This trek was made more memorable by the following episode:

(Jeanne and I spot a group of girls clustered together, gossiping happily, oblivious to our presence)

Me: *Wonder, disbelief, further laughter*

These soundbites are so normal here at MIT. Biology, Harry Potter, derivatives, and vectors all merge themselves into casual conversations. What results is random but hugely entertaining discussion, during which I often wish my capacity to remember clever comments were more refined.

Pictures make MIT's sporadic wit much more memorable:

The above sight met my eyes this past Tuesday night, as I walked in my physics classroom for a late-night review session. Somehow, I paid more attention to this than I did to polar coordinates and dot products; the pure unexpectedness of seeing moment of inertia linked to the Yankees tickled my sense of humor to no end. I believe my love for MIT, slightly ragged due to the endless wear of psets and midterms, was renewed the second I saw this picture.

In chem class on Wednesday, this reborn enthusiasm was solidified with the sight of the following experiment, embedded here with permission from Professor Schrock:

I'm so glad I go to school here.

On Sunday, 25 October, the cadets of MIT's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) Detachment 365, including myself, traveled over to Hanscom Air Force Base (about a 30 minute drive) for the fall semester's FLX, or Field Leadership Exercise. Over the past five weeks, we had been learning skills to help us in this exercise. From low crawling to how to challenge intruders, we had to know it all so that the FLX could test our leadership and problem-solving abilities.

But first, let me start with a little background. The question I get asked most often about AFROTC is "but what do you do every week?" Cadets in Det 365 have 1-2 hours of class every week, where we learn about the Air Force and its history, customs, and practices. Every year the focus shifts a little bit, focusing first towards Field Training between sophomore and junior year, and after that towards working and living as an Air Force officer. As a freshman, I'm in AS.100, and right now we're learning about team building. It's fairly low-key, but it covers topics we'll need to be comfortable with in future years.

On Tuesdays from 3:10-5:10 pm (or 1510-1710 hrs, as we like to say), we have Leadership Lab, or LLAB, which is where we really get to practice our skills. LLAB is run by the juniors, seniors, and fifth-years, and is designed to teach the freshmen and sophomores useful skills and to let the upperclassmen get practice leading a group. So far we've had a couple mini-field exercises (out on Briggs Field, if you see people in camouflage carrying fake rifles, that's us) as well as teaching us marching and ceremonial customs.

To top off all that excitement, two mornings and one afternoon a week we have required physical training, or PT, to keep us strong and looking sweet in our uniforms.

So anyways, back to this Sunday's FLX. After learning these skills (and having to read a 23-page document teaching us more skills), it was time to test them out. We drove (transited, in military speak) to Hanscom AFB where we met up with the AFROTC detachment from UMass Lowell. Hanscom already had a simulated forward operating base set up, much like a base that would be set up during wartime, complete with gates, tents, and a command center. The freshman and sophomore cadets were split up into teams and assigned various specialties, from Medical to Security Forces. Obviously, we didn't have to know every skill in those areas, but we were expected to make use of the ones we had been taught in order to complete our missions. After about 25 minutes, we rotated stations so that we could get a chance at everything.

The command "Begin exercise. Begin exercise." came over the loudspeaker, and we were ready to go. The upperclassmen, as well as the cadre (active duty officers that run the ROTC programs) acted as "shadows" to evaluate and assist us. Some cadets also role played by acting as members of the press, civilian contractors, injured people, or protesters, and thus forced us to make decisions about how to appropriately handle each situation.

For example, when I was on the Medical team, there was a simulated base attack, and some of the cadets were "injured" at various locations around the base. We only had two stretchers, which needed to be carried by four people, and so we had to split up into teams and make sure that every injured person was accounted for and "treated" according to their injuries. Sometimes we would be indecisive or get something wrong, and that's when an upperclass shadow would step in to give us advice on what to do. We kept getting calls on our one radio about people we needed to go pick up, so on top of having a lot of responsibility, we only had one source of communication between us and the command center. We had to collaborate and constantly assess our surroundings to make sure we could do the best job possible.

It's situations like this that are common to many of our leadership exercises, and it's definitely helpful to be able to practice handling stressful situations in a controlled environment before we confront them in the real world. So, even though it was pretty stressful at times, and at the end of the day I was exhausted, I can honestly say that I enjoyed it.

Air Force ROTC will test you by putting you in situations you probably could have avoided in any other case, but overcoming these challenges has been tremendously motivating to me and many of my fellow cadets. The general theory behind these challenges, big and small, from field exercises to making sure your uniform is perfect, is that if we can handle these things we can handle our jobs as future military leaders. It certainly hasn't been easy, especially on top of adjusting to the intensity of regular MIT, but by the end of my four years here I am 100% sure I will be ready for a career in the Air Force.

BUT I had to share a particular incident with you today as I was walking back from working on psets. I walked by the LSC announcement board (LSC is a group that screens movies on campus) and one of the movies was called: "Sin No Mbre". Puzzled, I stared at it:

"Sin No Mbre"

Now I don't speak more than a large burrito worth of spanish, but here's what I thought.

Sin No Mbre = Sin Nombre---> Sin ("number*")----->O/H---->OH--->Two components in liquid rocket fuel--->EXPLOSIVE action.

I can almost guarantee you that's not the logic the advertising commitee went with, but effective nonetheless. I want to see this movie now.

