MIT (2022-2023)

[verbal idol]

lol

[ruby stag]

yes

(insert awesome joke)

har har har. let’s move on to the important stuff:

• point 1
• point 2
• point 3

<3 (my name) I had a lot of FUN writing this

based fun structure

[verbal idol]

The mit majors SpongeBob meme was my favorite

[covert sentinel]

Me when i see fun form and i dont interpret it as February update notes or whatever so i speak informally (i am highly concerned with appearing calm and generally happy so they think i wont self abort from the workload and reject me because thats obviously the only reason to reject me and not my lack of qualifications to attend)

College apps are getting to me

Feels like i gotta 5d chess this shit and idk how to play chess

[small forge]

tbh, i feel like if you got deferred, you were qualified

like if you straight up couldn't handle MIT (as shown in your app), it'd make sense for them to reject immediately

[ruby stag]

yup

they defer most qualified applicants

something like 70-80% of applicants are qualified

[small forge]

yeah, it was like 60ish this year

deferred

might be a decent gauge currently before RD

[ruby stag]

yup

i heard mit defer->accept rates are abysmally low though

which sucks

[small forge]

yeahh lol

RD is similarly abysmal though, i think they typically take like 400-500ish out of more applicants

all rounds are extremely competitive (unsurprisingly)

[ruby stag]

i didn’t apply ea because when i toured the ao said that you shouldn’t unless you’re insanely insanely competitive and the extra few months wouldn’t benefit you

[small forge]

i almost didn't do EA, then i reevaluated my EA round colleges and decided to do MIT earlier

idt my essays could've gotten any better than they were really

[ruby stag]

i kinda regret doing harvard early because my essays were dogshit

but my loci was good and my acceptance rate rd hasn’t dropped

[small forge]

i don't even think harvard was on my radar by REA 💀

i really only got interested when i sorted my RD colleges

we can send images in our fun forms right

i heard others talking about it

[ruby stag]

maybe

[molten latch]

Idk if someone said it already but definitely don’t write an essay in the box

I just put in the box that I did their acronym (I stopped, took a breath, observed, and …)

[molten latch]

I wonder why. It’s not like being deferred lowers your chances, just indicates with high probability that you likely won’t get in

[ruby stag]

pool is massively competitive EA

1. they take their athletes (albeit minimal)
2. legacy is replaced by RSI, ISEF, intl oly winners

[steep vine]

wait can u actually just put a joke in the FUN form if u have no updates

[ruby stag]

yes lol

[steep vine]

i might do that then

[steep vine]

meh i just wanted to

i wanted to get all college apps done before december

[ruby stag]

my MIT app would’ve been utter dogshit ea

[steep vine]

wouldn't have changed for me

[ruby stag]

well i mean same tbh but a few important things have changed

[steep vine]

maybe my essays would have had different topics but i didn't do anything special

[ruby stag]

especially since i started an internship in late july

and recently did some big stuff with that

• new awards

[steep vine]

zamn 🗿

i did not do any crazy shit like that bruh

can i put my other college acceptances in the fun form 💀

show them my options to intimidate them

[ruby stag]

“got into harvard”

[steep vine]

i wish 😭

[small forge]

Ngl, I'm confused (sorry if I sound dumb☠)

So in MITs definition, what is an essay

[ruby stag]

like if you dropped a new diversity essay in there

or a why mit essay

[small forge]

Oh ok, so if I legit just wrote about what I did and how I did it, it wouldn't be a "new essay" or something

[ruby stag]

wouldn’t be a new essay

[small forge]

Oh ok thx

[thorn burrow]

what do u put in the additional course info section

is anyone filling it out

[verbal idol]

It’s due feb 7th I’m not bothered rn

[thorn burrow]

LMAO ok

[molten latch]

Why does it matter if the pool is massively competitive ea

You would be deferred if you are qualified

[ruby stag]

the mindset is if you will have stronger grades/ecs/essays in a few months, take the time to work on those and apply rd

deferred -> admitted is insanely low

[molten latch]

I agree with this

I disagree that deferred acceptance rate should influence the deicision

[ruby stag]

and you can’t resubmit essays

[molten latch]

If it did

[ruby stag]

rd essays are naturally going to be stronger

since you’ve (likely) applied to more colleges

[molten latch]

More time sure

But then you’re competing with the overly strong people in ea who got deferred and with people who also have improve their essays and grades

I would think it evens out

Like how competitive the pool is compared to your application

I was just confused because I thought you were saying that being deferred had an impact on your decision

[ruby stag]

no no obviously not

i just said typically the admit rate for deferred is lower

but that’s because RD in general is lower

[molten latch]

Yea

[small forge]

can i just write the fun form in slang

ig

it can be informal anyways

aight bet

i will use profanity

[dusky tide]

good idea

[small forge]

yupp

show them you about that 🙄

[royal gull]

how are you guys going around with the FUN form

I am unable to think of how to start

like should I jump right in. like wut

I have written everything but the starting

[ruby stag]

dont listen to my advice but

i’m going to start off with a joke

and then bullet point

[royal gull]

🤔

[ruby stag]

i applied RD so i don’t have too much to add

[royal gull]

fair

I applied EA and have a ton of things to add - I am just unsure of how to start

[ruby stag]

ah ok so for my harvard loci this is how i went about it

[royal gull]

this is how I began my UChicago LOCI but MIT F.U.N. form is not exactly a LOCI so it would feel weird being this formal

[ruby stag]

ah yeah fun can def be informal

and you only have 250 words

[royal gull]

250 words isn't an issue for me

I have used around 180-190 words right now

[ruby stag]

hmm honestly what i’d do is i’d be a little bit more lighthearted

[royal gull]

