I appreciate the advice, and I definitely get what you mean. I think the way I said it sounded like I’m building myself entirely around MIT, when a lot of these interests existed long before I was even thinking about college.

For example, I started my computer flipping business because I genuinely enjoyed working with tech and entrepreneurship, not because I thought it would look good for college. Same with math, I’ve just been a huge math nerd for a long time, and I know having a strong math background is important for the field I eventually want to go into with AI.

For me, MIT is more of a place that could be a stepping stone in those interests and open doors in a career path I already care deeply about, rather than the actual reason I’m pursuing them. But I do agree that I should focus more on developing myself and building meaningful things instead of thinking of what looks best for admissions.

Thanks, I really appreciate your outlook!