*Nombre is actually "name", numero is number, but whatever I felt like I'd solved the Da Vinci Code before it was so easy Tom Hanks could do it.

I offered a slice to Li Brunetto '12, who tasted it and replied, very thoughtfully, “This tastes like detergent.”

That's how I lost my fear of cooking.

Li notwithstanding, I ended up becoming the chef on Saturdays at pika last quarter. A bit of background: pika, a 30-person independent living group snuggled in the backwoods of residential Cambridge, boasts one of the most ferocious kitchens at MIT. Knives galore, a meat locker, several fridges, an industrial-grade sink, pots large enough to double as seafaring (riverfaring?) vessels on the Charles, three bread machines, a Costco membership, and a wok that probably appeared during one of the battle scenes in Lord of the Rings allow pika to run a meal plan 7 days a week, year-round, with over 40 members. Every Saturday, I'd arrive at 4:00 pm, brimming with gastronomical illusions, take one look at the unbeautiful mountain of dishes in the sink, suffer a bout of depression, run the dishwasher several times, run downstairs to the pantry/meat freezer/fridge, and then realize that the bunch of fresh organic radishes whom I'd cast as the lead actress in my production of Citrus and Radish Confit was actually a bunch of beets. I swear, I must have been absent on the day in kindergarten when they taught you how to identify vegetables.

*This phrase is the proud winner of the Understatement of the Month Award. Ding!

Anyway, after figuring out why the giant white tomatoes with the multilayered skins were making my eyes water, I'd chop, broil, bake, fry, boil, season, blend, stir, and sample for two and a half hours until dinner was served for 30+ people. By which I mean that I pretended to be Mark Bittman and penned dining section articles for the New York Times in my head while delegating all the actual work to Ben, my cooking assistant. The results ranged from disastrous (oversalted garlic eggplant) to spectacular (coconut curry chicken), but all that truly matters is that Ben inevitably almost lost a finger due to some unfortunate chopping accident and ended up smelling like garlic every week. Did I say that out loud? I mean, all that matters is that every Saturday, we sat down to a delightful home-cooked meal.

(There was also a second chef who did a large chunk of the cooking and bought the groceries, but I'd prefer to not give him credit. Sorry, Jared. You can start your own blog. Besides, you spent like 3/4ths of the time re-organizing the spices to be in alphabetical order by Latin name or something.)

To celebrate Ben's continued ownership of all ten digits on his right hand (I'm not saying anything about the left), here's a list of my favorite recipes so far, each one in ten words or less:

-Apple and sour cream borscht (serve with a loaf of warm, dense pumpernickel freshly kneaded and baked by one of your three bread machines, just like the Russians used to do.)
-Jamaican jerk tofu baked with green apple slices
-Roasted black bean and sweet potato salad
-Savory olive oil, coconut, and pistachio granola (the trick is to use roughly equal parts salt, cardamom, and cinnamon)
-Curried cauliflower flatbread with roasted onions and sprouts
-Korean BBQ ribs (keep it simple)
-Chicken simmered in chocolate almond mole
-Asiago beer bread
-Cumin braised lamb
-Pork chops with apple and red wine reduction
-Coconut curry chicken
-Spicy roasted chickpeas
-Strawberries with balsamic and black pepper (I haven't served this yet, but it's among the most dazzling flavor trios ever, rivaled by only Peanut, Butter, and Jelly*.)

(*Not really. Sometimes, you just don't want that extra comma there.)

Much to my horror, I discovered a few weeks ago that I was slotted to cook for tEpikazoo, an 80-person feast for three of MIT's hungriest living groups (tEp, pika, and Tetazoo). If Ayn Rand had to be a dinner organized and cooked entirely by college students, she would be tEpikazoo. Specifically, she would be Spang's Seitan Pot Pie, which not only stimulated the consumers (pie-eaters) to produce value (pie crusts) but also was large enough to feed a small capitalist nation.

Luckily, tEpikazoo was a tEpikasuccess thanks to the work of head chef Spang '10 and a miniature army of volunteers from pika, East Campus, tEp, Senior Haus, and Random Hall. As soon as I tEpikazoomed over to pika after my last class on Friday afternoon, I was tEpikastounded by the frantic whirl of carrot-chopping, potato-peeling, pasta-boiling, falafel-rolling, apple-slicing, soupmaking, cheese-grating and just about every other compound gerund that happens to sound delicious.

[Editor's note: I've decided that using truncations of “tEpikazoo” as prefixes would not be tEpikacceptable if it weren't so tEpikaddictive.]

Did I mention the automized apple-slicer? It was hardcore enough to core the hardest apples. Zing! I think I've reached my literary device quota for the year.

Maita '10 cooked a trough of wonderful German potato salad. True story: I once failed a calculus quiz in high school because I had no idea what a trough looked like and therefore couldn't integrate over its volume. I think I just assumed that it looked like a rectangular prism, or maybe an ice cream cone.

I baked two batches of beer bread, a form of carbohydrate that contains another form of carbohydrate. (The beer actually replaces the yeast in ordinary quick breads.) I am told that the beer was “German” and “stout” by the purchaser. Anyway, the first batch tasted stout but not as German as the potatoes.

The second was generously smothered in asiago, parmesan, and another cheese from Trader Joe's whose name made me feel suddenly francophobic. Although the homely German stoutness of the bread was muffled by a strong whiff of asiago, just like the German Empire was historically muffled by the strength of the Italian kingdom in the Austro-Prussian war, the creamy-savory blend of flavors was marvelous.

