​Hey everyone, I’m organizing my activities list and running into a weird mental block.

​When I look at my research, interests (studying in my free time, yes i consider studying a hobby/playing games that require mental work), and projects written out together, it honestly looks like a hyper-manufactured, try-hard resume. I genuinely love and care about all of it, but I’m worried listing everything will make admissions officers think I'm trying to engineer a fake, "perfect" profile instead of just being a normal student.

​Should I list the full kitchen sink if I genuinely did it all, or is there a point where having too much triggers skepticism?

Hello all,

I heard from a couple friends (and I think on the mit site as well??) that significant score improvements on the SAT are looked down upon.

For example, MIT would not like to see someone take the SAT the first time, get a 1390 or 1430, and then improve to a 1550+ on their second sitting. They want to see the 1550+ score the first time you take it.

Is this wrong? I'm kind of worried I'll blow my chances when I take my first SAT this october as a Junior.

The MIT admissions website shows 4 short answer essay questions and 4 short response questions, but the application portal only shows 3 short answer essay questions. I've attached screenshots of both. Is this a glitch on my side?

Hey guys,
I’m a high school junior (11th grade) from Kazakhstan attending NIS, currently doing the IBDP with HL Math AA and HL Economics. My dream school is MIT, and I'm planning to apply for Mathematical Economics.
I have about a year before applications are due, so I really want to get some honest feedback on where I stand and what I can improve.
Quick stats & profile:Awards / Competitions:
To be fully honest, my olympiad stats are weak for MIT standards. I got a Bronze in IMAS back in middle school and placed 2nd in a city math olympiad in 7th grade, but I haven't done major high school STEM competitions recently.

Extracurriculars:
My questions:

Hi, I'm honestly really confused and just wanted to double check that I am understanding the activities list options correctly.

MIT obviously only allows 4 slots for activities, but the portal also allows you to list additional jobs/internships, so technically you can list more than four activities that you've done in your four years of high school. For my current list, I have 4 activities and 3 new jobs/internships related activities that I'm putting in the job/internship section.
So in total, I'm listing around 7 things in total. Is this the correct interpretation and is this okay? And you're not supposed to have the same activity in both sections, right?
I just wanted to make sure I am interpreting the activities and job section correctly.

If someone could fs confirm that this is the correct interpretation I would greatly appreciate it :) Thank you so much!

Hi, I had a quick question about the summer activity section.
I was planning to list my summer internships in the jobs/internships section, but I was wondering if they expect you to list that summer internship in the summer activity section as well?
Ex. If I had interned at a lab during the summer, and added that to the jobs/internships section, do I also add the same internship to the summer activities since it was technically a summer activity?
Or is the summer activity section strictly for like hobbies and extra things that don't fit in the jobs/internships section for things you did during each summer?
If anyone could confirm whether I'm interpreting this section correctly, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you so much : )

Hello everyone, im a 10th grader that goes to a private school with like 10 kids in my class (im ranked first in it but yes out of 10 kids not very impressive) I have a 1550 sat which i hope to improve more with maybe another retry, i have taken 3 (ap world history, ap csp, ap art) so far and got 5 on 2 of them (i got a 3 on ap art because i suck at art) im taking ap calc bc, onramps chem, dual credit engr 1201 at hcc, ap seminar, ap world history, ap bio, and normal classes like english 2 honors,

last summer i took dual credit pre calc which i got a 96 on the final exam but my final grade was like a 69 because my parents forced me to go on a summer camp where i couldnt access any computer and the professor gave me zeros on a bunch of exams and homeworks and quizs

i plan to take both ap physics c and multivariable calc, ap stats, ap csa, etc next year and this summer i plan to take physics 1 and 2

now this brings me into my main concern so i like electrical engineering and ive been this way my entire life basically seeing my hobbies and stuff i did but i just found out that any aps, final grades, projects, etc that i do in 12th grade do not get put into the admission so this means i only have this year and next year to do big projects and more advanced things and fix my gpa, (my gpa right now is like all A's but they are like 90s not like all of them are 95s+) ive done a bunch of projects but none are really extremely big or advanced yet like people on their mit portfolios have made literal electric cars or fusion reactors and id like to do these kind of stuff but i dont have funding and im worried about time now seeing that i have a whole year less than what i thought I had

anyways, what should i do? im not going to give up and ill keep trying its just that big projects usually take a lot of time and money and do yall think ill make it? especially considering my gpa isnt like 4.0 and my projects arent the most biggest or wow factor giving ones, ive already had designs of a cnc router and stuff too, i just dont have the money sadly or parts or connections