Just need the intro para rn

[royal gull]

yeah

like I dont wana jump right into the activities but I dont wana be so formal either with the begining

[small forge]

I finished mine just this morning, have to review though

[royal gull]

me to my brain

@ruby stag can I have a look at the first line of ur intro in DMs (not gonna copy it, just want to see the tone and style since seeing this type of stuff sometimes sparks my brain)

if you don't feel comfortable sharing, thats understandable as well

[ruby stag]

for harvard?

harvard was different, i haven’t started FUN

[royal gull]

any LOCI / FUN form where you were not too formal

[ruby stag]

oh okay

yeah fs one sec

[royal gull]

ty

[small forge]

I started talking about 2022 transitioning to 2023, then talked about 2 distinctions I gained, my new interests in music composition/gardening, then my voluntary jump from calc AB to BC

[royal gull]

you will have to temporarily add me

since I have DMs off

you can remove me later

[small forge]

That was my general structure

[royal gull]

I see

inch resting

[small forge]

Thx

[ruby stag]

actually no i don’t rly have any informal locis

[royal gull]

ah

no worries

thank you though!

[ruby stag]

this was my harvard one tho

[royal gull]

its noice

I would recommend deleting it

cuz some others might use it and stuff

you know what I mean

[small forge]

Yeah, it looked good though

[ruby stag]

yeah true

i had a national & intl award update and then listed some stuff i was doing with the state + a why harvard with an elaboration on an ec i didn’t talk about

🤷‍♀️ but i’m prolly already in the reject pile tbh

my app is still open per slate though

[royal gull]

imagine I just begin the "FUN" form with the story of my Dad's cancer

such a fun begining

[royal gull]

how do you identify that-

https://tenor.com/view/curious-gif-9412615

[ruby stag]

🤷‍♀️

applied rea, got deferred

[royal gull]

inch resting- how did you open dis tho

[ruby stag]

slate.org

it’s free and public

i’m not altering links and there’s been no snooping

[royal gull]

I knew universities use slate- I just didn't know this data is public

[ruby stag]

your actual decision you don’t get to see

but you can see how far along they are in the process

[royal gull]

I thought all they do is use slate and integrate it into your application platform for tracking the status of these things, like I thought slate is some open source kinda thing or smth like that they just modify the code for in their portals.

didn't know that stuff is linked to the main slate app

Inch resting

[royal gull]

I can't log in with my harvard passcode

I conphused

nvm I am dumb

[dusky tide]

@ruby stag that’s auto reject

[ruby stag]

wdym

[dusky tide]

Oh wait EA

[ruby stag]

yeah

I applied REA and got deferred

[royal gull]

what do I do if I dont have an insttute that is listed

it aint letting me choose unlisted like CB and Common app did

[ruby stag]

there’s a code for internationals

it’s 000004 or something

[royal gull]

found it

000004

ye

ty

it wont lemme type the CEEB, it wants me to look it up by name. Wtf

when you have shit UX, you get good UI. and vice versa

where is the equilibrium in college app platforms istg

[iron heron]

the only update i can rlly give is that i got another certification in something so idk i applied rd so no big updates the only big one is coming in february

[ruby stag]

u can talk about the big one you’ll have soon

🤷‍♀️

[iron heron]

i would but it’s not garunteed cause next month i’m meeting with my lab about the paper we’re working on and it may be published

[small forge]

damn formal

[sage shard]

are there any international students here who applied RD? did you receive your MIT interviews yet?

[clear gulch]

im international(Canada) and applied RD, no interview yet

[molten latch]

@royal gull you’re overthinking it

[royal gull]

what am I overthinking?

All I did is ask people for ideas on starting intros

there are way more a2c'ers who are always overthinking 💀 Portal astronomers

[ruby stag]

your fate won’t be dependent on how you introduce your loci

unless you tell the aos to screw off

[royal gull]

I never said it would 😭 I just asked for ideas.

There is a difference between asking for ideas once and only focusing on it 24/7.

I am already even done writting it 💀

[molten latch]

This is overthinking it

Just put what you need to put. I would be as objective as possible.

I think a joke or quote is cool if you have nothing to add l

[royal gull]

ye

already finished it so we guchi

[molten latch]

What’s the file

I’m on phone

[royal gull]

Does discord not embed audio on phones

weird

[molten latch]

I listened

[royal gull]

Lemme type it out then - oh nvm cool

man was gonna end my lazyness streak

[molten latch]

All I was saying was that I wouldn’t even think about it at all but I get what you’re saying

[royal gull]

ye fair but I don't wana waste my 75$ totally either

[small forge]

Lol found this

This was interesting

[weak thicket]

are mit interviews selective?

[ruby stag]

nope

they are important though

[weak thicket]

👍

[gritty inlet]

Yeah I had my interview

[verbal walrus]

Does slate give insights?

[ruby stag]

no

[verbal walrus]

It just keeps track of stuff ?

[ruby stag]

kinda

[sage shard]

congrats! i am from east-europe and nothing by now 😦

[gritty inlet]

thanks haha I think MIT assigns interviews regionally if you're international because my interviewer is from a different country

but interviews happen all the way into feb so just wait and see maybe you'll get one soon

[sage shard]

yeah, hope so. thanks!

you're from Asia, right? do you know how many asians apply to mit? or how qualified they are? cause i know you are really really well prepared

[gritty inlet]

yeah I'm Asian

I'd say obviously there are tons of highly qualified Chinese applicants who are competing to get in lol

but idk the exact numbers

actually you can go and look at MIT's data on intl applicants

they have a breakdown of accepted students by country

honestly about me being really well prepared I'm flattered you think that way LOL I literally scrapped together my US applications in like less than a month so we'll see

[gritty inlet]

https://iso.mit.edu/about-iso/statistics/international-student-statistics-2022-2023/

[sage shard]

ok thanks!

