That I was accepted, and that I spent tremendous energy thinking about Stanford, means my advice can (hopefully!) Given all of this, I turned down offers to Brown, Columbia (Davis Scholar), and Stanford (all having perceived better humanities programs than MIT does), when decision time came. Want to get into Harvard or your personal top choice college? This post I think made me sure of my decision to go to MIT. I was going to dive in head first, . 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. Thanks for the post! This is why they hit us with insanely difficult psets this is why they give us exams in which we feel like we always have no time to finish this is why our science courses go nearly 2x or 3x faster than state colleges and many Ivies.*. The 20+ fields, disciplines, projects, and areas of research at the School represent the most diverse range of scholarship at MIT. My favorite class by far in high school was AP English Literature. take the SAT, be sure to check out this article. Nothing is guaranteed with this school. I. 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. Form an after-school Spanish study group. We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. 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. Chemistry is a happy mixture of using logic to solve problems and memorizing a moderate list of information to help solve those problems. So I count art as humanities as well. 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. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. Does applying to MIT as a humanities student help you in admissions? To me, Stanford was one of the top two schools I was interested in, so I took the application very seriously. Describe the world you come from (for example, your family, school, community, city, or town). Because these three universities are so prestigious, it's critical to keep in mind the three truths: At the same time, be sure to dispel these two myths about Stanford admissions: Keep in mind that Stanford has a slight STEM (engineering) emphasis. When it comes to the students that get into MIT, the average SAT and ACT scores are incredibly high. Like most myths, this one results from taking the truth too far. As you might imagine, the most well-known, difficult, and participant-heavy competitions are the most prestigious. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. Ive been thinking about Brown vs. MIT for a while, since Humanities has always been just as if not more important than math and science to me. 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? Yaaaay, go MUN!! 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. 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. The photo-heavy blogs take forever!! I came into MIT with a lot of hopes and ideas of what I was going to do. If your strong point is quantitative, then that's a great advantage. But either way, half the stuff I do dont even have to do with my major. 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. Stanford is one of the most difficult universities to get into, as are UC Berkeley and Cornell. For your base diversity of extracurriculars, it helps to focus more on engineering and/or math; it also helps if your spike is in engineering or math. He would literally put all his time into building these robots, often skipping English classes, physics classes, and even sleep to spend time on this intense passion he had. 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. One question that people always ask me is, "Chris, are you an international student?" Using this method, you can find ways to show off your spike outside the set ones above. Starting your MIT application? Your essays are an opportunity to highlight the special facets of your personality. 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. January Scholars in France is selective and you need to have taken past French 4. Ha! is it easier to get into mit for humanities After you're above the 50th percentile, get to work on overcoming the first myth (which claims that grades are everything). If you do submit test scores, you'll need to have extremely high SAT scores to be able to get into MIT. To recap, do the USAMO series if you do really well on math tests such as SAT/ACT Math. 5 Ways to Get Into MIT - wikiHow Yay! 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. I love every blog where you mention Japanese and Japan :3, Dont worry I get emails that begin with Hey Christ a lot. Standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT are a great way to prove how well rounded you are. This is called having a spike and helps you stand out more. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. haha. What does a winning ISEF project look like? But the truth is that being too well rounded makes you look the same as others who are just as well rounded as you; it also makes you look like someone without any direction. We have 24/7 access to a tiny kitchen with a coffee machine and a fancy tea selection. Posted by ; words for deep love in other languages; You want one area to stand out above and beyond all the others; this spike will be one of the most important parts of your application. 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. The picture of every undergrad goes on the departmental wall. The truth, however, is that while Stanford of course cares deeply about academics, it also cares about qualities beyond academics. How to Get Into Stanford (by an Accepted Student) - PrepScholar Furthermore, Stanford is looking for students who will succeed in the future. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Japan this January I did without MIT assistance (MIT doesnt have an IAP program in Japan), so that one was a little bit different. 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. College Admissions See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. MIT is just too nerdy. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. However, I'd think it obvious that showing one's match for a school in a less common way (given a science/tech focused school) makes for a better chance. MIT has a general institute requirement. Many opportunities via the MISTI international internship program are also possible if you demonstrate competence in a foreign language. 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. I agree that there's not really a way to guarantee or make it very likely to get into MIT. Biology requires the most memorization. Everyone who is well rounded looks the same: they're very good (but not earth-shattering) at everything. r/ApplyingToCollege is the premier forum for college admissions questions, advice, and discussions, from college essays and scholarships to SAT/ACT test prep, career guidance, and more. For the ACT, the average score is an incredibly high 35 out of the perfect score of 36. is it easier to get into mit for humanities ), but I really have no better way to begin this so here goes: I love the humanities. Also, good mentors with previous experience will know which problems can be done by students and which would be too complicated or time-consuming. How To Get Into MIT | Admissions Secrets + Stats Once you have a competition or field in mind, it's useful to evaluate how prestigious it is. CUSTOM ART FOR CUSTOM NEEDS If your high school doesn't do this competition, you should either aggressively petition them to do it or search for a neighboring high school that will accept you as a guest. 