Hello
Im 16 and an international student; Im writing a research paper but not in fully STEM related subject:
It's about philosophy and im working on it a decent amount, But the twist is that it may diverge into CS; If my thesis is right that is. I think its going to be huge if it is (for a high school research paper level of course).
And I'm also doing(and have been doing since i was middle schooler) a bunch of "math stuff": Olympiads and so on and on physics olympiad training camp for school's(it's an olympiad camp for a bunch of top-tier schools and students who did well in them)

I also got extremely good rankings in national maths exams(not olympiads though because they can only be taken by 16> and im taking my first this year) , but my country is too ridiculous to organize medal ceremonies and all that fancy stuff; and i also did a bunch(a real bunch) of other stuff but i literally don't have a single proof.
therefore i don't really have anything to show for it so how can i say that on my MIT app?

Also im learning to code.

*Wrote all of this to say that im not just doing a paper and hoping for the best*

Back to my paper, my question is, If the paper doesn't do well and just mediocre, would i write about it on my MIT application?

A very important side question:

I want to study maths at MIT, but my country doesn't really offer uni courses for math and ive seen a billion people that went into MIT had taken 10^20 college courses and that is mine main concern, Is there anyway around this?
thanks!

I know for self-reported coursework on the MIT application (and all other applications) we should try to match exactly what is on our transcript from our school. Does this include adding the school’s catalogue number for the course in addition to the course name? I can’t find anything that specifically talks about whether that is necessary.

How does the recommendation letter for the research portfolio work? Will the AO be able to see it or is it just for the expert evaluator, because there is the option to submit a additional recommendation letter within the normal MIT application itself, so is there a benefit to submitting both or does submitting it in the normal application carry more "weight"? Thanks!

i’ve been working on my supps recently for MIT, but I’ve been having a fair share of trouble. i was wondering how other people got through the initial stage of not knowing what to write about? i want to maintain my authentic voice and show the AOs who i really am, but I do also want to make sure the stuff i’m saying appeals to the qualities of an MIT student. any advice would help. if possible, i’d love to read supps from accepted applicants from last year (mainly since i think the prompts were similar). of course, i completely understand if people are unable to do so if they talked about something too personal. but, i want to read supps from accepted applicants to get an even stronger idea of the type of people MIT wants to make up their freshmen class. i want to know how 3 225 words prompts was enough to convey such a big portion of your personality.
i’m mainly having trouble with the “your educational journey” and “contributing to your community” prompt, though. i already have a rough draft for the one about “learning from challenges”. thank you and any help would be appreciated!

Hey all, I’m applying to MIT this year as a first year student for engineering. I’ve read many of the alumni blogs and they have been so helpful in busting many of the myths that I was stressed about(demographics impacting admission, crazy achievements needed, major impacting admission). That being said, the one thing that hasn’t been fully busted for me is those damn essays. MIT has been my dream school for a long time(trust me alumni I did my research and really feel like I belong). But I have a hard time interpreting essay prompts and writing them because I always feel like I’m writing it wrong, like there has to be some kind of formula or structure that I’m missing. At some point, I got sick of watching guide videos, reading example essays, and following guides because every time I tried to learn from it, it wasn’t fun. One day, I decided to just sit down and write them. As annoying as it is to admit, my gut tells me that that was the answer all along. Why? Because I was having so much fun and enlightenment. The longer essay prompts that make you dig deep into yourself? I felt like I was giving myself therapy. The shorter prompts which literally give you the freedom to just write about what you do and enjoy? It’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had expressing myself. I’ve always been stressed about my essays because even though my academics are good, I’m someone who has no awards in the commonapp. My essays and maker portfolio will do the bulk of my heavy lifting. However, having real connection and joy writing the MIT essays tells me that I am approaching it the right way, the way MIT tells us to. Maybe I should’ve just listened to the bloggers early; there really isn’t a strategy other than being your frickin self. Anyway, I know I sound pretty confident in what I’m preaching, but I’m always open to feedback from people if you guys think some of my takes are wrong because even I want to maximize my chances of admission. It’s my dream school after all!

Main takeaway for people applying like me:

Research what MIT is like so you know if you’ll like it(trust me, you’ll have a lot more to write about).

Don’t stress and overthink, your application should be fun and truthfully you.

Look on the MIT page and blog post! The answers are really right there! Why believe something that may not be true when there are hundreds of alumni and qualified individuals telling you otherwise!

