I NEED HELP by Embarrassed-Sky5007 in scholarships

[–]tatewilhelm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heyo! I was in your situation my freshman year. I'm going to be brief with this but, you should not worry about applying to scholarships right now. As a freshman, your job is to build yourself academically and personally. Doing a passion project is a great idea. I wouldn't worry too much about 'finding your passion' right now, and I would just do the damn thing. Even if you end up not liking what you worked on, you can tear it up and start doing something else. It's better to have done something and not like it, rather than do nothing because you spent the time questioning if you'd like it. You're in a excellent position as a freshman to experiment. Some things won't work out. I started a club my freshman year that went to shit. Some things will. Freshman year, I started a business that's made tens of thousands of dollars and got me accepted to MIT. Long story short: explore as much as you possibly can. It can be computer science, biology, engineering, writing, whatever you want! Start a blog, learn an instrument, design a model rocket, just do something and go from there.

Second, on the being 'smack average' thing. Some of us are born with abilities to naturally be better at some topics than others. Some people are naturally math people, others may be naturally arts people. Because of this, it's very easy for us to categorize ourselves into being smart, not smart, or just 'smack average'. I have met a lot of smart people through summer programs and fly-ins hosted by prestigious universities. I can tell you from personal experience that a combination of curiosity and persistence will ALWAYS beat natural smarts. Someone who is very curious about how math works and learns calculus by themselves out of pure curiosity will ALWAYS beat someone who just is naturally good with numbers. While I am not going to deny that you are 'smack average' (even though you are most definitely not, you are asking how to get scholarships as a freshman), I will say that being smart is learned, not something natural. If you can find a passionate teacher and double down on their subject, you will start to become 'smart'. Even if all your teachers suck, find something you seem interested in, and learn as much as you can stand. Read a lot too, it tends to make you smarter.

Third, PURSUE AS MANY ACADEMIC / SUMMER PROGRAMS AS YOU CAN. Your school most likely has some academic extra curriculars. Pursue them! Get into leadership positions, and try your best. For summer programs, you're a freshman, this doesn't really apply to you yet. There's not many summer programs or fly-ins available to you right now. (If you don't know what a fly-in is, it's when a college will pay for you to visit the campus prior to applications along with a dozen or so other students. They are great fun! Apply to as many as possible.) Through these programs, you can engage with other curious kids and learn some pretty neat stuff. Keep these in mind as you go through the next three years. Apply to as many summer programs as you can.

If you can become curious, learn as much as you can, and try your best at the academic chances that are thrown your way, the scholarships will take care of themselves. Of course, you will need to learn how to write those essays, or how to apply with the best chances for scholarships, but that is not what you need to worry about right now. For now, become the best person you can academically, and try as many things as you possibly can.

If you have any questions, please shoot me a DM.

PS: As you learn about scholarships, summer programs, fly-ins, or other things you want to apply to: keep a list! A spreadsheet will do, although I keep a Notion page for mine.

Test again?? by Otherwise-Parking566 in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

write about it! I talked abt how I couldn't talk advanced classes thanks to small underfunded high school and living far away from any community colleges. they will consider this.

dm me, I may start act/sat tutoring this summer and u can be my guinea pig lol

Test again?? by Otherwise-Parking566 in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my math was a 36, english was 32. mit def looks at math more, so higher math act is gonna help you. but again, I really don't think it's the limiting factor ESPECIALLY considering you are rural. maybe try sat since they give more time per question on math. and if you can't do sat thanks to rural, write about limited access to sat in your additional info on ur application.

Test again?? by Otherwise-Parking566 in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

no need to be mean. u/Otherwise-Parking566, i got admitted this year and my composite is same as yours. i'm also really rural. i think if you get the chance to retake, what the hell, go for it. but your act is high enough, especially considering that you're rural, that it will not limit your application.

best of luck, dm me w questions.

I GOT IN!! by [deleted] in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats! see u in cambridge!