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. Not sure what else you mean by high school life, it's been pretty chill, I've enjoyed myself. So usually this is how I view these kinds of things. and Im still enjoying every moment of my humanities education at MIT. Edit: You also need a 700+ math sat and 650+ English or else its basically a guaranteed rejection. (minus tax). How hard is it to really get into MIT and those who are in MIT - reddit Now, what if you're good at tests and competitionsbut not math? =p I guess I have interests in too many areas=p, 1 For example, one of the best parts so far was meeting Yo-Yo Ma when he came to Boston in an outing organized by the Burchard Scholars program (we got a free ticket to his show at Symphony Hall too! If you don't meet these basic thresholds, I would think very hard before making the USAMO series your spikethe series is, after all, just a much harder version of these standardized tests in nearly the exact same format. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. 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. Of course, it is a very small school with only 300+ people and most of them are tech oriented. MIT allows students to apply early action. From many personal surveys, I have found that even well-researched students and parents fall prey to this myth. Be sure to check out this article before you get started so you can avoid any pitfalls. What's unique about the ISEF, though, is that it's the premier science fair in the United States. The mythical implication here is that the "Stanford scorecard" grades you based on your weakest area, so you want to eliminate all weaknesses. Do you plan on majoring in a humanities or similar subject? ways. ), 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. Your MIT essays will help your application stand out. Tell us about a significant challenge youve faced (that you feel comfortable sharing) or something that didnt go according to plan. 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. That means that, if you take the ACT multiple times, MIT will consider the highest score achieved in each section. Studying satellite images and data from theDescartes Labs, Lillian successfully forecasted 2020 crop yields for every country within Africa. Your essays are the best opportunity to show off your skills and your unique interests. Do you want MIT to completely change the way you think about and look at science? But all these schools follow the same pattern of being highly ranked and having a slight engineering tiltand all have a common admissions pattern. Yep I go to a top public magnet school and although we get a "boost" for almost every T20, there's no such thing for MIT. Assume a leadership position in some club that requires public speaking, whether that's debate, Model UN, or something else. In the sciences, you have the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Informatics (Computer Science) Olympiads. MIT will also be paying attention to your course loadare you challenging yourself, or are you coasting on easy classes? 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. 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. You can study on your own by reviewing and mastering math content first while focusing lightly on math strategy. 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. All rights reserved. If you're less into STEM, read the next section. 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. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. Check out our complete guide to Ivy League acceptance rates. (for the record, 21F receives the highest course evaluation scores, teehee). He scored a perfect score on the SAT and is passionate about sharing information with aspiring students. In this area, or spike, you should try your best to be nationally or state-ranked, or accomplish a goal that's rare for a high school student. I was taking three humanities classes and an easier technical class, my first semester taking three HASS classes and it was a really eye-opening experience. Don't strive for above average at a lot of thingsbe excellent at one. 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. For a long time, I flirted with the idea of majoring in History at some really liberal-artsy college, although I eventually came to the decision that if history was a real passion for me, Ill always be able to do it on the side, as a complement to my life (aka. Stanford believes that non-academic factors, in addition to top academics, help predict who will have a positive impact in the future. If this sounds like you, then the prestigious competition you should consider for your spike on your Stanford application is the Regeneron ISEF (formerly Intel ISEF). All it requires is mastering baseline content of math and understanding the highest-gain SAT Math strategies. 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. 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. A few dozen hours of volunteering is fine. I think it all comes down to whether you want to be the big fish in the small pond, or the small fish in the big pond.. How to Get Into Stanford (by an Accepted Student), In her research project, recently featured in, , Lillian built a simple tool to investigate how well harvests would do in the next season. One of the most important parts of your MIT application is your high school coursework. You should take the most rigorous classes your school offerswhether that's honors, AP, or IB coursesor even look into taking courses at the local community college to show that you're not afraid of an academic challenge and that you can succeed at one, too! If you're applying to Stanford, it's important to know everything there is to know about the school. MIT accepts the following tests, with the given minimum and recommended scores. MIT doesnt care. Why? And, no, these rules are not as simple as "focus all your time on academics" or "be as well rounded as possible." 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. If the answers to all of the above is yes! then youre ready to move on . Think top-100 football player in California, or top-1,000 math competition student in the United States. MIT places a high value on having students with quirks and unique passions, not just high test scores. Whatever the case, make sure that your project is impressive. 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). By the way, did you go to SIMUN or another MUN? Ask questions; get answers. You can definitely get these scores if you put your mind to it. 