[sage shard]

i've done them in like a week and probably they were soo bad💀 i was not prepared for that many essays lol

[gritty inlet]

oh yeah the essays really made me want to give up especially the MIT ones

like I get that MIT is obv not like the other colleges but really??? not a single essay I could reuse for MIT's prompts 😭

[sage shard]

like really! but i like they have a straight-forward portal and all those small optional questions that you could use for more background

[gritty inlet]

yeah the portal was really easy to use and the additional optional questions were fun tbh I got to include things that I didn't get to mention for other apps

[signal ledge]

i left them all blank :holyfuck:

[gritty inlet]

I think that's fine too lol leaving them blank is better than forcing yourself to squeeze out additional info for no particular reason if you don't have anything to add on

[sage shard]

i think they were more for international students or people very different culturally...it's probably fine

[ruby stag]

it’s totally fine

i only used them because i wanted to do another diversity essay (immigrant parent, rural area) and explain grading

[ruby stag]

that’s why you work backwards

ngl i perfected my why major and then i reused a little bit of caltech and reworked a few summer program supplementals

and boom

i applied to all of my stem schools around the same time

except for gatech since i did ea

[signal ledge]

[gritty inlet]

wdym by that

Honestly all I did was just throw things at the wall and then try to make sense of the mess!

[gritty inlet]

MIT's why major was so short tho ahhh

[ruby stag]

like, instead of trying to figure out all of the sups at once, do the rest of your apps and come back and piece together stuff

but tbh, i did all of my mit sups in a day

so we’ll see how that goes

i’m not an IMO kid either so i can’t get away with bad sups

[gritty inlet]

ah

[ruby stag]

most of my why major shined through in my interview

as well as my why mit, i talked about that a lot with my interviewer

[gritty inlet]

Yeah I did each of the sups on separate days but I don't think that made them much better lol

[ruby stag]

yeah true

[gritty inlet]

Oh me too actually

You have to anyway considering how little space mit gives for that

[ruby stag]

i saved caltech and mit for last because they’re two of my top schools

[ruby stag]

yeah fs

i tried to focus more on me than listing specifics on my app but for my interview i combined both

if my test score wasn’t so shit i might have a decent chance lmao

[gritty inlet]

Not me doing MIT last because I kept procrastinating on the sups 😭

[ruby stag]

i didn’t apply to stanford JUST BECAUSE i didn’t want to do the sups

2 days before mit i did dartmouth, caltech, and jhu in the same day

then took a day break

then grinded out mit

and i’m done

mit was my last app

[gritty inlet]

omg everyone complains about the Stanford sups but they really aren't that bad 😭

[ruby stag]

they’re looooong

[gritty inlet]

At least I didn't find them half as bad as the MIT ones

But they're just 50 words! Lol

[ruby stag]

too long 💀

nah the real reason is stanford doesn’t have an established astrophysics program

and it’s also halfway across the country

i’d only do that for caltech

[sage shard]

i think they were fine...i've done stanford right after finishing my mit ones

[gritty inlet]

ahh true

They don't seem to have established programs for most of the sciences??

like all I saw were like pure sciences

[ruby stag]

basically for all of my apps i considered:

• do i like this college’s vibes/programs more than my safety?
• will they give me more aid than my safety?
• would i be willing to travel for this program?

and if i said yes to any of them i applied

if none of them checked the box i didn’t apply

🤷‍♀️

[sage shard]

wait...are u romanian?

[ruby stag]

ye my mom immigrated

[gritty inlet]

I think the first set of sups I completed was for Stanford LOL

[sage shard]

lol i am romanian

[ruby stag]

oh sheesh like residing?

what region ru from

[sage shard]

yep...Transylvania

[ruby stag]

oh that’s so cool!!

my family is from iasi

my keyboard is so finnicky rn

[sage shard]

i've send my mit app at 1 am and were doing those at like 3 a.m....they were just flow of ideas without any consistency loll

[sage shard]

yeah, that's a good city for education!

[ruby stag]

what major did you apply for @sage shard?

[gritty inlet]

Wow on 5 Jan itself? Or like you just felt like submitting at 1am even before the deadline 😭

[sage shard]

basically romanians came #5 at IMO this year, so i hope they see us well

[ruby stag]

they were due at 11:59pm EST… romania is 7 hours ahead

[ruby stag]

are you an IMO kid 😓

[sage shard]

it was 6th Jan in my country, i stayed the whole day doing them and didn't finish till then

[ruby stag]

my mom has told me romanians always place well in astroly

[sage shard]

Computation and cognition...my brother applied on CS

[ruby stag]

that’s so cool!

i applied astronomy

[sage shard]

not even close LOL! i met them though at the SAT exam

[ruby stag]

still neat

i don’t know any imo kids but i do know a few isef/rsi/ssp from romania

[sage shard]

our high school is much more in depth and breadth than the US system...so yeah, some of us work hard

i think maximum 2-4 are taken from our country yearly and i think i am going to be so rejected

[ruby stag]

nah you’ve got this

admissions are a game of skill and chance

and there is a lot of chance

[ruby stag]

i’ve always wondered what the (modern) system is like over there

[sage shard]

i dont even know if i have any hooks...😭

[ruby stag]

