow their hearts. The mythical implication here is that the "Stanford scorecard" grades you based on your weakest area, so you want to eliminate all weaknesses. Studying satellite images and data from the. This statement, while not MIT's formal mission statement (which is worth reading, too), tells a lot about what MIT is looking for in its applicants. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. Nevertheless, don't forget the fact that Stanford likes baseline diversity. If you're still in your freshman, sophomore, or junior year of high school, plan to take some advanced classes to up your GPA. For example, if you're into religious studies with a focus on the Old Testament, you might talk about how you'd like to use statistical analysis to refine the documentary hypothesis. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? (The only caveat is that you'll need to be reasonably fluent in English. At MIT, you have the opportunity to do original research in almost any field conceivable here with amazing faculty and staff who are the vanguards in their respective fields. How much did your lunch cost? Let's take a closer look at what scores you need to get into MIT. In the sciences, you have the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Informatics (Computer Science) Olympiads. Some of the key factors to winning include being innovative and original. And if MIT is boring you can enjoy in Boston, Although Im not a humanities person per se, I am one of those people that loves lit and history almost as much as math and science and I know that I definitely want to keep exploring history and especially lit on the side even though Ill probably major in something science-y. Ultimately, though, only 1,457 acceptances were extended. This was also around the time that I had just moved into DPhiE and all my . That being said, due to the caliber of students accepted at MIT, we can assume that the average GPA is quite high. The third and final truth is that Stanford would much rather see a candidate who is OK at most things but really great in one specific area. Get good grades in high school, and make sure you're in at least the 50th percentile (for Stanford or whatever school you're applying to) on the SAT/ACT. Japan this January I did without MIT assistance (MIT doesnt have an IAP program in Japan), so that one was a little bit different. Then, at the end of the day, you end up with a mythical optimal application that proves you're (nearly) equally great at everything. You should take care to put enough effort into these subjects so you don't drop down to the middle of the pack. Ive explored diverse subjects across the Architecture, Economics, Political Science, Writing, and Foreign Language departments. However, MIT has taught me that I cant rely on these things forever. As you know, strong test scores are an important part of your Stanford application. Already got some great extracurriculars? MIT is one of the most selective schools in the world. Let's say that you are a smart student - not a genius by any means but have otherwise done some pretty impressive things. I did MITMUNC (our own conference for high schoolers), HNMUN (harvard MUN) and WorldMUN (the hague!) See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Myth 2 is that you should be well rounded and great (but not necessarily excellent) in every field. Being interesting is the name of the ISEF game. Currently, MIT's acceptance rate is 4.1%, which means it only accepts around 4 applicants for every 100 people that apply. Knowing the rules won't guarantee you admission, but you'll have a heck of a better chance than if you were applying in the dark. More than just getting accepted, I actually spent a substantial amount of time thinking about what Stanford was looking for and crafting an application specifically for Stanford. June 29, 2022; alpha asher by jane doe pdf; count philipp von bernstorff net worth . Didn't have too many ECs, but that's mostly because robotics takes up so much time and runs for most of the year. haha. You could discover a new protein with significance to medical research; there wouldn't necessarily be a competition for the discovery, but if the discovery is qualitatively stunning enough, it can count. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. Your spike doesn't need to be related to STEM, but you should still be strong in quantitative subjects as a whole. You should have a strong plan for studying for the SAT or ACT so that you achieve the best score possible. Many students who are strong in STEM want to focus on only what they're interested in at that moment. =p. Consequently, top colleges such as Stanford need to look beyond academic scores to distinguish between these equally high-achieving students. If you want to get a taste of what an easy problem looks like in the USAMO series, just look at the hardest problems on SAT Math or the hardest problems on the (now discontinued) Math Level 2 SAT Subject Test (the hardest problems usually appear last). Im not forcing you to read my blog, so if you think its revolting then by all means, please go do something else that doesnt disgust you. That means earning an A or A+ in every one of your STEM courses, with only the very occasional A-. One of the most important parts of your MIT application is your high school coursework. So if one student were a top-100 young writer and another were a top-100 math competitor, it's likely that the latter would have a slightly better chance of getting into Stanford. After you're above the 50th percentile, get to work on overcoming the first myth (which claims that grades are everything). Not a doctor who's pretty good at setting bones and also pretty good at diagnosing the type of flu you have and pretty good at recommending a diet to keep you healthy. Below are my top four tips for getting into Stanford if you're strong in STEM. Is it easier to get into MIT for humanities? ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? I visited the campus twice before even applying, attended admissions sessions where I asked dozens of questions about what they were looking for, searched online and in bookstores, wrote an entirely separate essay for the Stanford application, and used a separate admissions strategy for Stanford alone. ways. Standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT are a great way to prove how well rounded you are. Whats even more amazing that a sizable number of these labs are willing to take on people with little-to-none experience and take the time to train you to become a valuable intern! MIT requires that you answer a few short questions, rather than write one long essay. Ha! How to Get Into MIT: 5 Expert Admissions Tips, applicants who applied early action had a fairly significant advantage over students who applied at the regular deadline, encouraged (but not required) to submit scores from an English proficiency exam, , rather than write one long essay. For example, you can opt to apply to become a Burchard Scholar (which Paul and I both are). I think its fair to say and I dont think anyone can deny that MIT does have a higher proportion of science freaks and people who rather not see another literary analysis prompt for the rest of their life compared to most leading universities that are not engineering and science-focused. But this entry cleared things up so much! I worked there for six months, learning the valuable ins-and-outs of basic bio research like setting up a PCR, running a gel, and purifying DNA. I was a teeny bit unsure when I left (heck, I asked that EXACT question at CPW), but this definitely turns the scales up in MITs favor. For example, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (21F! What's unique about the ISEF, though, is that it's the premier science fair in the United States. Applicants are notified of their status in mid-December. I got in. The 20+ fields, disciplines, projects, and areas of research at the School represent the most diverse range of scholarship at MIT. On the other hand, Physics and Informatics have a lot of hands-on sections that require a ton of resourcefulness and novel problem solving. Students whose forte isn't engineering should know that Stanford is welcoming of interdisciplinary study. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. Your application can be completely bereft of engineering aspirations, and you can still do well. For example, for enthusiasts of debate-type activities, there's Model UN, Junior State of America, governor's school, mock-trial, and nationwide debate. MIT wants to instill in us the confidence that after we leave the Institvte, we would be able to tackle whatever problems come our way, either through our own ability or with help from teammates. Don't aim to be generically good at a lot of thingsbe hugely, amazingly good at one thing. In reality, admitting applicants based only on academics leads to an uninteresting community. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Ask below and we'll reply! 21 < two 1s What exactly constitutes humanities? It would suck to train hard for IMO to boost your chance of getting into a top school when the pay-off isn't as guaranteed as people like to make it seem. Great post, Chris. Even if your subject of interest is Prussian history, you should be cautious about getting a B in AP Calculus AB, taking the easiest math classes, or getting as "low" as a 650 on the SAT Math section. ), but I really have no better way to begin this so here goes: I love the humanities. The best way to convince MIT that you'll do this while there? Just curious, but how many APs did you take in high school? MIT accepts the following tests, with the given minimum and recommended scores. Again, it doesn't matter if you apply early or not. Ask questions; get answers. I have priority to get into the oversubscribed Course 17 (Political Science) offerings. MIT wants to accept students who are going to accomplish world-changing things, who contribute positively to their communities while in college, and who help other students accomplish great things as well. If your application is strong, but not super-strong, applying . The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Stanford isn't just admitting students with the highest GPAs and the highest SAT/ACT scoresthey want a lot more than that! The first and most naive myth is that Stanford only cares about grades. Of course a few with 5's on math AP calculus place out of 1 semester of calculus. Like most myths, this one results from taking the truth too far. Aiming for a top score? But gaining admission to MIT is easier said than done. Biology requires the most memorization. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. I would find things that I really enjoyed; its like killing two birds with one stone if youre doing something that you enjoy, youre more likely to put your whole heart into it, and if you put your whole heart into something, youre more likely to outperform yourself and be awesome. MIT allows students to apply early action. ps. (lets face it as great as Harvard is, you cant possibly take 1,000+ of their stellar humanities classes in 8 semesters. If you havent noticed already. Basically, superscoring means that MIT will consider your highest section scores across all the SAT test dates you submit. I go to a top prep school, from where T10s are easily attainable for kids with 3.7s just because of our schools reputation for churning out the best and being academically brutal. That being said, the ACT/SAT isn't specialized enough to be your spike. What does a winning ISEF project look like? I agree that there's not really a way to guarantee or make it very likely to get into MIT. We are fun and quirky, elite but not elitist, inventive and artistic, obsessed with numbers, and welcoming to talented people regardless of where they come from.". hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? Many people think that since Stanford is an academic institution, it must care only about academics. For the AP exams, aim for a 5 in each of these fields. Stanford is the top choice of many students whose focuses coincide with what Stanford offers (e.g., a West Coast life or a large research institution with a slight engineering lean). We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. 3113112221232112111312211312113211, As another HASS lover, I think you are awesome for writing this post :D, MIT is a good place to study so people think that students there study 24/7. youll still have to pick and choose). Assume a leadership position in some club that requires public speaking, whether that's debate, Model UN, or something else. But with the ISEF, tenacity and the ability to stick to a project for hundreds or even thousands of hours from start to finish is absolutely crucial. All the money donated to Collegeboard!! Even doing the MIT summer programs, there are still plenty who get deferred or rejected (although that isn't to say it doesn't help your chances). The best resource to train for the USAMO series is Art of Problem Solving. , I question whether I would even be able to find a balanced humanities and science education at MIT.. and psst, hes in one of the photos on that blog I linked to if you cant find him).