As expected, Spang's prolific Seitan Pot Pie was stunning, sort of like the 100-page rant at the end of Atlas Shrugged except much more enjoyable and buttery.

For dessert, I dished out four bacon apple pies, as featured in the New York Times. (The reporter mentioned it for about 1/4th of a sentence, but I like to prolong my fleeting moments of celebrity.)

For dessert #2, denizens of East Campus set crepes on fire. Classy!

Dinner was followed by firespinning in the back yard.

At some point during the night, I announced my long-awaited decision to join pika by scrawling “I PLEDGE!!!” on a roll of paper towels, which I then hurled into a packed dining room. Unfortunately, instead of sailing triumphantly through the cool autumn air, the banner of extra-strength paper towels broke in mid-flight, leaving me with “I PL” and someone on the other side of the room with “EDGE!!!” One quick-witted observer, who no doubt was a Scrabble champion, pieced together my message and yelled it to the room, initiating a rib-cracking round of hugs and congratulations. As with all spontaneous celebrations, this one inspired blurry spur-of-the-moment photos that, upon closer inspection, are actually sort of creepy.

(I'm the headless pink-and-black blur on the left. That's another sentence I never expected to utter.)

On that note, I'll leave you with the Unrelated Problem Set Typo of the Week, courtesy of 8.07. [Professor Belcher labels this, “one of the strangest trig identities in equation (7.5.2) of Problem 5 that I have ever seen (it is also totally wrong).”]

Anyway, as the kids these days would say, I ROFL'ed.

So I spontaneously pushed submit. A week before the EA deadline. It felt good.

But then, I found a spelling mistake. And nearly died of panic. After receiving repeated reassurances on College Confidential that my tiny error would not cause me to be instantly rejected from MIT, I calmed down slightly, went trick-or-treating for Halloween, and stalked the application tracker on myMIT.

I couldn't sort out my thoughts; I felt anxious about my application, impatient for decisions, reluctant to do my other apps, doubtful of my prospects. There were nearly a dozen people applying from my school alone, and I couldn't help but think that compared to them, I didn't stand a chance.

And now I'm wondering - To all of you who just clicked 'submit' on your EA apps: what thoughts are racing through your minds? Do you feel exactly as I did?

Let me know
Just below
Because that's where
Your comments go

^ Check out my poetry skizzles :)

"MIT is a very good place; I'm not trying to put it down. I was just in love with it. It has developed for itself a spirit, so that every member of the whole place thinks that it's the most wonderful place in the world--it's the center, somehow, of scientific and technological development in the United States, if not the world. It's like a New Yorker's view of New York: they forget the rest of the country. And while you don't get a good sense of proportion there, you do get an excellent sense of being with it and in it, and having motivation and desire to keep on--that you're specially chosen, and lucky to be there.

-Richard P. Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1965.

-----

"baby don't worry / you are my only / you won't be lonely / even if the sky is falling down"

6:14 AM. AOL Radio is on the background, tuned to the Top 40 station.

The desk area is a confusion of research journals, lecture printouts, and the Cell Biology textbook carelessly thrown to one side, next to the trash can.

Carbon sequestration. Climate change. Ocean fertilization. Albedo. Pyrolysis and biochar. It's a little bit hard to imagine that all of these things have merely been nominal knowledge just a couple of hours ago. Five hours of wading through countless journal articles and eight double-spaced pages in Word later, everything made sense. Or at least I hope it did.

Reading articles advocating painting all roofs white to increase the albedo of the planet reminded me immediately of Greece, confirming the fact that the ancient Greeks and Romans pretty much discovered everything already 2500+ years ago.

The blinking cursor on the open Word window prompted me, hungry for more text. The slightly chilly breeze is blowing in from the windows, no doubt the remnant of freak mini snow shower the day prior.

I hear Kayla '12 get up in the room next to mine, and she soon peers into the room -

"Long night?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a moment?"

6:40 AM and one riveting discussion on Kayla's ongoing project in the Philippines (on gastrointestinal worms) later, I'm back to working on my Ecology paper.

The sun is rising outside, peeking over the Charles. But that's okay. It's just another day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Clouds at dawn one morning - I'm still constantly awed at how beautiful the change of seasons can be in New England. This is nothing short of a Monet, and it's right in front of you! (although I was semi-freezing to death when I took this, since I ran out the door with the camera without bothering to put on a sweater :P)

-----

"you can never say never / while we don't know when / but time and time again / younger now than we were before"

I vaguely remember taking a shower. I vaguely getting into bed. I vaguely remember hearing the alarm ring. I peer over.

Oh crap. Oh crap.

12 minutes later, I'm seated at Walker Memorial, a gymnasium eternally dedicated to the extreme sport of taking MIT exams.

I stare at the folio of white papers before me, wondering how many times I've done so before already, sitting in these red chairs of Walker. It's always these packets of white paper - the morning sunlight is always streaming through the upper windows of the gym - and it's always these white Lifetime folding tables (the same types upon which I took my SATs and my AP exams, almost a small fraction of eternity ago).

"You have 80 minutes, starting now!"

Just like any other test I take, I began flipping through the pages of the exam - Page 1...3...7...8...9.

Once I got to page 9, I flipped back to page 1, confused. I began reading the questions in great detail.

After making my way through the test again, I plopped down the sheath of papers down on the desk, and felt an overwhelming urge to laugh...just laugh.