I do international baccalaureate over here but I’ve heard IB is mainly just for rich private schools internationally

which is weird because that is certainly not my school

[ruby stag]

you don’t need to have hooks tbh and i think it’s awesome that you’re applying from romania

just be confident in yourself and you’ll do great

[sage shard]

like 13-17 subjects every semester...you do all the sciences all the 4 years, two modern languages 4 years and many general humanities 4 years

we are like broadly skilled LMAO

[ruby stag]

wow that’s so cool

but 13-17 sheesh

😭

i hope they’re combined into fewer classes

[gritty inlet]

Ahh I see I didn't know whether MIT ran on EST or by local applicant time like the common app that's why I asked lol

[sage shard]

some of them are just 1-2 hour/week so its cool...and i am at math-compsci specialization so more relaxed with the others

[sage shard]

they all say to apply by 12.00 am in our country...but that's not true though, we also can by 12.00 EST...i've applied to many after 12.00

[ruby stag]

that’s really neat that you have specializations

[sage shard]

yeah, it's really cool...we can't take additional classes though...just the mandatory of our specialization

[ruby stag]

ah okay

what math do they cover up until

[sage shard]

do you know romanian language?

[ruby stag]

i can read but i’m not the best at writing or speaking

we don’t speak romanian in our household because my dad isn’t romanian

[sage shard]

like algebra, mathematical analysis, trigonometry, calculus: derivatives, intergration...i think kind of college-level in other countries

[ruby stag]

yeah definitely

that’s really neat

[sage shard]

that's more normal lol...some say it's easy to learn, but i tend to disagree

english is much more easier...though it was hard on the SAT

[sage shard]

did you talk about your romanian side in the essays?

[ruby stag]

i did

also i’m from a low income area

so resources are pretty limited

talked about this with my interviewer too

[sage shard]

oh that's so cool you had an interview! hope it went well

[sage shard]

what city are you from?

[ruby stag]

ah i live in the united states so i’m in a pretty small town on the east coast

my interviewer was from out of my region and he said that there were so many applicants that they started interviewing other regions

well he was IN my region but out of state

[sage shard]

i've visited US this summer...my cousin stays in Ohio

[ruby stag]

my cousins live in france

on my mom’s side

[sage shard]

I've literally knew nothing about what MIT, Harvard, Stanford or ivy leagues are until this summer...or nothing about US colleges

and the first thing we did when landed in Boston was visiting MIT and Harvard lol

[sage shard]

that's really cool

[ruby stag]

oh dw most people don’t know too much about ivies other than prestige

[ruby stag]

it’s good that you took initiative to visit

I’ve also been to MIT and harvard

my dad’s family lives a few hours away

[sage shard]

i don't actually like them...harvard and princeton are fine though

the food was pretty bad... worse than europe

but the people were nice

the people at MIT were amazing...there was such a sweet woman presenting during my visit

[ruby stag]

that’s true

the people at MIT were so nice to us too

we got lost 😭

meanwhile at harvard people kept asking me for directions 😭

i’m related to a residential dean so she took my friend from boston and I on a tour after freshman orientation

[sage shard]

and the blogs on their website are so kind and rational, to some extent i think the people were what attracted me to MIT

[sage shard]

that's really cool! they have a nice campus.

and in romania we have almost no volunteering and clubs regarding school, so most of us don't do extracurricular things...and not a big emphasis on sport either...but we care about Olympiads...so I was nervous of the whole 'holistic thing'

[ruby stag]

i assume you’re big on olympiads then?

also i think you’re good; they evaluate your app within the context of your area

[sage shard]

a few 1st prizes in my county for linguistics and medals for physics; and me and my twin are the best at math in our county, so maybe that counts...along other informatics projects and math programs; nothing national or international lol

they took international olympics last year, so...still not there

[worldly fjord]

is there a way to see what major u applied to

i forgot

[sage shard]

lol i don't think so...i hate how they blocked access to your application

[worldly fjord]

yeah

[ruby stag]

so you ARE an IMO kid, lol

sounds awesome tbh!

good luck with mit

[worldly fjord]

does mit even ask for your major in the application?

i dont remember putting one down

[ruby stag]

Yes

they ask for your “major interest”

but i’d expand on that in the interview

i talked about astronomy, physics, public policy, and planetary science in my interview

[sage shard]

i wished! more like a regional guy. like county, not country lol. though i don't think IMO is such a big deal

[ruby stag]

OHH okay, also same

I’ve only done regional math comps

I read county as country

😓

[sage shard]

yeah but it doesn't carry much weight...you have to actually choose it after your first year

[ruby stag]

tbh the main thing about them is that they’re full of themselves

i’m sorry but it’s pretty true

this one girl made herself a website with all of her achievements to gloat her international awards

[sage shard]

yeah sorry if i say regional it's too narrow but county is too large, idk how romania is divided lol

[sage shard]

LMAO...i hate merit diplomas and medals...i just throw them in a drawer when i receive them

[ruby stag]

yeah fair enough lol

i just think it’s silly to make yourself a whole website

i know some IOAA kids

and ISEF

I think it’s a matter of how they were trained/prestige & privilege

I’ve got 13-14ish national awards but intl stuff changes you

[sage shard]

I like computer science, cognitive science, physics, animation and film...they would know more if they WOULD offer me an interview

[ruby stag]

yeah i imagine it’d be super hard to get an interview in eastern europe

but i think you’ll get one

sometimes interviewers from neighboring countries conduct them

and also you’re not disadvantaged if you don’t get one

[sage shard]

EXACTLY...we have top highschools in our capital city and all the olympics are super well trained there...no wonder they go to top unis after

[ruby stag]

if you come from a background of privilege it’s way easier to rise

because you’re already up there

[sage shard]

that's awesome lol!!

