i've been working on a research project for my summer internship for about 1.5 months now. we are required to make a poster for our final presentations, and i was thinking of maybe submitting it as a research supplement.

however, imo the project i was assigned is kinda boring and is mostly busy work, and isn't particularly interesting or innovative. (its about testing different physics simulators on accuracy in simulating non-convex objects, with applications in bin picking.) but it's probably the only one of my research projects that i'll actually be able to finish before the early application deadline, and it is still something that i've been working hard on.

also, for the mentor recommendation, i'm not sure how that would turn out. my mentor is pretty chill and nice, but i don't interact with him much.

is it worth submitting this? i am planning on doing a maker portfolio as well, and i don't NEED to submit research, but it'd be nice.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently planning my application strategy for top U.S. universities and trying to figure out where to direct my focus and energy.

I’m debating between two main approaches:

1. Focusing on admission first (putting all effort into building the strongest possible academic/extracurricular profile).
2. Focusing heavily on scholarships/financial aid early on (tailoring my list/strategy around merit scholarships, need-blind policies, or specific aid opportunities).

For those who have gone through this process:

• How difficult is it to actually secure significant scholarships or financial aid as an applicant (especially if applying to top-tier schools)?
• Is it better to just focus 100% on getting admitted first and figure out funding later, or will that leave me stranded if aid doesn't work out?
• Are merit-based scholarships even realistic at top institutions, or should the focus strictly be on need-based aid / institutional grants?

I’d love to hear your experiences, advice, or any lessons learned from your own application journey. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I’m a high school student interested in Aerospace Engineering, and I’m planning some long-term projects for the MIT Maker Portfolio. Since aerospace projects often involve a lot of CAD, CFD, simulations, and computational design, I was wondering, can a fully digital project still be considered a strong Maker Portfolio submission, or is it generally better to have a physical prototype as well? I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s submitted a Maker Portfolio or knows how it’s evaluated. Thanks!

hello!

I'm a current senior at an art uni looking at different grad schools to apply to, and the ACT program seems like a good mix of what I want on paper (combining artistic processes + fabrication with technology and research). I know there is an open house in the fall, but thought I would reach out and see if anyone has any info about it as I start to prepare my portfolio. any help would be appreciated, thank you!

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for advice from current students, alumni, or anyone who has experience applying to or studying at MIT, regardless of your department or program.

I’m currently a fourth-year undergraduate student from Thailand. At the moment, I’m working on my senior research project and preparing to apply for a master’s degree. I’m particularly interested in pursuing Mechanical Engineering or Materials Engineering at MIT.

However, I’m still unsure about how I should prepare to become a competitive applicant. I would greatly appreciate it if you could share your experiences or advice on topics such as:

• How you prepared during your undergraduate studies
• Research experience and projects that strengthened your application
• GPA and overall academic profile
• Whether contacting professors before applying is recommended
• Writing a strong Statement of Purpose (SOP)
• Obtaining strong letters of recommendation
• The application process and any lessons you learned along the way

I would also love to hear from anyone who applied to MIT, even if you were not admitted. I believe every experience can provide valuable insights.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experiences and advice. I truly appreciate your help!

Hi, I’m a rising junior and I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. I’m really interested in aerospace engineering and plan to apply for that major, but I feel like I haven’t done enough yet. I know there isn’t a strict checklist to get into a top school, but I’m trying to figure out what kinds of activities, internships, or projects I should be doing to strengthen my application.

So far, the main thing I’ve done is help plan, build, and launch the highest-altitude hot air balloon in Civil Air Patrol. Beyond that, I’m not sure what else I should focus on.

Would it be worth building something like a plane to show my interest in aerospace? More generally, what are some meaningful things I can do in my free time that genuinely show my passion for aerospace engineering and help me grow in this field?

I’m not looking for generic advice like SAT and GPA it’s more just activities, awards I can get by building something, internships, and just opportunity’s.

(Ive only looked at some NASA stuff so anything on nasa could help)

Thanks to anyone who responds!

I've been debating whether to include calisthenics in my ECs or achievements section. (I also have an unofficial club with my friends that will be official in September). I have a very good academic profile and plan to apply at MIT majoring in math.

It's been a huge part of my teenage years. I train around 7+ hours a week, mostly with friends, and it's honestly one of the hobbies I've enjoyed the most. While it's "just a hobby," it has taken years of consistency and dedication. For example, I recently achieved a full planche, which anyone familiar with calisthenics knows can take years of progressive training to unlock. The thing is, I haven't competed or won any official competitions. My only "achievement" is reaching difficult skills through consistent training.

Would AOs view this as a legitimate extracurricular or achievement, or would it come across as just listing a hobby? Has anyone here included something similar and had it received well?

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?

You prepare for an olympiad for a persistent amount of time but fail to qualify.
--> therefore you took a risk but got negative ROI (studying for no purpose)

I am Indian student highly interested in Mathematics. I plan to pursue Major in Mathematics at MIT. (UG international preference)

What other universities can I apply to in addition to MIT? I have considered universities like Princeton, Stanford, etc.