The test is completely different to what I studied for.

In fact, I seriously felt like I was sitting in the wrong room, while the right 7.06 exam is happening somewhere else on campus. Sadly, the bolded "7.06 EXAM 2" test on the cover page quickly shattered any glimmers of hope that I had.*

80 minutes and 9 pages of absurdity (on my part, since I left 1/3 of the test blank and guessed another 1/2 of the test) later, I walked up to the front of the room and dropped it in the test collection box.

Afterwards, through talking with my classmates, I realized that people left anywhere from 1/5 to 1/2 of the test blank, and similarly guessed their way through the test.

Life went back to normal. The Canada geese kept arriving in flocks, heading to the south.

I got my exam back yesterday. Class average: 44, standard deviation: 14. (this means that most likely if you got 30-37 to 51-58%, you got a B, and 51-58% and above an A. the percentages are given as ranges since classes here rarely announce grade cutoffs). I was going to scan the cover page of my exam and post it here, since the number written there is so low numerically that I'm sure it'll clear up any misconceptions that MIT is easy when you study biology, but at the same time it also reflects how stupid I am so I think I'll spare myself from further embarrassment. :)

So I got a yellow Add/Drop form (Drop Date here is 11 weeks into term, all the way near Thanksgiving), and waved goodbye to Cell Bio, at least for now.

-----

"leave my door open just a crack / cuz i feel like such an insomniac / why do i tire of counting sheep / when i'm far too tired to fall asleep"

2:25 AM. Everything is a flashback from a week before.

Computer printouts litter the desk, although it's not ecology this time - it's history. The fluorescent monitor is displaying my completed typed 7.30 pset.

I went through a full day of school, had 3 hours of meetings, started and finished a pset, and I'm ready to go to sleep.

My bed has never seemed so enticing before, except I still have a 5-page paper on the Russian Reforms of 1861 that I have yet to write. I'm conflicted on whether to email my professor and request an extension, but ultimately decided against it, because - hey, we're hardcore, right?

I estimated the number of hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight, and the number seemed quite dismal (<2).

Ah well, c'est la vie. I went downstairs, got a bottle of Coke, and began to type:

"The era of Alexander II led to significant changes in the Russian society..."

Outside, quietly, it began to rain.

(click to enlarge)
This is my favorite tree on campus. I really want to take a picture of this tree every day next year, when it goes from summer to winter. I wanted to do it this year, but I don't pass by it frequently enough. :(

-----

On a more cheerful note, things have been keeping me busy. These will all be blogged about in separate entries, but here's a preview:

Leadership Training Institute (in which I'm their Expansion Director) will be sending their mentors to Brazil and China this IAP, spreading the program abroad and empowering international college students to teach their local high school students the concept of leadership.

Model United Nations (in which I'm their President) will be inviting the Director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston (equivalent to the Taiwanese consulate in Boston) for a lecture at MIT three weeks later, and will also be sending a group of delegates to UPMUNC, the UPenn MUN conference that I attended as a froshie back in the day.

iHouse (in which I'm their Housing Chair and a resident) just had its semesterly project presentations dinner, where residents who did an international development project abroad during the summer gave a short presentation to the Spurs-Humphrey Fellows, iHouse coordinators, and Dean Denoncourt of Residential Life Programs.

Helen '12 (Uganda, health/water sanitation), Sophia '10 (India, eye care), Kathy '10 (India, health/pedal-powered washing machine), Mary '11 (Cameroon, corn sheller/technology), and Kayla '12 (Philippines, gastrointestinal worms) all presented, and their presentations will be uploaded on to Youtube soon! Their presentations should give you a good idea of the focus of iHouse and what international development means to us (sadly, the video camera fell on the ground when I was uploading the videos, and then it actually broke @@" i had to send it in to get it fixed, sigh).

Other than this, I'm working a 18-hour per week UROP characterizing a conserved gene that regulates aging in C. elegans (JKim will be working in the same lab as me soon, actually...haha I don't think she knows I know yet :P).

I'm taking a health interpreting class at Boston Medical on Tuesday nights and Saturdays, in anticipation of serving as a Mandarin <-> English interpreter to Boston/Cambridge area hospitals. A large part of this was driven by what I saw at the community clinic I worked at this summer, and also in anticipation for my future focus on public health.

And I'm taking 4 classes at MIT - two history, two science. After dropping 7.06 (Cell Biology), I'm currently taking 9.01 (Neuroscience), 7.30 (Ecology I), 21H.466 (Imperial Russia), and 21H.235 (History of New York City).

Finally! Listen to this fascinating Podcast of Paul Nurse, a Nobel-prize winning biologist that was mentioned in 7.06 for his research in cell cycle regulation. I came across this podcast at the global health conference that I went to over Columbus Day weekend and I've been wanting to share it ever since. Scientists can be really good storytellers too! ^________^V

So, I decided to take pictures of part of someone else's life at MIT: 6.131 Lab.

6.131 Lab, or Power Electronics is one of those classes that reminds students why they came to MIT in the first place. At this time of year in many other classes, students are cramming as much into their heads as possible for midterms. At this time of the year in 6.131, students have just finished working late nights to create a system that lets them drive a go-cart. Now they're working on controlling fluorescent lights.