[sage shard]

they have A LOT of preparation...if I were an AO I would choose potential

[ruby stag]

exactly

well usually for mit they choose IMO medalists AND people who could’ve been IMO medalists given the same level of preparation

there’s a lot of equivalencies

but overall you don’t need to be that cracked

[sage shard]

i've done a summer camp with plenty of problems from IMO and other national Olympiads...it's not that big of a deal...

the topics are really different from math itself and super specific...some of us do math for fun not for IMO lol

[ruby stag]

exactly

not everyone is an olympiad kid

[verbal idol]

Wat

That’s still rly good

Did u just put 5 on common app LOL

[ruby stag]

9x are in piano

so i condensed

i put them half into an ec half onto my app

i did the same for math awards

[verbal idol]

Ah

[ruby stag]

i have 4 regional awards so i put them under the name

[verbal idol]

Piano is neat

[ruby stag]

and then i included some random national ones

i didn’t put ap scholar

😓

will they know i’m good enough guys

nah i’ve got an international one coming in may from 10y of qualifiers

but i can’t put my 10th national or intl yet

[verbal idol]

I got my IMO medal coming in uhhh may 😎

[ruby stag]

true and based

bruh i put that i was attending the senators meeting but they pushed it back to feb

like i was GOING TO attend this month but then our work schedule got fucked up

i spoke for this SBE forum and then nothing else happened

idk but ik i’m not gonna get into mit

i’m contemplating switching to jhu ed2

[verbal idol]

Isn’t it too late

[ruby stag]

idk it might be

i’m just not confident in any of my apps

[verbal idol]

UChicago ed2 switch deadline was Jan 15

[ruby stag]

i could probably score jhu ed2

[verbal idol]

Same lmao I was THIS close to doing UChicago ed2

But I think I’d just rather know

[ruby stag]

i went t/o like everywhere

[verbal idol]

Than to wonder what if

[ruby stag]

so my shots are probably in the trash

i’m not even sure why i applied to mit

i like mit a lot but ik id never get in

if mit was test optional maybe

[verbal idol]

I think last year there were so many random admits

[ruby stag]

yeah random admits with 1500+ SATs

lol

[verbal idol]

Like I had a friend who did zero ECs and just debated a good amount for his school

And got in

[ruby stag]

i submitted a 32 act

32M/32S/35E/28R

[verbal idol]

32 act is better than a lower gpa

[ruby stag]

my chances are like 0.5%

my course rigor is good

i hope they’ll chalk it up to i live in the middle of nowhere and have an insanely busy schedule

so i don’t have the time to study for 4 acts and drive over an hr to a testing center

[verbal idol]

Idk I just hope they look over my lower gpa

I’d much rather have a 4.0 and dock my SAT lol

I think t/o just means they look at ur transcript more

[ruby stag]

hopefully

my course rigor is like a 38 act

jk jk

but I don’t think they get a lot of applicants who’ve taken 31 college/college equivalent in hs 💀

[verbal idol]

This was me senior year but I burned out bc of it 💀💀💀💀

[small forge]

no one is going to get in

[ruby stag]

i’m burnt out af rn

[ruby stag]

true and based they are accepting 0.5 people this year

[verbal idol]

It’s gonna be some random npc with no profile pic that pops in and says I got in

[small forge]

real

[small forge]

LOL frr

[ruby stag]

IMO medalist

[small forge]

mit is just

[small forge]

not even

some kid that probably did MITES or WIT

[ruby stag]

one of my IOAA friends got in

[verbal idol]

I’ve noticed most ppl who get in never talk here

[ruby stag]

and then a nasa intern

[small forge]

for good reason

[small forge]

they grinding

[ruby stag]

fr

💀

[verbal idol]

This gives me hope

[ruby stag]

did you apply astro

i forgot

[small forge]

mit definitely uses algos lol

[verbal idol]

Aero Astro

[small forge]

so either act too low

[verbal idol]

Mostly

[small forge]

or gpa too low

done

[ruby stag]

ah shit bro

[verbal idol]

To Stanford I applied aeronautics

[small forge]

sus

[ruby stag]

really

[small forge]

i mean

[verbal idol]

What’s wrong

[ruby stag]

you think i’ll get auto filtered 💀

[small forge]

they would be dumb not to

use algos to weed out sat or act scores lol

[small forge]

what is ur score

it depends

[ruby stag]

32

[small forge]

if its less than 30

oh

whats ur math

[ruby stag]

32 💀💀💀

[small forge]

you wont be auto filtered

but my friend w a 32 was deferred

they def auto defer 32s

[ruby stag]

i’ll probably get yeeted first round unless they look at my transcript

[verbal idol]

idt mit really auto filters in a sense

Like maybe if u have like a bunch of Ds

[small forge]

its mit

they prob auto filter like

[ruby stag]

my course rigor IS THERE

[small forge]

680 math lmao

[ruby stag]

i got an A in calc 1-3 and i’m taking discrete rn

so it’s not like i’m struggling

all of that was at an accredited college

[verbal idol]

Why did u say shit to this icy LOL

[ruby stag]

because their range is 35-36

[small forge]

what is ur reason for ur math score being on the lower end for mit

because class wise u look good

[ruby stag]

rural title I hs, covid fucked my schedule up massively and i have familial stuff and a tight schedule

[small forge]

did u explain

that

[ruby stag]

my ecs take up a ton of my time and I’m IBDP with 4 DE and an AP this yr

[ruby stag]

i did

[small forge]

yeah lmao you have a chance

ur act aint even bad

[ruby stag]

i’d just prefer to go t/o

my app was good

[small forge]

its mainly an indicator as to see whether u can handle mit math classes

especially for your major

[ruby stag]

i did ssp astro

[small forge]

did u EA mit

[ruby stag]

and i’m applying astro

nah

i did rd

[small forge]

oh hell yeah

good

did u REA

or no

[ruby stag]