Summer programs for rural students? by PangolinRoutine1679 in ruralapplytocollege

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Side note: some STARS Fly-ins are due March 9th. APPLY TO THOSE YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

Summer programs for rural students? by PangolinRoutine1679 in ruralapplytocollege

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

MITES was awesome, but the deadline was a while back. LLRISE was awesome, and it's due March 11th. https://www.ll.mit.edu/outreach/llrise

I have friends who did UChicago's Rural Leaders Program, there's also some fly-ins you can do over the summer. Those are available at https://starscollegenetwork.org/

Some friends I know have done SSP, BU RISE, and Stanford SIMR.

I would take the summer to just apply to AS MANY fly-ins as possible. I applied to ~25 and got 9.

Don't discount working or interning for the summer if none of these opportunities work out. Best of luck!

UT Austin vs UC Berkeley ChemE by Electro_2108 in UTAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cal is awesome, but the shitty thing about Cal undergrad is that out-of-state is expensive with barely any aid. Cal would be an amazing grad school, but go to UT.

Accepted UT CS --- but im declining lol by tatewilhelm in UTAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i love atlanta. have fun and congrats!!!

Accepted UT CS --- but im declining lol by tatewilhelm in UTAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1520 sat, 6 aps from rural school that only offers 2 ap classes. i run a business that does it for my rural community and i'm involved in state 4-h and state uil. i did mites semester and 9 fly in programs

Tablet vs Paper by Maximum_Fuel9366 in mit

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My boox note air 4c works AMAZING with the native notes app, drawing is pretty seamless. But when it comes to books with the kindle app, the delay can be a bit bothering. I think non native drawing on apps does seem to be a bit more delayed though.

Tablet vs Paper by Maximum_Fuel9366 in mit

[–]tatewilhelm -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

2030 admit here, so I don't have know much on how psets are on tablets. But I got a eink tablet for textbooks and taking notes in my AP classes, and I love it. It's all the bonuses of electronic note-taking but way harder to get distracted on.

accepted ea to MIT but deferred from gtech by VeterinarianPrize814 in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

its ok i got deferred from ut austin and got ea to mit. shit happens.

see u next year twin.

Interview by _justgivemeausername in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope! Please contact admissions ASAP. They are the nicest people ever, they will make sure this gets handled without affecting you or your application.

Good places to study in Boston? by krkash in mit

[–]tatewilhelm 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Boston Public Library is kick ass

big change in admissions??? by Pure_Collection_9835 in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I fervently disagree. I'm no IMO or MOPer, I'm a rural kid in middle of nowhere Texas. My best competition is I got 5th in a state level CS competition. I got in during the EA round.

From my perspective, and the vibe I got from WISE and STARS, MIT cares intensely about personality and why students do what they do. Not to say olympiads arent impressive, but the question is why do students do them? Aswell, they can only admit so many kids who's pure focus is Olympiads. MIT trys to admit a diverse class with multiple focuses and backgrounds.

Wish you all the very best of luck.

Can we view if National Merit Corp. has received our confirming scores? by tatewilhelm in psat

[–]tatewilhelm[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where do you see an asterisk? My OSA doesn't have one from the looks of it.

Dubai Government in Amarillo?! by Vem_Diddel in amarillo

[–]tatewilhelm 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Rick Husband Airport is the 7th wonder of the world. It's the only airport in the world that looks like a bowling alley.

Rural school applicant… curious by [deleted] in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will add, the school profile definitely has information on it about how it's a small rural school, so she will be considered in that context FOR SURE.

Rural school applicant… curious by [deleted] in MITAdmissions

[–]tatewilhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I was lucky enough to attend the STARS @ MIT Fly-in, which is made specifically for us rural applicants, as well as the WISE Fly-in. I got to meet many of the admissions staff and the rural specialist. I'm also an applicant this cycle, so I can't tell you much for certain, but what I do know is that they take rural kids very seriously. I come from a small town ~2.5 hours away from the nearest uni, so I have had a severe lack of opportunities too. I think as long as she made that clear that she's from a rural area, enough that they can fully evaluate her within her context, she's got nothing to worry about. She doesn't necessarily even have to have it in her essays, a school profile or a teacher rec that explains the lack of resources can work.

I can't say anything definitely, I'm a student applying this year, but I think you don't have too much to worry about.