Breadboard by Noah S. '10

Why, you might ask, does a fluorescent light need to be controlled? You have likely seen a demonstration of how easy it is to wire up an incandescent bulb; you basically just connect it to a battery. In these more traditional bulbs, the filament is a resistive unit, so the more voltage you put across it, the more current will flow through, and the brighter it will shine. The filament is made out of metal (these days, usually Tungsten), so even though there is some resistance there, it is not very high.

In a fluorescent light, instead of a wire filament, there is a tube filled with low-pressure mercury vapor. When the light is turned off, this gas provides a very high resistance. Even though mercury is metal just like Tungsten is, it's spread out as a gas. For electric current to flow through the bulb, it needs to be able to jump from one atom of metal to the next, all the way to the end of the bulb.

Signal Generator in Power Electronics Lab at MIT

So that's the first difference: to get the light going in the first place, you need to provide a HUGE voltage. So why aren't fluorescent bulbs just like incandescents with bigger batteries? Well, as soon as you have started the flow of electrons through the tube, the vapor ionizes! This means that its resistance drops very suddenly. If you continued to use the same amount of voltage you used to start the lamp to run it, it would explode!

Noah S. '10 -- Hard at work. See the giant green donut-thing with red wire? That's a huge inductor.

And then the final kicker: The V-I characteristics, or relationships between voltage and current, for the lamp, are really weird. Even if you put a high amount of voltage in to start the lamp, then bring it down to the perfect level, it is a very fragile system. If some tiny little variable changes, like the temperature, it could become unstable, the current could run away, and it would still break! *For 6.131 Professor Leeb's explanation of why this happens, see note at the end.

The answer to all of our problems!

So, the answer, clearly, is to use the circuity represented above. All clear? Just in case it's not, let's explain...

So, the goal is to provide a big initial voltage, then turn it down and set up some sort of self-policing system.
Most of the things in the picture above are just made to generate a huge square wave (40 Volts). There's a part where you can adjust the Duty Cycle, or what part of the time the square wave is high or low. The other really important parts are right next to the part labeled 'Fluorescent Lamp.' They are 'L' and 'C.' The huge square wave comes in through L (an inductor) and then chooses whether to go through the C (capacitor) or lamp. If the lamp is off, it goes through the C, since there's so much resistance in the lamp. If the lamp is on, it goes through the lamp and mostly avoids the capacitor.

When the lamp is off, the inductor and capacitor form a resonant circuit. If the frequency of the square wave going in is right, the voltage in the capacitor voltage builds up until it is high enough that the lamp starts. Once the lamp starts, the inductor helps to keep the amount of current in the lamp steady.

Other cool things about the lab are winding the big inductors yourself, doing all your own soldering, and working with chips that are getting hot enough that they need huge heat sinks (the big black metal things in the photo below.) Let me know if you have any questions about 6.131 or lab classes in general. And thanks to Noah S. '10 for showing me his circuitry and giving me a refresher course on building a lamp ballast :)

Totem board, Noah S. '10

*I'm going to quote Professor Leeb himself here, because he explains it so clearly.

In the lit fluorescent lamp, "an increase in terminal voltage corresponds to a decrease in terminal current, and vice-versa. This happens because, roughly, as the current decreases in the tube, the number of charged carriers in the tube also decreases, decreasing the conductivity of the plasma column in the tube. So a higher voltage is needed to maintain the lower current! Increasing the current on the other hand, increases the conductivity of the plasma. A lower voltage is required in this case to sustain the higher current.

With these properties, "imagine a slight, inevitable disturbance that momentarily increases the current in the bulb. This disturbance could be a slight change in exterior temperature, for example. The voltage across the tube remains fixed, but now we are "off" the equilibrium curve, with a larger number of charge carriers in the tube compared to before the disturbance. Off the equilibrium curve, this voltage will push yet more current into the bulb, further increasing the conductivity. If the voltage remains unchanged, the bulb enters a "runaway" condition, where the current increases until something breaks."

I'd like to field some of your last minute questions here in this entry. I'd like to be helpful as you prepare to submit your application.

However, before you submit your question, I'd like to ask you to really look for the answer here on the site -- there's no need to ask basic questions, for example, about standardized test requirements or statistics. If you have a question though that doesn't seem to already have been answered, though, I am more than happy to help.

A few FAQs:

• The deadline is November 1, meaning you can submit your application any time on November 1 or before. (I don't recommend waiting until the last minute, though)
  
• It is okay if your teacher recommendations are later than the deadline. We are very flexible with your teacher recommendations.
  
• The MyMIT Tracking is up-to-date, but please recognize that processing can take 1-2 weeks. You do not need to worry at this time about documents that are not showing on MyMIT; we currently have a backlog of materials in our processing center, and expect to have that backlog into November. Do not worry.

Ask away!

Keshav asked: "Please offer your advice on the following: I am contemplating applying early to MIT without attaching a research abstract. However, my research will be finalized in November. Should I wait until the regular deadline to apply with the research abstract? Is there a competitive edge in applying early action?"

Matt '00 replies: I would recommend applying early, and sending your abstract along when it is complete. We will be able to add it to your application.

Jeff H. asked: "I live in Canada. I have a question on the self-reported coursework section. It states it should be completed by students in US or US based schools. I'm not sure if my Canadian high school is considered US based. We don't have AP classes or many of the other types of classes listed. Should I fill this section out or just submit the transcript?"

Matt '00 replies: You do not need to fill out the self-reported coursework.

Anshu asked: "If my application is deferred until later, will I still be able to edit my application or at least add accomplishments and test scores?"