I REA’d harvard

deferred

[small forge]

ah

its harvard lol

[ruby stag]

it is harvard

my loci was good tho so we prayge

[small forge]

its like a lottery

[ruby stag]

i’d pick harvard over all else because easy classes and i want to do caltech grad not undergrad

preferably

[verbal idol]

Oh ig I just didn’t see how that connected to what I said

[ruby stag]

if i get in caltech undergrad but nowhere else i would go undergrad

[small forge]

this wont happen

if you get into caltech you would def be competitive for some other ivy or possibly mit

[ruby stag]

the thing is caltech is test blind 💀

[verbal idol]

Wait what

[small forge]

does ur school grade inflate

[verbal idol]

Isn’t their SAT avg like sky high

[ruby stag]

no

only top 3 have a 4.0 uw

[small forge]

are you valedictorian

[ruby stag]

i’m 2nd

[small forge]

oh nice

[small forge]

yeah bruh

[ruby stag]

the difference between val and i is .02

[small forge]

😭

[ruby stag]

last year it was 0.0002 LITERALLY

My gpa is computed 4.7090

before end of junior i had a 4.5116

[verbal idol]

If it’s any consolation ik someone who got into Princeton t/o

With a 32

[ruby stag]

nice

i applied princeton t/o

[verbal idol]

But he was URM and QB so

[ruby stag]

oh

😓

my harvard interviewer talked down to me a bit

for my geographical area and being female 💀

“is it still really hard to get opportunities in <state>? it was when i lived there before going to caltech”

[verbal idol]

My MIT interviewer last year was horrendous

He legit asked me to talk about my ECs

[ruby stag]

yeah

[verbal idol]

Like list them for him

[ruby stag]

oh

mine kinda asked that

but not really list

i’m glad we clicked

and he was vice chair of my region

💀

[verbal idol]

That’s cool

I’m kinda waiting for an interview this year

Haven’t gotten any

[ruby stag]

are you on gap year

[verbal idol]

Ya

[ruby stag]

did you apply to colleges last yr?

[verbal idol]

Nah

[ruby stag]

ohh ok

[verbal idol]

I memed an MIT app but

That’s p much it

And by memes I mean like

0% chance of getting in

[ruby stag]

why would you meme a mit app

[verbal idol]

Just Hail Mary idk

I was taking like 7 APs senior year

So I was too overwhelmed to focus on apps

So I took a gap year

[ruby stag]

felt

i wanted to take a gap year but i’d probably never go back to school

[verbal idol]

Nah u want to go

Trust

All my friends are in college and it sucks

[ruby stag]

so i’ll shoot my shot this yr and worst comes to worst i go to a warm city with no stress and a big merit scholly

[verbal idol]

Nice

[ruby stag]

btw for aeroastro university of arizona is a good safety

that’s mine rn

they give big bucks oos for gpa

[verbal idol]

Some of the supps this yr kinda tied in nicely wit my gap year so I hope it works out

[verbal idol]

Remember I told u

About Arizona

[ruby stag]

my memory is like goldfish

[verbal idol]

I don’t like Arizona

[ruby stag]

goldfish cracker short term memory

ok that’s fair

[verbal idol]

We talked in pton thread for a while

Remember

[ruby stag]

OH YEAH

[verbal idol]

lol

[ruby stag]

ok

i kinda remember

what was your gap year passion project btw

did you cure cancer /j

[verbal idol]

Mmmmm I don’t wanna go too into detail because dox but mostly just a service project which takes up the majority of my time, continuing a research aero project I got an award for, and helping out at a science museum

[ruby stag]

sheesh that’s awesome

[verbal idol]

Thanksies

It’s kinda related to the Russian Ukraine war

And my parents are from there

[ruby stag]

oh that’s so cool

russian or ukrainian?

[verbal idol]

Both

Mom Ukrainian

Dad Russian

[ruby stag]

woah

culture smush

[verbal idol]

Yeah

My grades also tanked second sem senior year

Cause of that kind of conflict

Inter family conflict

I hope AOs understand LOL

[ruby stag]

i think they will

you’re not intl right

[verbal idol]

Nah I’m US

[ruby stag]

ok good

[verbal idol]

I think a gap year is really beneficial tbh

It also helped me think about exactly how I want to approach college

[ruby stag]

i don’t think i’d do anything too beneficial to my app

i’d probably be at a disadvantage applying on a gap year

[verbal idol]

It for sure is very easy to just waste away your gap year

[ruby stag]

other than improving my act

and i’d be applying to colleges again

i applied to HYPM

[verbal idol]

Oh nice

I’m YPSM

lol

[ruby stag]

nice nice

[verbal idol]

Ya colleges don’t like re applications

So I didn’t apply in the first place

Honestly I’ve already given up on MIT cause my previous app was just memed

But that’s the only one

[ruby stag]

they look at previous apps

[verbal idol]

Ye that’s the prob

[ruby stag]

while reviewing current

so maybe it’ll help

i mean you’ve got a lot of good stuff

and presumably better essays

[verbal idol]

Oh ya fs

Last year my essay was literally

How I won a comp and it made me more confident

LOL

[ruby stag]

💀💀💀💀

olympiad kid

[verbal idol]

Nah it was isef type thing

[ruby stag]

oh bruh

[verbal idol]

I knew it was shit but I just had too much analysis paralysis to revise

[ruby stag]

“didn’t have a chance last year”
“isef type thing”

💀

[verbal idol]

Well ya I had a good resume

But my essays sucked

[ruby stag]

ok ic

[verbal idol]

Like I legit copy pasted the same essay for every prompt

Like I said

Literally 0% chance

I think it’s just with these type of schools I feel like almost everyone has to be ALMOST perfect

