Long Overdue QA Post

Long Overdue QA Post Its been a long time since my last QA post sorry for the delay! Some of these go back pretty far, but better late than never. :-) - If I would like to play for an athletic team, should I contact the coach before I apply to MIT or just (if i get in) show up for tryouts? And do athletics have anything to do with the undergrad admissions process? Its always a good idea to contact the coach for your sport if you are seriously considering playing in college. Athletics are one of many ways to demonstrate a strong passion or proficiency in something playing a sport wont get you into MIT on its own, but like anything else you may do well (research, play an instrument, community service, etc) it can help your application. For SATs, is the SAT I or II more important? Are SAT IIs after the required 2 considered? And does MIT (and other colleges) accept the new Internet based TOEFL? In order: Both are important (and required). / Not as heavily, but in some cases yes. / Yes. I am an international student in an area where interviews arent available. Would I be able to do the interview during Junior year summer when I visit MIT? Yes, please see the third paragraph of Stus entry for details. I have a question. 4 years of high school math are recommended for applying to MIT. Im going to be a senior next year and I have chosen a Java class. Due to scheduling problems, I will not be able to take Calculus or another Math class. At our school, Java counts as Math credit, but I was wondering if the lack of real math will be a problem. Calculus would be preferred over Java if you havent taken Calc yet, but this will not be a deal-breaker if the rest of your application is strong. I am taking my second time of SATs in October, and my SAT IIs in November, which would qualify me for early decision. I read that I have to officially send the scores to MIT from the test, but on my first SAT I did not do this, because I did not know I needed to. On collegeboard.coms website, there is an option to send scores to colleges is this still official in the sense you need it? Yes, this is fine. Im from Romania, moved to the states in fifth grade. Last year my stepfather got a sabatical which we spent back there, where I went to school etc. Is MIT at all familiar with education systems in foreign countries meaning, when I send in my app, will you see what my grades mean in the given the context? Absolutely no worries. We receive applications from many countries and many different school systems each year. When it comes to transcripts, do you require one from each high school attended, or is it enough for my American high school to send one, given that it recognized my year abroad and gave me credits accordingly? Well want to see the grades; if your American high school transcript includes the grades from your year abroad, thats all you need. If not, please submit a transcript from the other school as well. BTW, I dont have space under the List Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or GCSE courses taken or under way. (If you have taken the test, please list date and score.) part to list all of mine. There are only 12 spaces! Ahhh! Should I fill the rest in under additional information? Yes, that is fine. Hey Ben, I have to take the SATs in October coming up, and I will have that score officially reported, but my prior SAT wasnt officially sent anywhere. If I go onto collegeboards site there is a link Send scores to schools. Is this still a valid/official way to send scores, just in case I score lower on a section my next time around? This is fine. On the Mid Year Grade Report it says to return the form at the end of the second quarter if your school uses a quarter-based system. We have 4 marking periods divided into two semesters, however the 2nd one does not end until mid-to-end January, which would be after you will have reviewed my application (I intend to apply early action). Should I have it filled out at the end of the first marking period, or wait until the end of January as-is? Thanks again. You are welcome to submit your first-marking-period grades to us for consideration in EA, but youll still need to submit the mid-year grade report at the end of January. Also, a quick question about supplementary recommendations. Should we give the teacher an evaluation form, just like the other two recs? Should we label it supplementary rec? You may provide your teacher with a copy of Eval A or Eval B to fill out, or simply have him/her submit a letter on your behalf. It does not need to be labeled supplementary rec well figure that out. :-) Would Geography count as a humanities or a science if it covers both human geography and physical geography (along with environmental science)? Not sure, but it wont matter to us as long as we see it somewhere on your self-reported coursework page. I wanna ask you about SAT test. The registration for SAT subject test is only in January 27th. I have registered for SAT reasoning test for December test, if I wanna apply for this term admission, is it okay that I take SAT subjects test in January? Yes, this will be fine. Just make sure that you designate MIT as a school recipient, and note on your application that we should expect these scores. We can submit Parts 1 and 2 completely online, correct? This means that they dont have to be sent by mail, just submitted by November 1st? Thats correct! I was wondering, how much would a so-so interview hurt chances of admission in the long run? Bleghh just got back from that and I really dont feel like we clicked. Oh well. I wouldnt worry too much about it. Chances are that the interviewer had a more favorable sense of the interview than you did. Rarely do I see interview reports that arent positive, or at minimum, neutral and most of the negative ones accompany applications that are also generally negative throughout. Im retaking the SATs this saturday and I had pretty decent scores last time, Im just trying to bump the math a bit because I feel I knew all the answers and just made some dumb mistakes. But, I really detest the writing portion. Would admissions care if I say, forgot to write the essay this time and wound up with a 300 on this section the 2nd time around, or is that just a really bad plan? We will only consider your highest score in each section, regardless of the date on which you got it, and ignore the rest. Note, however, that other schools may feel differently this is just the way MIT does things so if sending scores to other schools at the same time, you may wish to check. I just sent in my online application. Im curious, though. Is there a way I could send in jpeg files to compliment the optional essay on my design? My advice would be to send hard copies (printouts) in the mail. This will ensure that they make it into your file and that your readers will see them. I was looking at my application status and saw that my Part II and Secondary School report arrived. However, it did not confirm that my Part I had been received. My school had submitted both parts my application together about a week and a half ago (by mail, in the same envelope). I might have edited a couple of fields online though had not intended to actually submit the part electronically. Could that be intefering with my status? A Part I that has been submitted via postal mail takes a little while to process, as the payment part must be processed manually. Give it a week or two; if the status hasnt changed, give us a call.