Matt '00 replies: You will not be able to edit your application, but you are invited to supplement your application with any updates.

Jeff C. asked: "I am applying from Hong Kong and I am an American Citizen but I go to a local Hong Kong school which doesn't have any AP classes and the like, so should I apply as a US citizen or as an International student? Also I am retaking my SATs this November should I leave my SAT scores blank or should I put the best scores I have as of the day I send in my applications? Many thanks!"

Matt '00 replies: Since you are an American citizen, you are considered a domestic applicant. However, we will evaluate you considering your context in Hong Kong. We are quite familiar with the schools and curriculum in Hong Kong, along with many places in the world.

As for the SATs, you may do either -- either way, we will be using the official scores reports and the best results in each section.

Anurag asked: "I was wondering why does MIT, with its awesome international applicant pool, not offer Early Action to its international applicants. [...] Also, there is a cap on the maximum number of international admits. Why is this so? [...] Are we discouraging international applicants? If not, then what purpose does this serve? [...] If MIT is my first priority school(since grade 6! ha!), why can't I know if I'll be going to MIT next fall or not, early?"

Matt '00 replies: Like most American universities, MIT has a quota for the number of international students it can enroll. MIT is more open about this quota than many schools. The quota is not set by the Admissions Office, but by senior officials at MIT.

Considering that the admission rate for international students is very low, we have chosen to only have one admissions round for international students to allot these limited spaces. It is not a question of EA vs. RA, but rather a question of having one round or two rounds. Since the admission rate for domestic students is not as low, we feel comfortable having two different admission dates for this group; however, given how few spaces there are for internationals, we want to give out these limited spaces at the same time, in the same process.

Remember that at MIT, Early Action is not designed as a program to indicate MIT as your priority or first-choice school. We do not consider "demonstrated interest" in admissions decisions. We care about your match with MIT -- and that will be the same no matter what deadline you apply for.

Anonymous2 asked, "The registrations for the SATs I have done did not include my middle name or the suffix of my name. I remember reading that we should type our name exactly as it appeared on our SAT registration so that the scores will be matched with the account. Do middle names or suffixes matter for your system to match registrations with applications, or should I leave them off of Part 1 of the application?"

Matt '00 replies: You should use your formal, legal name on your application, including middle initial. Even with the mismatch this will cause with your SAT registration, there's a reasonable likelihood that our matching algorithm will figure it out. To be safe, though, you should email admissions -at- mit -dot- edu and provide the helpful information so that we can ensure that your records are matched.

International Anonymus asked, "In the application form you ask whether or not we have already tried to enter MIT before. Will the fact that you have sent the application the year before and are trying again hurt your chances? If not, why is it important for the admission staff to know it?"

Matt '00 replies: Having applied previously to MIT does not by itself impact your admission. It is interesting to see how the application has changed since the prior application -- these changes can make the difference, as few reapplicants are admitted on the second try (though some of our most notable students were reapplicants).

"Class of 2010" wrote, "For the additional information section, I'd like to submit the longer version of an essay I wrote for Part 2 of the application. The essay that specifically addresses the essay prompt is about 250 words, but I feel that the 500 word version is more interesting and gives a deeper look into the topic. The 250 word version gives a good overview of the topic, but I feel the 500 word version does it more justice. Would the admissions office see this as redundant? Again, the two essays present essentially the same ideas, but the longer version does it on a deeper level."

Matt '00 replies: As you describe it, it does sound redundant, but if you truly believe that it will help, by all means submit the additional, longer response as well.

James asked, "With regards to financial aid, do we need to fill out the css profile on college board or can we wait until Jan 2010 for the fafsa application?"

Matt '00 replies: You do not need to submit any financial aid documents now. The deadline for financial aid applications for all students -- EA and RA -- is February 15. All students -- again, EA and RA -- who apply by the deadline will receive their financial aid package in March.

Emily asked: "When you have to list your APs, A-levels and O-levels/GCSEs would it give the wrong impression if I listed only a few of my GCSEs? There isn't enough space to put all of the high school qualifications that I have and I was wondering whether listing a few GCSEs would cause admissions to think that I had only done those. I took all of my GCSEs at the same time so choosing the most recent ones is not an option. Would it be simpler to just list my A-levels and let the transcript cover my GCSEs?"

Matt '00 replies: I know that there aren't enough lines for all A-levels and O-levels. My recommendation is to combine onto one line multiple O-level results. Maybe something like this:

Maths, Economics, Drama	A*, A*, A
Latin, Geography, History	A, A, B

...and so on. How does that solution look to you?

Matt asked: "If applying early action, is there any leniency on the submission of music portfolios? I've been having trouble finding decent recording materials. :\ "

Matt '00 replies: I can't say much more than what's on our website: "If you are thinking about submitting a music portfolio, please try to submit it by November 1 if you are an Early Action applicant or by January 1 if you are an Regular Action applicant."

"Anonymous" asked: "If I'm South American, am I given the under-represented status like African Americans, Native Americans, etc.? I've been in contact with the MIT Men's Tennis Coach for a little over 2 years now..how helpful is getting recruited by a sport in the admissions process?"

Matt '00 replies: At MIT, we consider African American, Native American, and Hispanic students as underrepresented minorities.