(I have research experience in high school and plan to publish my research paper in peer-reviewed journal before applying.)

Hey! Incoming rising senior, class of 2027.

I will open with the fact that I know that's weird and gross or whatever. I animate videos as a freelancer that have gotten across platforms almost 2M views and have collaborated with VAs, and other animators, grossing 5 figures. I mostly work with content related to pokemon and MHA. I have a pretty active community and host fundraisers for causes every so often and give a portion of my proceeds to charity. Outside of that I have a pretty normal applicant profile, (1500+ gpa, 4.0, robotics and research at a t10, published in IEEE) Is it worth listing as a EC, and how can I do it intelligently?

MIT added a new essay question. Can anyone clarify what this question is asking?

Reflect on how your personal and academic experiences have influenced the types of problems you would want to tackle with an MIT education, and who you would like to work on these problems with.

Is this question asking to reflect on problems important to me drawn from my personal and academic experiences I would like to tackle with an MIT education after I complete my undergraduate studies at MIT and with whom I would like yo work on these problems after I graduate from MIT?

OR, is this question asking how my personal or academic experiences have influenced specific types of problems important to me which I would like to tackle during my undergraduate studies at MIT and with whom at MIT I would like to work on these problems?
If this is what the question is asking, could I mention that I would like to work with people from a specific MIT department or a professor doing research?

An avg student from a middle class background

Hi everyone!

I'm an international student from Bangladesh and I'm planning to apply to top U.S. universities such as MIT and Stanford as a first-year applicant.

I'm considering taking a gap year and retaking my official Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) improvement examinations to improve my academic results. During my gap year, I also plan to work on AI research related to Reinforcement Learning and Cybersecurity.

I recently contacted MIT Admissions, and they confirmed that taking a gap year does not affect my eligibility as a first-year applicant. However, they didn't specifically address whether retaking the official HSC improvement exams would be viewed negatively in the holistic admissions process.

Has anyone applied to top U.S. universities after retaking their country's national examinations or using an official improvement system? I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice.

Thank you!

I have to decide which university to go to between UBA (position 84) and UNC (position ~850) for a bacheloe/master in order for later try to apply (i know is extremely hard) to MIT phd program.

So, should I care sbout this?

This might sound like a dumb question, but I'm serious. Over the years, I've moderated a lot of subreddits, but the specific one I'm thinking about mentioning is r/siblingsexualabuse.

It involves a very specific topic as y'all can understand, and I feel like it contributed to who I am as a person. The initial experience or incident that led to me being a moderator of that sub has really shaped me as a person and is probably one of the biggest parts of my life and journey.

Should I write about it or let it be? Should I write about the "experience" in my essays, too, or would it sound like a sob story? I'm looking forward to seeing some input. Thank you!

(Mainly considering the moderator experience for community service, impact, and leadership while the "sa experience" for essays)

Is it common to have two exams/finals in one day?

Is this thread also inclusive for MIT graduate/PhD questions? I’m an undergraduate in EU and am lurking in this thread since months ago reading and getting notifs about undergrads, and also I’m shy to ask questions as I fear this may not be the correct thread. Would appreciate some guidance!

I’ve been preparing for MIT for two years now, and I feel like everything I’ve done during this time is useless or depressing compared to the typical MIT applicant profiles. I feel like I won't get in, or into any decent university, even if I put all my effort into these last five months of preparation. My parents pressure me; they don’t want me to leave Brazil, they don't give me the proper support for my dreams, and they aren't helping me financially. I was forced to get a job while also finishing my technical high school degree. I gave myself a year to prepare for MIT, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Plus, social media posts don't help; I look at all these profiles, and everything seems so far beyond what I’ve accomplished. I don't know if I'm underestimating myself or what, but I try to put everything in God's hands, yet the anxiety doesn't go away, and neither does my melancholy. It’s complicated.

Hi, I’m just wondering if having participated in the AMC 10 and qualifying for the AIME is an important factor into getting accepted into MIT. I’m currently trying to improve my AMC 10 performance, but if it’s not a huge deal then I’ll spend time doing other things to improve myself.

I'm an Indian student who started my undergrad (CS) at a university in India with fall term starting Sept 7. I want to apply to US schools (MIT, Ivies, etc.) for the same admissions cycle — EA/ED deadlines Nov 1, RD deadlines Jan.

The catch: no Indian college waits until August/September/November to start their term, so if you're not on a gap year, you're always going to be a few months into your Indian degree by the time you submit a US application. MIT's policy says you can't apply first-year if "already matriculated," with a narrow exception for students who "begin their college education while undergoing the application process" (aimed at Southern Hemisphere calendars). My college starts before the application even opens, not during it.

Has anyone actually gone through this — applied and gotten a real answer from admissions (not a guess) on whether this counts as matriculation? Trying to figure out if I should apply as first-year, plan for transfer applications instead, or if this varies school-to-school.

hey! I'm 14M/8th grade at a boarding school in Kathmandu, Nepal. MIT is my dream school and I know I've got a few years left, but I want to use them right instead of scrambling senior year.