[ruby stag]

not true

at all

[verbal idol]

I mean

It’s pretty true

[ruby stag]

youlll see that a lot of people are “normal”

[verbal idol]

I don’t mean like 3.99 1590

[ruby stag]

aka they did well in school

[verbal idol]

Yea I meant stats

[ruby stag]

and have a passion

and that’s the minimum pretty much

[verbal idol]

Like for instance what I heard from u u have pretty cool stuff like ssp

But u have a 32

I have stuff too

But I have a 3.7

ykwim

We have a shared feeling like our stats are gonna lower our chances by a lot

Or at least somewhat for sure

[ruby stag]

right

i think i’ll be fine at t/o schools

[verbal idol]

Ya u should be fine

[ruby stag]

the difference between gpa and test scores are that test scores are 3h and gpa is 4y

[verbal idol]

Yeah

[ruby stag]

but rigor and context helps a lot

i think a 3.7 is generally fine

[verbal idol]

Hopefully

[ruby stag]

as long as the rigor is there

[random valley]

i have a 3.75

😭

a singular B+ every year

[ruby stag]

i would not pay $55k for grade deflation

[random valley]

(we do fullyear report)

[random valley]

70% of grades given are A-s

LMFAO

we dont have a+ tho

[ruby stag]

what 💀

that’s awful

[random valley]

we dont have gpa or rank either

[verbal idol]

The problem is my school is pretty much a feeder so it sends a lot of kids to t20s so it’s easy to look at naviance and see historical data, and my gpa is a good margin below typical admitted students lol

[random valley]

i had to use an online calculatoir

[ruby stag]

OHHH OK you’re from a feeder

nah that’s not that bad

being from a feeder actually helps a lot

[verbal idol]

Not like Andover or anything

We just have cracked kids

[random valley]

yeah my schools also kind of a feeder? likely less than urs but

[verbal idol]

Not like connections to AOs

[ruby stag]

i wish i was from a feeder

i’m just from some random no name rural poor public school

[random valley]

we're more so connected to like

duke and cornell

and princeton

in terms of higher ranked schools

[ruby stag]

i’m determined to get into 1 t10 so i can beat the val

or rather a t11

[verbal idol]

I meant it’s not something crazy but like last year we had
4 Harvard
5 Yale
2 Penn
1 Princeton
1 Stanford
6 Cornell
11 UChicago
And like 5 ish at every other t20

[ruby stag]

💀

11 UCHICAGO

[random valley]

yeah we dont know our individual reports n stuff

per year

we know like past 4-6 years

[ruby stag]

last year we had… no t20s

this year we have 1

[random valley]

we had like 15+ to cornell

LMFAO

[verbal idol]

Damn

[random valley]

out of 100 kids

[ruby stag]

val got into his ed

i want to get into one t20 rd

[verbal idol]

UChicago loves us for some reason, our counselor gaslights everyone into EDing there

[random valley]

i want to get into a school on my list that id like

😇

idk

uchi, yale, cornell, cmu, duke, brown

[ruby stag]

GATECH

gatech is in 4 days

i’m so nervous

[random valley]

i did rd

:praying for u

[ruby stag]

i did ea2 for merit money but i’m not gonna get any

i just wanna get in

😭

“yea my safety is gatech” 💀

one of my friends was bummed out that he didn’t get any interviews rd yet

told him that it’s ok he has stanford as his safety

wish that could be me

[random valley]

i got my mit interview like 18 hrs after submitting

but nothing else

[ruby stag]

that’s crazy

[random valley]

even tho i submitted duke before the interview deadline in dec

[ruby stag]

i fr thought i wouldn’t get one until i did like a week ago

i’ve accepted no NU interview

might get a yale in feb

if i’m lucky

[random valley]

yeah im hoping for duke/yale interviews

[ruby stag]

same

i need a yale story

[verbal idol]

I thought u were hoping for a likely reading this lol

[ruby stag]

nah 💀

im not cracked enough for a likely

although my responses were bomb

[verbal idol]

Our school is such a UChic feeder my counselor told me uchic was a safety for me EA last year 💀💀💀💀

[random valley]

i personally think my yale essays were good

[ruby stag]

tell me you’d reject this

[random valley]

my why yale was slightly basic and undetailed but the format was nice

[small forge]

When the course "title" turns into an essay 😭

[ruby stag]

my columbia media list was also so based

[verbal idol]

My short answers were all over the place 💀💀💀

[ruby stag]

it’s a title and description >:(

[small forge]

Oh lmao

[random valley]

😭 yea my counselor rates cornell as a target, same likeliness as colby/cmu (noncs)/nyu/neu/emory/gatech/ucsd/uiuc

[ruby stag]

it added pizazz

TARGET

💀💀💀

[small forge]

The description was in my title lol

[ruby stag]

me when a sub 10% acceptance rate is my target

[random valley]

idk our counselors have a weird rating system

[ruby stag]

mit is actually my safet

[random valley]

ignore the colors

[small forge]

I like your spreadsheet

Mine is hideous

[random valley]

😭

[ruby stag]

you guys actually have spreadsheets chancing you

my counselor: you’d probably get a good scholarship at university of delaware, 10/10 chance

[random valley]

my counslor made it for me

we have 3 diff counselors for 100 students

[small forge]

No, it's columned by reaxh, target, and safety
Then it's color coded by if I got in, wait listed/deferred, or rejected

[ruby stag]

i should make one of those

[random valley]

i made a tier list of my schools

that i applied to

in terms of which id want to go to most, slighly with chances factored in

[amber turret]

