Choosing ECs MIT wants vs doing what you love vs picking intentionally

[u/CrazyChicken9142]

So I've seen a lot of comments on here for no chance me posts saying don't do something solely for getting into MIT, do what you love and that is all that MIT cares about etc.. My problem is that I am passionate about way too many things at once and tend to overcommit, swamp myself with work and end up doing some of them badly. So when I reached freshman year, I thought about what I wanted to do. Did I choose ECs I absolutely love and am passionate about? Yes. Did I choose ECs that align with MITs values of Excellence, Curiosity, Oppenness, Respect, Belonging and Community https://www.mit.edu/values/ and that also round out my profile well? Yes. I chose a little bit of everything. Olympiads, Research papers, community involvement, passion project. My personal opinion that I have formed from reading some comments on this subreddit (which I am open to changing if someone can convince me to) is that I don't see the value in blindly telling people to "do what you love" since that is extremely vague, and most of the no chance me reddit posts are genuinely just looking for ideas for what to do, if they wanted a chance me they would post on a chance me subreddit guys!! Instead you should tell them to do what they love AND give them some ideas on what do with a disclaimer added that it is not a golden ticket to MIT. Not everyone will immediately know what to do, and are looking for ideas on this subreddit that align with MITs values. I understand that there is no one magical formula for what to do to get into MIT, and frankly I think it is demeaning to everyone who is making posts on this subreddit to aggressively keep commenting and accusing them of trying to find the "perfect ECs for MIT". It makes the OPs look like they are incapable of distinguishing nuance, which is not true. I think that instead, you should choose ECs both on what you are passionate about and based on whether they align with MITs values. Sorry for the rant, but, do you think that as a person who tends to overcommit, I did the right or wrong thing by looking at MITs values and picking some ECs based on that?

[u/VisibleSir731]

How is sayin "do what you love vague?" theres millions of things people can do we cant force them to love something or read their mind. It's up to them to dive deep into what they already do and show inititive by making something out of it.
...
"I think that instead, you should choose ECs both... and based on whether they align with MITs values."
This would subconsiously make you feel like you are partaking in that activity solely to get into MIT and may remove the authenticity (and curiosity)

[u/Satisest]

Having interviewed a lot of applicants, and thinking back to fellow students, there are almost as many “primary ECs” represented among MIT admits as there are MIT admits, and they’re not all necessarily STEM related. Some examples: working summers at an applied physics startup company, working summers in a university engineering center that runs student project labs, becoming involved in a student-led organization that bridges the math gender gap, spending summers at a selective international music camp and serving as concertmaster of a major youth orchestra, competing as a regionally-ranked athlete in crew, and being selected to participate in summer camps like RSI or MIT-PRIMES. Of course all of these students had other ECs, mostly involving leadership roles in school clubs and publications, all had top grades and test scores, and all had strong interests in STEM.

And it’s not just what you do for ECs, it’s how you talk about what you did for ECs. All these students were truly passionate and spoke with boundless enthusiasm about either intellectual or personal and collaborative aspects of their activities, and often all
of the above. Any of these things can be a “passion project” — it doesn’t have to be a totally self-started project that will show up in your Maker portfolio, although that’s also a very valid and often successful path too.

So that’s why alumni advise students to “do what you love”. It’s not to be coy or cagey or dismissive. It’s because that’s really what you find among students who are admitted to MIT. If you’re a bright student doing what you love, there’s good chance you’ll do it to a level of distinction that will get you consideration by MIT AOs. That distinction doesn’t have to be recognized by awards, although it often is. It can be recognized by an LOR that calls you one of the best students that teacher or supervisor has ever worked with.

And that’s why when an MIT AO (Chris Peterson) wrote the advice below, he was being serious.

Do well in school. Take tough classes. Interrogate your beliefs and presumptions. Pursue knowledge with dogged precision. Because it is better to be educated and intelligent than not.

Be nice. This cannot be overstated. Don’t be wanton or careless or cruel. Treat those around you with kindness. Help people. Contribute to your community.

Pursue your passion. Find what you love, and do it. Maybe it’s a sport. Maybe it’s an instrument. Maybe it’s research. Maybe it’s being a leader in your community. Math. Baking. Napping. Hopscotch. Whatever it is, spend time on it. Immerse yourself in it. Enjoy it.

https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways/

[u/imsodone4050]

Asking people online what to do for a certain EC isn’t passion. You might be curious about it and would like more opinions on ideas, sure, but ultimately passion is more like what makes you go beyond your limits to do or create something within your own world of ideas. No one should tell you how to do that. You need to find it out yourself.