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. You have to be rigorous, but not nearly to the degree of professional science research. 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. We've said it already and we'll say it again: MIT likes unique applicants. MIT has a small humanities program, but what we have are excellent. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the worlds biggest challenges to being a good friend. There are lots of writers out there giving admissions advice without any personal experience. That means earning an A or A+ in every one of your STEM courses, with only the very occasional A-. MIT doesn't specify a minimum GPA requirement and doesn't release the average GPA of admitted applicants. The decision is largely based around whether or not your personality fits into a specific niche they want to fill. :), 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. Note: If you've read our article on Harvard admissions, note that I will be covering similar material here. I mean, I know that it claims everyone is well-rounded and such, but still, sometimes when a school has institute of technology in it it can get kind of hard to understand how it could be balanced. is it easier to get into mit for humanities Your application can be completely bereft of engineering aspirations, and you can still do well. The Perks of Being a Humanities Major | MIT Admissions The 75th percentile for Stanford is currently 1570 on the SAT and 35 on the ACT. is it easier to get into mit for humanities. If you're very good at math, then you should seriously consider the USAMO series (more unofficial information here)it can really be your spike. As you know, strong test scores are an important part of your Stanford application. 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. (this blog took me 1 hour-ish). That being said, due to the caliber of students accepted at MIT, we can assume that the average GPA is quite high. But I believe what got me into MIT was ultimately my service and commitment to something bigger to myself. and psst, hes in one of the photos on that blog I linked to if you cant find him). 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. Unfortunately, college admissions are much more like an unstable boat: being too well rounded will ultimately sink you. This doesn't mean you have to be great in the humanities, but it does mean you'll want to keep the Bs in the humanities to a minimum. 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. As you can see here, there are tons of competitions and ways through which you could show off your special STEM skills. To be honest, I don't really know myself. Press J to jump to the feed. Will it be easier for me to get into MIT? You should have a strong plan for studying for the SAT or ACT so that you achieve the best score possible. Obviously, things like history etc., but how about subjects like art or economics? Applicants are notified of their status in mid-December. is it easier to get into mit for humanitiesanson county warrant list. For example, for enthusiasts of debate-type activities, there's Model UN, Junior State of America, governor's school, mock-trial, and nationwide debate. The point is that you should aim to develop one area in which you're super strong. Currently, MIT's acceptance rate is 4.1%, which means it only accepts around 4 applicants for every 100 people that apply. On the side, I learned a ton about the genetics of C. elegans, an organism I didnt even know existed before coming to MIT. What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? is it easier to get into mit for humanitieschicago religious demographics. Huh?? Ultimately, you want to be OK in every field but especially accomplished in one particular field. Follow these tips for how to get into MIT by making sure your application stands out from the crowd. IAP Germany is open to students without any knowledge in German since you take German 1 there, and I think thats it for foreign language IAP trips. With the USAMO, doing well on SAT/ACT Math is a good predictor of performance; being fast and being good on tests is important. It is consistently ranked in US News' top 10often top fiveuniversities. MIT's superscoring policy is good news for applicantsit means that you can prep and retake the score without worrying about hurting your previous scores. 21 < two 1s But I dont know whether I would be content to live my whole life as a teacher/professor. You do, however, need to memorize all the most common SAT grammar rules and learn how many questions you can afford to get wrong without sacrificing your score goals. 1211 < one 2 one 1, Oops I accidentally commented out what I wanted to say. How did you manage the situation. You should also be taking the most difficult STEM courses offered at your school. The MIT regular admission deadline is January 5. When it comes to spikes, the name of the game is to be highly ranked in recognized fields. Fred graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor's in Mathematics and a PhD in Economics. 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. Research opportunities. Can a humanities student get into MIT? - Quora Many students who are strong in STEM want to focus on only what they're interested in at that moment. Wondering what your chances of getting into an Ivy Leave or Ivy League caliber school is? Just because Stanford leans more toward engineering, that doesn't mean that the only way to get in is to be an engineer. Complete Guide to the MIT Application | CollegeVine Blog 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. (In fact, those phrases are the two biggest myths about admissions here!) :D. Just curious as major in Biology, what is Biology related to US-Japan Student Conference? College Info. For your Stanford spike, you could brainstorm an amazing discovery, such as a biological process, an electrical engineering discovery, or something else entirely. I'd say something in the 720-800 range on the SAT Math section or 32-36 on ACT Math will do. MIT is one of the most selective schools in the world. 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. Stanford is probably the best bet despite its low admission rate followed by Harvard and then MIT. Stanford doesn't take the excuse "I'm just not a math person" (and, in fact, they're probably against the culture that makes such a phrase commonly acceptable in the first place). is it easier to get into mit for humanitiesno credit check homes for rent in tucker, ga. at Edisto Beach. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community. Your application will stand out even more if you take those interests and apply them to academic pursuits. This myth is the most pernicious because so many people blindly believe it. 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. It doesn't accept the Common Application, Coalition Application or Universal Application. You'll need to be disciplined and work hard to compete with the other applicants. 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?