Yeah, they’re all an opportunity to provide context to your application

[random valley]

the black is case western

[verbal idol]

Goofy ahhh short answers

[small forge]

Nice

[random valley]

ive only had 2 decisions back

😭

how do u have 12

[verbal idol]

Ngl some of them make me cringe so hard now that I read them back

[small forge]

For my inspiration thing, I wrote something about how reflecting on my day in front of the Roku TV Screensaver inspired me

[amber turret]

What is your screensaver 👀

[small forge]

This lol

Like it's relaxing to look at imo

Also helps me think about the next day

[amber turret]

Oh yeah I had that one for forever

Rn mine is the enterprise from Star Trek the next generation 🥴

I wonder if anyone else wrote about Star Wars or Star Trek in their apps

[verbal idol]

Prolly a lot

[ruby stag]

my screensaver

[amber turret]

Yeah lol

[ruby stag]

most commonly written about to stem schools:

• legos
• nerdy sci fi

[amber turret]

Perfect

[verbal idol]

My sports injury taught me to persevere

:)

😃

[amber turret]

I mean

I literally wrote about a very particular Star Wars Lego set

And how’s that shaped my view of the world

For one mit essay 🥴

[ruby stag]

i got HEAVILY warned about talking about piano and chess too much

[verbal idol]

Are you Asian

[ruby stag]

like, i was literally told “try not to sound too asian”

I’m not asian

[verbal idol]

💀

Ngl I just took risks with all my supps

[ruby stag]

i did too

my ps was on art, piano, and astro

[verbal idol]

O nice

Mine was on my backyard

[amber turret]

I chose the write your own prompt for my ps

[ruby stag]

same

you wanna know what the theme of my essay was

…

soup

💀

[amber turret]

Mine was Sherlock Holmes 💀

[random valley]

I didnt like how mit didnt see my ps lol

[ruby stag]

i was told it would only work because of my stats

[ruby stag]

i turned it into a supplemental

[verbal idol]

That’s probably not a good thing 💀💀💀

[random valley]

Same but itwas so bare

[ruby stag]

NO listen i was told it’s a huge risk

like if not articulated right it would sound plain dumb

but it was articulated right

i talked about experimentalism

[amber turret]

You’ll be more than fine tbh lol

[verbal idol]

Mmmm

That kinda sounds like my ps

[ruby stag]

probably almost everyone wrote on similar topics

it’s not hard not to

[amber turret]

I remember you taking about your ps in the Caltech thread, it sounds great :)

[verbal idol]

But I’m a sg client and he said my essay was excellent so I’m hoping that pulls through

[ruby stag]

oh yeah

[amber turret]

All you need to be worried about is mit figuring out you applied to Caltech 🥴

[ruby stag]

not a problem

they definitely know

ssp is both caltech and mit affiliate

there’s no way i wouldn’t just apply to both

[random valley]

In one of my caltech essays i called mit students silly

[ruby stag]

💀💀

[amber turret]

Lmao

[ruby stag]

based i guess

[amber turret]

Rly?

😂

[ruby stag]

totally unrelated but you ever meet a mutual you’ve never spoken to before ever and it’s like you just click

i found the only other space nerd in my viscinity

[amber turret]

Yay!

I have yet to find a single student in my school of 2000 people that is interested in electrical engineering and AI 💀

[ruby stag]

yeah i don’t know anyone in EE but they’re also interested in AI

which is p cool

[amber turret]

Nice

[ruby stag]

bad thing is we only have one class together a week and that’s a dual enrollment in person

and they don’t use social media

💀

[amber turret]

iMessage? 💀

That’s not technically a social media

[ruby stag]

idk id feel really weird asking for his number

💀💀💀💀

[amber turret]

Lmao

Just ask him under the cover of studying together or something lol

[ruby stag]

no that is totally cringer

[amber turret]

Rizz him up 💀

Easy

[ruby stag]

HE DOESNT WANT TO BE RIZZED UP 💀💀💀

he’s like the only sensible person in my area

he doesn’t want to date until after college

so it would def be seen as weird

[amber turret]

Lol

[ruby stag]

my mutual was like “don’t get a crush on him, it won’t ever happen”

is it too much to want to ramble about space to someone who wakes up at 3am to watch meteor showers

[amber turret]

There you go

Invite him to watch a meteor shower

[ruby stag]

💀💀💀💀

[amber turret]

Then…

Lean in for a kiss 💀

[ruby stag]

NO THEN

NO

[amber turret]

LMAO

[ruby stag]

but honestly

like..

honestly…

a meteor shower date wouldn’t be a bad idea

[amber turret]

Exactly

[ruby stag]

JUST NOT IN HS

💀💀

[amber turret]

Nahhh

You’ll only be a post-college apps High School senior once 👀

[ruby stag]

that’s true

and i likely won’t see him ever again

which is also true

but asking for his number is too much 💀

and he’s really reserved

[amber turret]

Might as well make the most out of the moment👀

Shoot your shot

[ruby stag]

oml

[amber turret]

😂

[ruby stag]

i guess so 💀

i’ve got like 13 weeks left in the class

[amber turret]

Go for it

It’s definitely possible

[ruby stag]

no it isn’t 💀

he doesn’t want to date until after college

and he’s been adamant about that since freshman yr

ms astrophysics can’t change that

[amber turret]

I’m an engineering nerd who had that exact same mindset then this girl I met changed that 🥴

[ruby stag]

💀💀💀💀

AYO

hmm…

[amber turret]

It’s 100% possible

[ruby stag]

LOL

[amber turret]

I speak from experience

I have a girlfriend somehow 💀💀💀

[ruby stag]

did you approach her

[amber turret]

We became friends

Then she approached me

She asked me if I liked her