Run for student council and become the treasurer. In either case, I hardly see the constructiveness of your comment at all. (for the record, 21F receives the highest course evaluation scores, teehee). 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. Conversely, if you're above the SAT/ACT Math threshold, you definitely will benefit from taking the USAMO series, even if it isn't your spike. (minus tax). There's nothing to set you apart. (fact: accidentally typed a t after your name and quickly backspaced that would have been awkward), Its relieving to know that it is possible to do all the things youre interested in. Sports teams will take up a ton of time, though, so check that you're well positioned and able to handle the time commitment before making any decisions. Instead of trying to lead twenty different committees, pick the one that's the most special to you and give it everything you have. These non-academic factors (often known under the umbrella term "extracurriculars") include participation in clubs or sports and a dedication to helping others. Wondering what your chances of getting into an Ivy Leave or Ivy League caliber school is? So if your focus is outside STEM, you should be the best you can be in that area and, if possible, try to tie that work into some potential interdisciplinary work with STEM. We've said it already and we'll say it again: MIT likes unique applicants. 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. , Lillian successfully forecasted 2020 crop yields for every country within Africa. To be accepted, you need to be one, too. =p I guess I have interests in too many areas=p, 1 Instead, you have to start out first in a regional science fair. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. (In fact, those phrases are the two biggest myths about admissions here!) Most importantly, though, hundreds of thousands of the most mathematically strong students participate in it, making a top ranking really impressive. Don't try to be great at everypick one (or two) activities and pursue it relentlessly. Which is easier to get into MIT or Harvard? 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. Here's a sample AMC 12 Problem. Posted by ; words for deep love in other languages; I hope the rest of you will similarly find this useful. 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. Stanford cares about extracurriculars, too, and doing well in just one area of school (or even all of school) isn't enough. Since few high school students have a good overview of the academic science literature, it's important for any student to have a professional academic scientist or engineer as their mentor. Edit: You also need a 700+ math sat and 650+ English or else its basically a guaranteed rejection. 21L also receives some of the highest course evaluation scores at MIT, if youre curious. Todays availability of open-source tutorials, software and datasets opens the doors for anyone to learn at their own pace. Lilian worked on her project at her own desk and says others can do the same. The mythical implication here is that the "Stanford scorecard" grades you based on your weakest area, so you want to eliminate all weaknesses. I firmly believe that being great quantitatively correlates with being smart in general. 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. 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. To me, Stanford was one of the top two schools I was interested in, so I took the application very seriously. (I took the equivalent of Japanese 4 there). HA, MIT is still the place I want to be. Because so many people prep for the Math Olympiad, the field has changed so that a good part of doing well on it is having tons of practice so you'll know immediately which equations you need to pull out when you see a particular mathematical expression. Think of it like this: whereas winning your high school's local science fair is like winning a 100-meter dash in your town, winning the ISEF is like winning the 100-meter dash in the Olympics. If you're wondering how many times you can (or should!) The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. MIT is characterized as drinking from a firehose, and that is equally true for all majors. 21 < two 1s . Here's an excerpt from the profile of the 2020 1st place winner: "In her research project, recently featured inBloomberg, Lillian built a simple tool to investigate how well harvests would do in the next season. Stanford is all about engineering, and they would love to see you build something of your own! Then, at the end of the day, you end up with a mythical optimal application that proves you're (nearly) equally great at everything. In these other competitions, I'd say that qualifying for the top 20-40 will make the competition a spike for you in the eyes of Stanford. This spike will be good for you if your SAT Math score is 760 or above (or your ACT Math score is 35 or above). Because so many educated people believe it, and because it has the potential to steer you wrong, I personally think that this myth is the most damaging of any. I never did anything for college, just pursued whatever seemed fun. The best way to convince MIT that you'll do this while there? Usually, spikes are much easier if done in a field with natural talent and that you thoroughly enjoy. Once you have a competition or field in mind, it's useful to evaluate how prestigious it is. You don't just need great grades to get into MITyou need great test scores, too. 13211311123113112211 Tell us about a significant challenge youve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didnt go according to plan. Your application will stand out even more if you take those interests and apply them to academic pursuits. Besides that I also do quiz bowl, track, theater production, and assorted math/cs competitions. Awesome. Myth 2 is that you should be well rounded and great (but not necessarily excellent) in every field. mikayla nogueira tiktok net worth. Answer (1 of 4): If your application is super-strong, you will get in. 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. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community. Besides highlighting how remote sensing is an effective way to fill the gaps in the agriculture industry during COVID-19, especially when farmers and scouts cannot be on the ground to measure local crop environments, Lillians project also stands to reassure the next generation of young scientists that research doesnt always have to be done in a lab, but can be done from home. This said, I want to point out some other reasons why I feel like if you are a strong humanities student, it may even be better for you to come to MIT rather than another traditional humanities school. Many people have asked me why afterwards and whether I seriously thought that MIT was the best choice for me (they love to say, disdainfully, isnt MIT a school for nerds?). Studying satellite images and data from theDescartes Labs, Lillian successfully forecasted 2020 crop yields for every country within Africa. However, MIT has taught me that I cant rely on these things forever. 11131221133112132113212221 What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? I'm not saying this to brag; I'm just letting you know that I have some unique qualifications that allow me to help you the most. Kevin was intensely bright, would score at the top of intelligence tests, and was into battle bots. All the money donated to Collegeboard!! If you want to be one of the few students accepted into MIT every year, you'll need to make sure your application is up to snuff. After all, if you were trying out for the football team, the coaches wouldn't measure your skills in baseball, right? AP US History was not enough to quench my insatiable thirst for history I did AP Euro History and AP World History via self-study and proceeded to get 5s in all three subjects. In fact, the 25th percentile score for the school is a 35 . Though Cornell and Berkeley are not the same as Stanford, they are both very highly ranked colleges with a slight engineering tilt. Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. For the awards from the Foreign Language department, what languages are eligible for those? If you havent noticed already. You can do this yourself or take advantage of our online SAT/ACT prep program, which will automatically identify these weaknesses for you. The point is that you should aim to develop one area in which you're super strong. and Im still enjoying every moment of my humanities education at MIT. Using these rules to your advantage will greatly increase your chances of getting in. Great post, Chris. Lets hear more from Lillian below. If your scores are below these numbers, the most effective step you can take to raise your chances of admission is to study more for the SAT/ACT since the primary reason Stanford will reject you is based on scores alone. People with far less are can be accepted, just because they happen to have a specific personality. I have priority to get into the oversubscribed Course 17 (Political Science) offerings. I think one thing that cannot be overstated is kindness. In fact, over-bashing this first myth leads to the second myth below, which is even more insidious than the first. MIT has a small humanities program, but what we have are excellent. All rights reserved. Do research (ISEF at the very least) and do meaningful community service that matters to you. Is it easier to get into MIT for humanities? Our guide lists hundreds of extracurriculars, which you can use to brainstorm how you can build a diversified base. With the USAMO, doing well on SAT/ACT Math is a good predictor of performance; being fast and being good on tests is important. Think outside the box. =p. When it comes to the students that get into MIT, the average SAT and ACT scores are incredibly high. If you were doing original research in cancer which no one has done before and in which there are no established answers, then what do you do in that case? If you're looking for test-prep tips, take a look at our expert guides to SAT prep and ACT prep. Check out our complete guide to Ivy League acceptance rates. 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. ), except MIT is simply more STEM-oriented than the other ones. This is where you really get to show off your STEM skills. Furthermore, Stanford is looking for students who will succeed in the future. 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. Maybe teaching is your calling instead. I personally participated in each one of these while in high school. Stanford follows certain rules when it comes to admissions. In reality, admitting applicants based only on academics leads to an uninteresting community. Applicants are notified of their status in mid-March. 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. Some of the key factors to winning include being innovative and original. Don't just take my word for it, thoughyou can Google it yourself. Don't wait until the last minute to write your MIT essaysstart them with plenty of time so that you can revise and receive feedback. Theres like a general award thats given to any foreign language student that has demonstrated significant ability, so I think all languages are eligible for that. If you can solve this without any issues, then you'd be a strong candidate for a math competition: Three real numbers in the interval [0, 1] are chosen independently and at random. The hands-on portions of both Chemistry and Biology require you to be good at following memorized procedures. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? Get started with our complete guide to Stanford University and then read our best tips on how to write great Stanford essays, including a stand-out roommate essay. Question. Let's call him Kevin. Just like the GPA, the average scores are amongst the highest of any school in the United States. (let's face it - as "great" as Harvard is, you can't possibly take 1,000+ of their stellar humanities classes in 8 semesters. This second mythand by far the biggest and most harmful mythis that Stanford cares about students being well rounded in the sense that they should be equally excellent in all areas. However, if you think about it in the other direction being a great humanities student here just means that you have more room to shine and stand out amongst your peers. 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. On the side, I learned a ton about the genetics of C. elegans, an organism I didnt even know existed before coming to MIT. For your Stanford spike, you could brainstorm an amazing discovery, such as a biological process, an electrical engineering discovery, or something else entirely. Not for grades and tests, those should come easily to MIT kids, but for national competitions like USAMO and IMO. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? I feel like this is something that I can never emphasize enough the awesomeness of MIT UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program). Academic competitions were second nature to him and he was a truly passionate STEM student. sounding like an old man) in my entries soon. The mythical implication here is that the "Stanford scorecard" grades you based on your weakest area, so you want to eliminate all weaknesses. My favorite class by far in high school was AP English Literature. Remember, MIT wants applicants that are interesting as people. I am not a de jure international student since I hold a US passport. As such, scoring substantially below a perfect score on the SAT/ACT does actually signal to Stanford a lack of understanding of some rather standard areas of math. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. =p. We can help. Japan this January I did without MIT assistance (MIT doesnt have an IAP program in Japan), so that one was a little bit different. Of course, with so much to offer, MIT isn't easy to get into. What exactly constitutes humanities? Part of this, however, is a self-fulfilling prophecy: because good engineering-type undergrads come here, it becomes an ideal place for similarly minded students. In reality, the above truth of multi-area admissions is actually well known to people who have done even a minimal amount of college admissions research. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. Strong entrepreneurship focus, right next to Babson (#1 college of entrepreneurship). Your spike makes you a strong candidate because it's unlikely that many other students will have the exact same spike as you. 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. From many personal surveys, I have found that even well-researched students and parents fall prey to this myth. 1211. ), but I really have no better way to begin this so here goes: I love the humanities. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. But not all spikes need to be in explicitly ranked STEM fields. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'c8b8e502-c285-4182-9589-5f8ae230e78a', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Based on the above information, your first goal should be to ensure you have strong academics. I definitely fall into the category of people who never want to see another literary analysis prompt again, but Im still looking at some of the other humanities courses.