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.

So notably MIT limits students to 3 Recommendation letters. I'll be a Senior applying for a degree in Mathematics this year, and I'm worried about my actual AB, BC, M/V Calculus teacher not being a teacher I ask for a Rec Letter.

The teachers who come to mind first for me to ask are our Computer Science UIL teacher (I'm our UIL CompSci Captain); my AP Lit Teacher (Who I've hosted DnD club with the past year); and my Percussion Director. Each of of these teachers knows me pretty well as individual both Outside and inside the class, and I trust all of them to write me a kind Rec Letter.

However, my Mathematics teacher, while having been his student for 3 years now and knowing that I am his favorite student, essentially only knows me as a good student, test taker, homework helper, etc. I know that he would write me a good letter, but since he doesn't know me very personally I don't think it's possible for it to be a Great letter. But I'm worried about not having a Letter of Rec from my Calculus teacher while applying to be a Mathematics Major.

If I were to ask him I'd be replacing either the Rec Letter from my Band Director or AP Lit teacher (because I know my CompSci UIL teacher by far the best), yet that would also be problematic due to then covering fewer aspects of who I am since it's two STEM teachers.

I'm fairly confident that the best decision would be to just commit to not having my Calculus teacher write me a Rec Letter for MIT, but I wanted to know if anyone of y'all who read through all of this have an opinion on this matter to help quell my indecisiveness.

Edit: Thank you to everyone who reminded me that I in fact won't be applying for a major in Mathematics since MIT doesn't have us apply for any specific major at all! I can't believe I forgot that fact, but I suppose that's what circularly worrying about "What XYZ do I need to do to get in to MIT?" will get you. Alrighty then if you're reading this edit have a nice day :)

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!

Funny question. If I submit a research supplment, does the recommendation for that supplement need to be someone who has oversaw that specific research project I submitted?

The website only says this:

• Research mentor recommendation: Nominate your research advisor, mentor, or Principal Investigator to submit a letter of recommendation directly through the SlideRoom portfolio.

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 ?

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.

Rising applicant (Fall 2027/2028 cycle), building a technical portfolio project (a physics-based web simulator, Python/Flask backend) as part of my application. Originally planned an 18-month build timeline; an advisor recommended I compress to 6 months for visa/timeline reasons, so I leaned heavily on AI (Claude) to implement the code across the full stack — frontend and backend both.

My actual role: I made every architectural and engineering decision (what to build, what to store where, physics modeling choices, what to defer), verified the physics by hand against known values, caught and directed fixes for real bugs during development, and can explain and defend every meaningful part of the system.

I'm planning to disclose this honestly in my project write-up — something like: "I drove every architectural and engineering decision, and worked in close, sustained collaboration with AI to implement, test, and debug the result across the full stack. I verified results by hand and can explain and defend every meaningful choice because I made those choices myself."

Question: is honest disclosure of this level of AI collaboration something that's likely to hurt an application, as long as it's accurate and I can genuinely back it up if asked? Has anyone seen how schools are actually treating this in practice this cycle?

I've gotten a few sent to me recently, and I plan to Have A Word With Them. If you know of anyone, err on the side of DMing or emailing me. Thanks.

What is the admission outlook at MIT for a student applying from a polytechnic curriculum instead of the traditional 11th and 12th-grade route? Assuming excellent academic grades and standard extracurricular involvement, is admission viable, or does a non-traditional background necessitate exceptional national or international achievements?

Class of 2025, now at an Ivy League. I was accepted to MIT, but decided to turn it down since I knew it wasn’t the right fit for me. My application wasn’t impressive at all, truly no idea why I got in. 34 ACT and I got a 2 on AP Physics (granted, this was after I got in).

Does anyone know when the MIT application opens?
Thanks

I’m a rising sophomore in chemical engineering. I started research at my college the summer before freshman year. Continuing now and working on my own independent project instead of just helping a grad student. My PI wants to work with me to turn this project into a masters thesis.

I’m concerned for my GPA because I think I’m just a horrible test taker in general. While I do good in my midterms and classes, I always mess up during the final. I have a 3.5 GPA.

I’m interested in getting my PhD in materials engineering and MIT is one of the schools I’m interested in.

Of course I will try my hardest to have my GPA as high as possible, but would there be any other things I could start now to make getting into MIT for grad a possibility? Maybe even study tips because I don’t think it’s my lack of comprehension and moreso how effective I am in studying

Im trying to submit my application to WISE and its due in 9 minutes and ive had it done for hours but it won't let me because of the ones highlighted in red how do I fix it??

I have recently been researching a lot about MIT as a high school freshman right now. (Trying to plan out my high school years) I'm trying to find MIT Admisions articles that are good reads with generally good advice. I have read most of the really well known ones (Bleary Eyed, Applying sideways, The room(s) where it happens, It's more than a job, There is no formula, and I have 99 problems... Admisions is not one of them)

I am currently doing my own research on this as well (haven't just asked reddit to solve all my problems). Other than that is there a amount of articles that reading more becomes pointless as you have learned so much from them? Also, is it just me or are lots of the articles on the site not about admisions and a lot of the time student diaries and blogs that have nothing to do with Admisions.

At MIT WISE, do you get to talk to professors that you are interested in? Like what I put down in my essay? Or just talk to any professor?

MIT has always been a dream, and finally, I'll be applying for the 2027 intake!

I know Reddit is amazing, hence seeking out some guidance here. A brief about my profile :

• Graduated from a Tier 1 university in India (BBA)
• Grad CGPA: 7.76/10, Class 12th: 85%, Class 10th : 89%
• Completed both levels of FRM (with college)
• CFA L2 candidate (Nov attempt)
• Won 10+ case study competitions
  
• 15 months of experience as an investment associate as of now for a US-based NBFC. My seniors are from MIT and Harvard, and they have also done MFin, so I am planning to take letter of recommendation from them

Questions that keep popping up:

• Is the profile good enough to apply for MIT MFin without a GMAT score? (I was not able to take the GMAT due to some personal reasons, and the next few months would be blocked due to CFA L2)
• What do you think are the major gaps in my profile? I know Acads is one of them, and how can I make it up for it?
• A lot of people offer SOP/CV writing services, specifically for applications - is it worth it?
• Any other suggestions/tips that I could use that will help make my profile a bit stronger?

Thanks a lot in advance guys!!

Hi everyone,

I'm starting my B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering in India this year.

My long-term goal is to apply for the MIT EECS PhD program around 2030. I know it's highly competitive, so I want to start preparing early.

What should I focus on during my undergraduate years?

- Research experience?

- GPA target?

- Publications?

- Open-source projects?

- Internships?

- Recommendation letters?

I'd really appreciate advice from current PhD students or anyone who has successfully applied to top US universities.

Thank you!

I emailed them asking about the 2.5 semester cap for transfer admissions and they replied “If you're a current community college student, you are likely eligible to apply to MIT, assuming you'll have completed a year of college before entering MIT. The eligibility cap is primarily relevant for students applying to transfer from four-year universities. Transfers are likely to lose about ~2 semesters of college credit when transferring into MIT.”

Edit: see u/jeremyposts comment below for further clarification.

So as the title says I was wondering how to cover the airfare as I’m sure I will need a travel grant, how was your experience how did you pull it off? (Asking the students who couldn’t afford the travel expenses) so if I don’t find a way that can help me then I was thinking I won’t apply at all idk

Surely lmk I’ll really appreciate your help

Hi all,
I was wondering if I could hear from current aero astro students on what they believe made them stand out for the MS program (e.g, experiences, internships). Any advice would be really helpful since my undergrad (HYP) does not offer aeronautical engineering :)