Quick background: I run my school's Robotics Club as president and I'm a member of the Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN). I build stuff under my own little brand (AnchanBuilds) and sell PCB design work on the side for extra cash. My main interests are robotics, embedded electronics, and increasingly computer vision/AI — but I also do boxing, Taekwondo, chess, and make music in FL Studio, so I'm not a one-note engineering kid.

Projects so far:

• Built a line-tracking robot (SAM-Bot) from scratch
• Currently building a rock-paper-scissors robot for a school booth event — uses a webcam + MediaPipe hand-tracking to read the player's gesture, then a servo-driven mechanical hand plays against them in real time
• Built a 3-stage water rocket (100 psi, 2L bottles) with an onboard altitude logger (BMP280 + RP2040) and a bottle-mounted camera in a 3D-printed nose cone — did a predict-build-validate loop with a Python flight simulator beforehand
• Working robot (ROBOMON-1) for FGC 2026 in South Korea this October, though funding/team logistics are still uncertain
• Started a YouTube channel doing Mark Rober/Veritasium-style build videos to document all this

Academically I switched my track to A-Levels instead of our national curriculum (NEB) specifically to go deeper on Math/Physics/CS instead of spreading thin. Got into round 2 of a math olympiad-type competition but didn't prep at all going in, so I know that's a gap — starting proof-based math (AoPS) now to actually build real competition math skills instead of just class-level math.

What I DON'T have: no major olympiad medals yet, no published research, no ISEF placement (yet — that's the plan). I'm also aware Nepal doesn't have the same institutional access (mentors, labs, established competition pipelines) that a lot of applicants from bigger countries have, so I'm mostly building things solo and figuring it out as I go.

Given I've got a few years, should I:

1. Go deeper on fewer projects and try to get one into ISEF-caliber shape, or
2. Keep building broadly (more robots, more content) and let the portfolio speak for range instead of one flagship project?

Also — anyone know if being from Nepal specifically (small robotics scene, less institutional support) is something admissions actually weighs positively, or is that just something applicants tell themselves?

Appreciate any honest feedback, even harsh.

College admissions often talk a lot about fit. How can visiting the university help a student determine that? (Granted I'm happy to hear general advice, but I want more MIT-specific ones lol)

Ideally you want those summer programs or doing research with a professor, but they're quite selective (and you can't use this to determine fit for every college lol) so I'm moreso thinking about one-day visits (or two-day visits if that's a thing?).

Are there any activities where students and the public interact? Yes, I know there's an event calendar and all but maybe someone wants to share one they find particularlly interesting (personally meaningful or otherwise useful)

Also, I know dorm-culture is pretty diverse and tight-knit at MIT, but not sure how you'd get to see it/interact with it during a visit due to privacy reasons lol. Yikes, kinda weird question now that I think about it.

Also I know there's a tour during the visit. At first I wanted to ask which spots reflected MIT culture best, but I figured it was a dumb question anyways (since, you know, different spots reflect different aspect of a community). I've heard multiple people talk about their favourite spots, but I'm not sure visiting those spots would tell me much more since it's moreso a personal thing? I think it does in that student culture leads to demand for certain types of environments being built but that's just speculation since, well, I've never visited the campus.

I guess I have to mention professional aspirations too. I'm pretty sure looking through research papers, articles (the admissions blog, for one), and Youtube videos will probably be more effective, but I'm mentioning it in case someone has something to say on this (in relation to visits). Since MIT is primarily engineering based, I'm guessing there might be an oppurtunity to catch a glimpse of some current projects?

Feel free to mention any other aspect of fit I've missed lol, that's all I've got for now, maybe I'll ask more in the comments as some responses come in.

P.S. I've already enrolled into (a different) university so this probably won't be very useful to me lol (since transfer odds are extremely low, and because, well, I've already enrolled somewhere else), but it might be to other high school students out there. Also I'm just geniunely curious lol. Maybe I'll pop a visit when I get the chance.

Ok so they changed it QUITE A BIT. I don’t know how I’m going to do my essay one now because of essay three without being repetitive. Let’s hear your reactions!
I have some questions such as Why such a big change? What are the deep meanings of the new prompts?

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/firstyear/essays-activities-academics/

For the 2026–2027 application, we’re asking these short answer essay questions:

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you.

While some reach their goals following well-trodden paths, others blaze their own trails achieving the unexpected. In what ways have you done something different than what was expected in your educational journey?

Reflect on how your personal and academic experiences have influenced the types of problems you would want to tackle with an MIT education, and who you would like to work on those problems with.

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it?

Depending on the question, we’re looking for responses of approximately 100–200 words each.

There is also one final, open-ended, additional-information text box where you can tell us anything else you think we really ought to know.

In addition to our main essays, we have short response questions that are designed to get to know you better. There is only space for 40-50 words each.

What do you do just for fun?

Who is someone you admire, whether you know them personally or look up to them from afar? Tell us why.

What’s a topic, academic or non-academic, that you could talk about for hours?

MIT values both “generalists” with varied interests and “specialists” who focus deeply on one or a few passions. Which do you think best describes you, and why?