The "well-rounded" myth goes like this: Stanford wants you to be well rounded, so it's best to perform excellently in all areas. I am not a de jure international student since I hold a US passport. I get surprised looks from people when I tell them my major. Uncategorized. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. There are a ton of other IAP trips though through various MIT departments if you look for them. I personally participated in each one of these while in high school. If you want, you can also initiate your own language-study trip since theres a ton of external organizations that conduct those as well. 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. Indeed, the school would love to see you talk not just about the humanities, but also how your expertise in the humanities uses areas such as computer science or math to help refine your analysis. Strong entrepreneurship focus, right next to Babson (#1 college of entrepreneurship). If you're still in your freshman, sophomore, or junior year of high school, plan to take some advanced classes to up your GPA. 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. When you say a school is "good in the humanities," you still can't take every single class that the school offers. You'll need to be disciplined and work hard to compete with the other applicants. Show that your academic curiosity intersects with your passions. Huh?? Then this section is for you! 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. You'll submit your MIT application essays along with an activities list and a self-reported coursework form as Part 2 of your MIT application, regardless of whether you're applying for the early action deadline or the regular admission deadline. I agree that there's not really a way to guarantee or make it very likely to get into MIT. People with far less are can be accepted, just because they happen to have a specific personality. Compete in many competitions - MIT demographics show that 10 to 12% of their approved petitions are from people that have some sort of achievement (ISEF, AIME, USPHO, IBO, etc.). We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. If you're fast and have good hand-eye coordination, consider baseball. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? To recap, do the USAMO series if you do really well on math tests such as SAT/ACT Math. Equally, my other true love is History. Describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). With his intelligence, he could have easily swept the US News top 50 if he'd put even a modicum of diligence into his schoolwork. 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? 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. 2.5% of Olin alumni ends up founding a startup, in comparison MIT has 0.5% ish. In the end, he earned Ds in English and Cs in Physics (which he was otherwise great in). 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. Japan this January I did without MIT assistance (MIT doesnt have an IAP program in Japan), so that one was a little bit different. I promise I will stop philosophizing (aka. My kids went on to score 770s and 800s on their SAT World History exams and many of them are anticipating a really good score in the upcoming AP exams next month. Thanks! 07-22-2010 at 7:33 pm. Fred is co-founder of PrepScholar. Also, be sure to play to your strengths: if you're more dexterous than strong, you might want to choose squash, for example. Your spike doesn't need to be related to STEM, but you should still be strong in quantitative subjects as a whole. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. MIT is characterized as drinking from a firehose, and that is equally true for all majors. The 25th percentile SAT/ACT score of admitted students is as high as 1420 on the SAT or 32 on the ACT. It is no easier to be admitted as a prospective English or management major than as a prospective chemistry or electrical engineering major.</p> <p>Although MIT has excellent programs in many humanities and social science disciplines, prospective students in these fields should be aware that MIT's . Its ultra selective and if you want MIT be prepared to lock yourself in your room and study, study, study. You'll need to answer four short prompts (each answer should be, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, what MIT is looking for in its students from the university's website, how to ace your MIT essays in our in-depth article on the topic, Check out our in-depth guide on how to apply to MIT, Read our in-depth guide on these five short answer questions to know exactly what to do. 1211. He got one B and it was in freshman English, otherwise took the hardest STEM classes and laid off the challenging Humanities courses in our school. 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. The first truth is that Stanford is, first and foremost, an academic institution, so you need to have spectacular academics to get in. Two letters of recommendation, one from a math or science teacher and one from a humanities, social science, or language teacher, Your high school transcript, though are no specific coursework requirements for MIT applicants. To be accepted, you need to be one, too. For example, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (21F! 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. The Burchard Scholars program identifies a group of students strongly interested in the humanities and connects them with the humanities faculty and visiting scholars and speakers for speaker dinner series and other events. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. 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. Not to mention that dilly-dallying in a big number of areas will make you look like a dilettante. On the other hand, Physics and Informatics have a lot of hands-on sections that require a ton of resourcefulness and novel problem solving. Your essays are the best opportunity to show off your skills and your unique interests. Of course, it is a very small school with only 300+ people and most of them are tech oriented. Needless to say, he'll fit right in at MIT next year. But not all spikes need to be in explicitly ranked STEM fields. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Biology requires the most memorization. Awesome. 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. Of course, with so much to offer, MIT isn't easy to get into. 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. However, prior to coming to MIT, I had never liv, filling out the app. Im part of the MIT Model United Nations team (serving as the 09-10 president for the group) again, a very humanities activity, you probably would agree. For the AP exams, aim for a 5 in each of these fields. 1113213211. 13112221. Assuming you are truly interested, it will help your application if you mention an aspiration to use some amount of engineering in your future studies. These students might instead be found writing their own computer programs for months at a time or working on a science experiment for weeks. Ive always been a LEETLE worried about the whole humanities problem at MIT (its so true, all of my friends tell me, but isnt MIT for NERDS?) That I was accepted, and that I spent tremendous energy thinking about Stanford, means my advice can (hopefully!) 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. Even more to your advantage, I personally got into Stanford following this path, so I will have much more refined strategies for you here, including naming specific programs to try. On the one hand, Harvard has a smaller percentage of its applicants that get in (about 5% vs 7%). Earn at least an A- in all your classes. I dont understand he..he.. sounding like an old man) in my entries soon. Just another site is it easier to get into mit for humanities . That means earning an A or A+ in every one of your STEM courses, with only the very occasional A-. 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. Do you enjoy the culture? Qualitatively, the project should be as good as or better than a ranking within the top 1,000 on the Math Olympiad. I just got accepted to an US-Japan Student Conference where selected American university students meet with similarly selected Japanese counterparts to discuss many global social, environmental, and political topics in Japan this summer. You can't apply directly to the ISEF. 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. Don't expect your humanities classes to be easy either: there is plenty of reading, writing, and research in the upper-level courses to keep you occupied. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. is it easier to get into mit for humanitiesno credit check homes for rent in tucker, ga. at Edisto Beach. We can help. 1211 < one 2 one 1, Oops I accidentally commented out what I wanted to say. Chemistry is a happy mixture of using logic to solve problems and memorizing a moderate list of information to help solve those problems. Didn't have too many ECs, but that's mostly because robotics takes up so much time and runs for most of the year. For one, it's the oldest of the high school subject Olympiads, and it was the subject of Cold War tensions between the US and USSR. From many personal surveys, I have found that even well-researched students and parents fall prey to this myth. Don't just take my word for it, thoughyou can Google it yourself. 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. MIT requires that you answer a few short questions, rather than write one long essay. (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. Word. You can definitely get these scores if you put your mind to it. Ha! This post I think made me sure of my decision to go to MIT. In the end, make sure that you're putting forward your absolute best Stanford application possible! How did you manage the situation. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. Don't strive for above average at a lot of thingsbe excellent at one. Currently, MIT's acceptance rate is 4.1%, which means it only accepts around 4 applicants for every 100 people that apply. You can see the answer and a full explanation at AoPS Online. MIT doesn't want to admit students who will be content to take their expensive diploma and sit at home doing nothing with it. The hands-on portions of both Chemistry and Biology require you to be good at following memorized procedures. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. Many students who are strong in STEM want to focus on only what they're interested in at that moment. A 4.1% acceptance rate means that MIT is extremely competitive to get into. I took 14 exams (2 soph, 6 junior, 6 senior). Of course a few with 5's on math AP calculus place out of 1 semester of calculus. Under this myth, you should focus all your time on your weakest area to eliminate it and become as well rounded as possible. What's unique about the ISEF, though, is that it's the premier science fair in the United States. After all, if you were trying out for the football team, the coaches wouldn't measure your skills in baseball, right? 11131221133112132113212221 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.". What exactly constitutes humanities? ^ If you have any better way of writing about humanities at MIT without using personal examples, be my guest. I dont have to actually major in it in college). Our HYPS acceptance rates are 6x our MIT one, Not exactly hard to tell which school you're talking about, but other privates have it easier. What does a winning ISEF project look like? 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! Just curious. 13211311123113112211 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. It doesn't matter if you apply regular or early. Not sure what else you mean by high school life, it's been pretty chill, I've enjoyed myself. To me, humanities is everything thats not biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and math. Ranking in the top 100 for the ISEF would definitely qualify as a spike for you. If you're looking for test-prep tips, take a look at our expert guides to SAT prep and ACT prep. There are lots of writers out there giving admissions advice without any personal experience. In other words, aim for that high seat in your school orchestra. (lets face it as great as Harvard is, you cant possibly take 1,000+ of their stellar humanities classes in 8 semesters. Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Stanford is all about engineering, and they would love to see you build something of your own! A few dozen hours of volunteering is fine. 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. Whats with the counting? Great post, Chris. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. MIT has its own application. If this sounds like you, read on to learn how the Regeneron ISEF could be a great choice for your STEM spike. One question that people always ask me is, "Chris, are you an international student?" Following from what was pointed out in number 312211 above MIT has more than enough awesome humanities classes for you to easily fill up your eight semesters here. 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). A Comprehensive Guide. MIT students are high-achievers. Currently, MIT's acceptance rate is 4.1%, which means it only accepts around 4 applicants for every 100 people that apply. 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. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. Yay! You'll need excellent grades, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation to even be considered. This was also around the time that I had just moved into DPhiE and all my . 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. In fact, I myself during my early years of high school believed in this horrible assumption, even though I'd already done hundreds of hours of research at that point. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. Aiming for a top score? 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. Cultivate relationships with your teachers. 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. Here's a sample AMC 12 Problem. 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. Remember that the less prestigious a competition or field is, the higher you have to rank in it to be afforded the same credit. 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. THIS, and the same applies to other selective schools (HYPS, ivies, top LAC's etc. A Comprehensive Guide. They're not interested in accolades (though they certainly earn them)they're motivated by discovery and intellectual stimulation more than recognition. People with international awards are often rejected. This does, of course, entail the catch that just slapping on humanities classes because you figure it'll look good. Unfortunately, an overly reactionary response to the above generates the worst myth. Using these rules to your advantage will greatly increase your chances of getting in. :), Since coming to MIT, Ive channeled my love of history by teaching a 6-week AP World History course to eight high school kids through the ESP Junction program last summer. Stanford is probably the best bet despite its low admission rate followed by Harvard and then MIT. 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. 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. Source: Was deferred EA, and saying this makes me feel better about myself. Your test-prep strategy will center around the fact that the SAT/ACT is an analytical test. After all, Stanford is engineering tilted! In all other areas, it suffices to be in the 99th or even 90th percentile. For a correct assessment of the difficulty it takes to get into MIT, do a quick Google search and you'll see that the chance of MIT having a double digit acceptance rate is lower than MIT acceptance rate going into the negatives so they'll start kicking out current students. Many students are strong in STEM but aren't exceptional when it comes to solving timed problems. To complete the MIT application you'll need to submit: The MIT Early Action deadline is November 1. SAT/ACT prep is one of the most time-efficient ways to raise your score and thus your chances of admission. 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. Applicants are notified of their status in mid-December. My assigned conference topic is Health and Modern Technology, which still relates to what I study. If your application is strong, but not super-strong, applying . Follow these tips for how to get into MIT by making sure your application stands out from the crowd. Think outside the box. A 4.1% acceptance rate means that MIT is extremely competitive to get into. Past behavior is a predictor of future behavior. Students whose forte isn't engineering should know that Stanford is welcoming of interdisciplinary study. All it requires is mastering baseline content of math and understanding the highest-gain SAT Math strategies. ), 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. Then check out our college admissions and test-prep guide designed specially for students like you! If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission. To learn more about working on your spike for college, check out our guide on how to get into the Ivy League (search for "Part 2" and scroll down to #4). is it easier to get into mit for humanities. Think about it: if you break a bone, you want to see a doctor who's great at resetting bones, right? Let's take a closer look at what scores you need to get into MIT. The average ACT score for a Stanford student is 33; thus, Stanford considers this score (or higher) stellar. Then, at the end of the day, you end up with a mythical optimal application that proves you're (nearly) equally great at everything. Despite this clear STEM tilt, Stanford is certainly not a STEM-only school (which other top-ranked schools such as MIT, Caltech, and Carnegie Mellon essentially are). Do you plan on majoring in a humanities or similar subject? MIT places a high value on having students with quirks and unique passions, not just high test scores.