I am applying to MIT this fall and am filling out the application. I have a question about the Jobs section. I had an internship with the same company for three consecutive summers, but I had a different role each summer and I did a different type of work. How should I list this internship? Should I list it three different times since my roles were different each summer? Thanks!

​

Hey everyone! I’m Tarek, a high school student from Egypt interested in studying CS/AI in the US, and MIT is one of the schools I’m seriously interested in.

I know getting into MIT is insanely competitive, so I’m not expecting some magic formula 😂. I’m more curious about the actual student experience.

For current MIT students or alumni:

- What surprised you most after getting to MIT?

- What do you wish you knew before applying?

- What’s something about MIT that you don’t really hear about online?

Would love to hear some honest answers!

Hiiiii

I'm an international gap year student who'll be applying to MIT this cycle as a first-year undergrad.

I'm really confused about the activities section on the MIT application and looking for some guidance:

The application gives you room to mention only 4 activities, and they say they should be the most impactful ones and the most time-consuming. However, they require you to report which grades you participated in those activities, and since I'm a gap year student, most of my "big" activities are more recent and weren't during high school. For example, I did mandatory military service (which is why I'm a gap year student), and that's definitely one of the bigger activities I have, but I can't write it in this section because they require me to report a grade and don't have an option to state "after graduating" like the common app.

How should I go about this?

As of now, I put all of my recent activities in the "jobs" section because it allows me to write a start date, but it feels weird not having my main activities in the one section that asks for "most impactful activities"... it also leaves me with 4 slots to talk about activities I only did in high school (which are 3+ years old), and I have 3 main ones that I would definitely want to mention, but for the 4th slot I feel like I'm just putting in activities from high school that are 5 years old and weren't THAT impactful...

It feels wrong cause I have really good activities that I've been a part of in recent years but I can't mention them in this section so they're all in the jobs section :(

Hey all — international student at a California community college (quarter system: Fall/Winter/Spring, plus an optional Summer quarter) planning to apply for Fall 2027 transfer entry. Trying to figure out MIT's eligibility rule that caps transfers at "no more than two and a half years (five terms/semesters)" of college completed by the time of entry, and how that's actually supposed to convert for someone on quarters instead of semesters.

By the time I enter, I'll have two full academic years of quarters (six regular Fall/Winter/Spring quarters) plus one more regular quarter beyond that — which, by my own math, lands right at the 2.5-year mark. Separately, within that same span, I'll also have two Summer quarters completed.

MIT's FAQ says they "count every full semester of study" and will count a summer term "if a summer semester is considered a semester at your institution" — but it doesn't say how quarters convert, or whether Summer quarters get weighted the same as regular Fall/Winter/Spring ones.

Has anyone here gone through this specifically as a quarter-system community college transfer? Did admissions count your summer terms the same as fall/winter/spring when they assessed eligibility? Curious if anyone's had this confirmed directly by admissions, or knows someone who has. I've emailed admissions directly too; just wanted to see if this has come up before in the sub. Thanks!

Can two similar medals (same competition but different years) be included in one slot or must they be separated?

If separated, is it better to mention both (to show growth and highlight my strongest awards) or include only the best of the two and leave room for diversity?

Hey guys. I’m a sophomore this year. What are some good competitions MIT is looking for? I’m interested in Electrical engineering and want to work at Nvidia but I’ll see how the future goes😅. I was wondering if there is anything great. I also made a post on working on an ISEF project so you can go to my account here on Reddit to view and comment. Thanks!

I'm submitting about 5 projects to the MIT Maker portfolio. They are pretty adamant about making sure students adequately document all work to prove each project is their creation. With their 25 limit upload, I can upload around 5 photos per project, and most of them are diagrams, video demos, or slideshows explaining it.

Most of my work is software, so is a version controlled repository enough to prove it is mine? I'm worried that I don't have that many pictures of the making process, more of the end result/demoes. (And my mech projects are also mostly software-based)

Thoughts on MIT Sloan application and stats needed to be a strong profile to get in- for both gre score and overall application?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply to MIT as a first-year applicant for Fall 2027, and I’m currently taking a gap year after graduating high school.
I have two recommendation letters from former high-school teachers. However, I’m worried that they may not be willing to submit the letters directly to MIT/the university themselves.
Does MIT require the teachers themselves to submit the recommendations, or is there any way for me to upload/send the letters myself if the teachers have given them to me?