For athletics, MIT works a bit differently than the "recruitment" that other universities do. Certainly, we will recognize your athletic talent as a special talent that you will bring to MIT. This will help you in that we are interested in bringing students into the class with special talents like athletics, music, art, and more. However, we do not "lower the bar" for athletes or have separate admissions criteria for athletes. If you get in, it will be because you are a good match for MIT, not because we like how well you can throw/kick a ball. And you'll enter a community of student-athletes who are not only great at sport, but also great at academics and research.

Byce asked: "I too was wondering why scores to submit on the early application part 2. I have my sat scores from june earlier this year. But I am also getting my new scores back on the 29th of October. This is scary close to the EA deadline and i do not want to wait unitl then. What should I do? I am given the options of submitting my earlier SAT scores (which need improvement), wait until I recieve my more recent (hopefully better) scores, or leave them blank with the date of the test and let MIT recieve the scores in the mail."

Matt '00 replies: Your scores can come in to us after November 1. Feel free to wait until October 29 to make your decision.

[Wednesday 10/28 4:30pm update]

DifferentAnonymous asked: "Is it acceptable that MIT receives my academic teacher Evaluations A and B a few days after November 1st? My teachers are busy and cannot guarantee that the evaluation forms can be submitted early enough."
Peixuan asked: "What if one of my teachers accidentally send in their recommendations after the deadline? Will that kill all of my chances of being accepted?"
Joseph asked: "I applied under early action but my teacher recommendations have not yet been submitted by both of my teachers. I have taking the ACT test with writing and submitted all other required documents. I will also be taking the SAT subject tests in November. Will my application still be reviewed under Early Action?"
Justin H. asked: "My History teacher who wrote my letter of recommendation and the Evaluation B form submitted both a little over a week ago by mail, and it has not yet reached MIT even though I live in Shrewsbury, MA which is only about an hour away from MIT. Is it okay if her letter reaches the Nov. 1st deadline a little late, since it should have reached MIT by now?"
Louis asked: "I turned in my school forms to my guidance office over a week ago, and they probably should have gotten there already. However, I know the application says to give it 1 to 2 weeks to show up on my account. How do I know whether the materials got there or they got lost along the way and should be resent."

Matt '00 replies: It is perfectly fine if, through no fault of your own, your teacher recommendations come in after the November 1 deadline. We are much more understanding of late documents from teachers than from late documents from the applicant.
If you have already sent in the documents and they haven't yet appeared on your tracking (like Justin and Louis above), please, please, please be patient. Please allow significant time for processing. Do not send a second copy of any document at this time. Also, you do not need to call MIT Admissions at this time to check on any such documents (there is a time for this later).

DifferentAnonymous asked: "I am in the process of getting my music supplement together, and it is unlikely that my music teacher will be able to provide me with a letter of recommendation by November 1st. Should I submit the music supplement without this anyway, or should I wait until after the deadline?"
Henry asked: "For the music supplement, can any music teacher write the recommendation? For example, private teacher and school orchestra teacher/conductor? And like DifferentAnonymous's situation above, my recommendation letter may not be ready in time. Should I send what I have by November 1, then send the recommendation letter afterwards? And how should we prove the teacher actually wrote it since it is a digital file without a signature?"

Matt '00 replies: For the music supplement, send in what you can before November 1, and get the recommendation as soon as possible after that. And yes, any music teacher can write the music supplement recommendation.

VAL asked: "I have a question about the time of submission for the online application. Must the application be submitted on or before 11:59:59 on November 1st or on or before 11:59:59 on October 31st?"
Cassie asked: "I promise I did look through the website and can't find this, so: if November 1st is the EA deadline, does that mean we can submit the applications online any time before 11:59pm on November 1st or does that mean before 11:59 on October 31st?"

Matt '00 replies: You can submit your application any time on Sunday, November 1. I wouldn't wait until the last minute, but you certainly may.

Katherine asked: "I completed 9th grade and 1st semester of 10th grade in Hong Kong, and the rest in the US. I've sent an e-mail earlier regarding the self-report course work form, and here's their reply: 'Go ahead and do your best to fill out the self-reported course work form using your transcript from your US school.' What about if the transcript from my US school does not fulling show the courses that I've taken in Hong Kong?"

Matt '00 replies: That's okay. You can just list the courses you took in the US.

Mike asked: "1) How long should the optional section be? I have around 250 words describing my research experience over the summer. I feel this may be a bit long though, as it's about another essay.
"2) The first quarter of the year does not end until this Friday, and teachers do not have to submit grades until the following Wednesday. Would you like me to mail my first quarter grades after they are released, or submit my interim grades so they are postmarked by the application deadline?
"3) How should envelopes containing teacher evaluations be labelled and sent?"

Matt '00 replies: 1) The optional section can be any length from 0 (it is optional, really) to one page. Anything more than one page will not show on the application. But anything under this length is perfectly fine.
2) We do not require first quarter grades. We will ask for midyear grades from RA applicants and EA deferred students in January. If you would like to submit first quarter grades, you can mail them to us at any time.
3) Any application materials being mailed, including recommendation letters, should be sent to: MIT Office of Admissions; 77 Massachusetts Avenue; Room 3-108; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA. It need not have any special code on the envelope. All application materials, though, should have your full name and other identifying information, such as date of birth.

Emily asked (see above for earlier question): "Unfortunately, your suggestion doesn't solve the problem as there is also a character limit. Is it not enough for admissions to have this information from the high school transcript? Or should I mention my GCSE grades in the additional information part?"