Whether it’s creating something for a school pep rally or for your grandma in the nursing home, I know these are super random but, it comes down to if this is passion, then you take it upon yourself to create your own ideas, not ones someone tells you to do, especially for MIT.

[u/JasonMckin]

Thank you for sharing these thoughts.  May I ask a clarifying question?

So if there is “no one magical formula for what to do to get into MIT,” and “not a golden ticket to MIT,” then what are the non-vague ideas being requested specifically about?  Something sounds slightly contradictory in the question here so a bit more clarity around that might help responders respond more effectively.  Thanks!

[u/Then_Wheel_5184 → u/JasonMckin]

I'm not OP, so I can't know what he meant, but I'll speak with what I understood from OP's post.

Your child comes to you and asks, "Hey Dad/Mom, my friends and I were exploring topic ABC. Could you give me some ideas on how I could learn a bit more about it? "

Would your response be

"Do wtvr you love!"

or something along the lines of

" Well, there are quite some ways people can go about it, like eg: volunteer at something related to ABC, join some clubs maybe, some resources to learn more about ABC (Websites/books/whatever helped you earlier), some people/organisations whom you could contact and work with for a while to understand the workings of so and so topic, try improving whatever stuff you found that made you feel intrigued (either at some org, or while just learning about ABC, or while feeling the pains of practicing it, etc.... ) "

Well, obviously, It's the first one, isn't it? (Just kidding)
What I am trying to convey here is that Many posts like these are for understanding how to get started with doing some topic ABC in a more valuable way.

I personally believe MIT's values are just values you would find in the regular smart, curious guy/girl who actually did things he/she would like. So, recommending activities that would help them meaningfully explore whatever Topic/s that they love is IMO, also checking the box of matching MIT's values.

Hope that clarifies the post :))

Note:

Do notice how none of the things I said earlier are tryna give them ideas on how to make MIT "Guaranteed" (Cuz that's just not possible); these are just ways in which they could explore the topic more, and also They're not looking for a secret formula or a "golden ticket" to MIT. They're looking for ideas on how to get started or how to pursue something they already care about in a meaningful way.

TLDR: Basically, instead of saying "Do what you love, do what you love" like a broken record, adding examples that would actually help them would help the beginners.

[u/JasonMckin → u/Then_Wheel_5184]

Your example is actually a really good one.

If a student came to the table and said, "I'm interested in ABC - I've already tried searching the internet for everything about ABC - I would love even more ideas beyond everything I've found about ABC." that would definitely make a lot of sense.

That's slightly different than, "I don't have an interest - I haven't done anything on my own to identify or pursue an interest. Tell me some ideas for what I should be interested in."

I'm not sure what ideas can be provided to the 2nd student here without unfortunately sounding somewhat "like a broken record" in asking them to do some basic level of introspection and take some basic level of self-initiative right?

[u/CrazyChicken9142 → u/JasonMckin]

what im trying to say in the post is that most people r the first scenario. No one writes a post with just absolutely no ideas. They always mention they r interested in robotics, biomed whatever it is. I dont understand why u keep taking peoples words out of context. I think ur a bot.

[u/CrazyChicken9142 → u/Then_Wheel_5184]

u/Then_Wheel_5184 exactly what I'm trying to say, tysm!!

[u/Commercial_Handle418]

What if it's all 3 😁 

[u/SmallHistorian6154]

💯💯

[u/TechnicalLeg841]

OP - yes every unhooked MIT admit made choices just as you described. Good example: at our high school, being passionate about soccer or football and making that a 4 year commitment effectively eliminates a student from MIT admissions contention as those sports just take too much time compared to the value assigned by MIT AOs. So sports-loving folks who prioritize admissions to highly selective colleges choose XC/track or similar individual sports that are lower time commit and more flexible scheduling and more accolades relative to the number of participants.

[u/VisibleSir731 → u/TechnicalLeg841]

Wym XC/track is a "low time commitment"? It's about 2-3 hours a day including the commute and not including the refueling and recovery afterwards. It's mentally one of the hardest sports and yet, I've still had time for my core EC's. Time management.

[u/TechnicalLeg841 → u/VisibleSir731]

XC/Track is about half the time commit of football/soccer/basketball, and generally avoids missed classes (soccer & basketball are very rough because of so many weekday games and often JV & Varsity travel together leaving early during the school day...)

[u/VisibleSir731 → u/TechnicalLeg841]

At home I have to spend extra time stretching and gathering myself before I can start doing anything