Matt '00 replies: I would love to see whatever O-Level information you have room to fit. If you can't fit it all, that's fine -- as you note, we will have official documents confirming everything.

John asked: "Is there any way to submit a video supplement. I've seen the info for submitting other supplements(I'm actually sending in an art supplement), but there isn't a clear word on things outside of art, architecture, music, etc. I know its probably not a common request, but its a video I made using clips from my wrestling matches, I gave it to the coaches before, but the team no longer exists :( Can I submit it to the admissions committee; I feel like showing my involvement in the sport, and my video-editing abilities would give admission officers a better picture of me."

Matt '00 replies: I recommend posting it online and providing us with the URL in your application.

Justin H. asked: "Also, I am retaking the SAT in November so im going to leave that part blank on my application, but will MIT just hold my application until they receive my Nov scores or will they just look at my not-so-good May SAT before getting the Nov scores?"

Matt '00 replies: "We don't need to have SAT scores for the initial review if scores are coming; do not worry.

Amethyst S. asked: "So, I AM submitting an art portfolio, and know what to do with that. But I had also wanted to submit a small poetry portfolio as well. I tried asking the Admissions office but they didn't say whether I should send it any place in particular, leave it out altogether, or include it with the rest of my physically-sent materials. Any help/advice you can give me on this one?"
Sarah asked: "My EC saw a story I wrote and suggested I submit it as a creative writing supplement. What is the procedure for this or is it not of interest to the admission counselors?"

Matt '00 replies: You can either cut and paste your writing into the optional section in Part 2, or mail hardcopies to the Admissions Office. If you mail it, be sure to include your full name and other identifying information, such as date of birth.

Louis asked: "Also, how strict is the essay word count, and do you specifically count words? One of my essays, while it's not a 500 word essay, is somewhat over the 250 word 'limit.' However, I feel it is written succinctly, shows up on the application in fairly large font, and both me and a teacher I gave it to to read over both agree that it can't be significantly cut down anymore without losing the essence of it. Will this work against me in any significant way?"
Bryce asked: "I was wondering how specific MIT will be on the word count. Will you still read my short answer if it was hypothetically 101 words instead of 100?"

Matt '00 replies: Should be fine.

Michael C. asked: "I was about to submit part one when I noticed in the preview an unchecked box asking whether I had arranged/completed an interview, which of course I had. But I can't find that check box on part 1, only on part 2 (where I did check it). Is it just a mistake? Do I need to worry about it?"

Matt '00 replies: You will find this section in Part 2. Online, it is on Page 8; in the preview PDF of the Part 2, it will be on Page 5 for most students.

Jennifer W. asked: "Is it possible to make two selections under which field interests you the most right now if you are equally interested in two? Should this be indicated in the extra information field?"

Matt '00 replies: You can only select one field in the Part 1 question, but feel free to tell us about both in the short answer question in Part 2.

Kranti asked: "DOES MY ONLINE EARLY APPLICATION NEED TO BE SENT IN and/on RECEIVED BEFORE MY INTERVIEW?"

Matt '00 replies: NO.

JF asked: "I come from a technical high school and half of my GPA is attributed to my field of study. My problem is that it doesn't really fall into any specific category of coursework except additional courses, yet to date I have more than 5 final grades, and due to the importance to my GPA I don't want to omit any of these grades. Is it okay if I list them under another section, say Math, since my field of study does have a pretty math intensive portion."

Matt '00 replies: You don't need to put it only in additional courses; fit your classes in wherever you can, however it makes sense. So yes, it is okay.

Yixing asked: "Is it okay if my music supplement is about 14 minutes instead of 10minutes? I know it says to keep it around 10 minutes but I didn't know how much leeway I got with the 'around' part.
"And if an employer wanted to send a recommendation letter, where would she send it to?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes, I think you'll be okay at 14 minutes.
And any application materials being mailed, including recommendation letters, should be sent to: MIT Office of Admissions; 77 Massachusetts Avenue; Room 3-108; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA. It need not have any special code on the envelope. All application materials, though, should have your full name and other identifying information, such as date of birth.

Miriam asked: "I have taken a lot of classes that aren't in the main academic categories, and there isn't room for all of them in the application. Is it okay if I just leave them out, since they'll appear on my transcript?
"Also, if I apply Early Action and get deferred, can I send a music portfolio in December?"

Matt '00 replies: Try to fit as many interesting ones as you can into the slef-reported coursework form; the less interesting ones you can leave out if space doesn't allow.
And: yes.

Valerie asked: "My school does not offer classes in the social sciences. In the "Social Sciences" section of the reported coursework, should I just list my history courses, since there is no room for them elsewhere?"

Matt '00 replies: You should list history courses in the social sciences section.

Geoff asked: "How important is it to have a math class in your senior schedule? Our school only offers up to AP Calculus AB, and I took that course Junior year. I am also looking into the possibility of taking a math course during the summer."

Matt '00 replies: It is important for us that students challenge themselves in math, and that they do math through calculus. We do, however, evaluate coursework within the context of courses offered.

Daniel asked: "I am sending an architecture portfolio along with my application, and I don't know whether it should be post-marked by november 1 or if it should be in your addmissions office on november 1?"

Matt '00 replies: November 1 is a postmark deadline.

Lawrance asked: "My school doesn't have any SAT Request for Waiver of College Application Fee forms. My counselor wrote a letter saying that I meet the financial criteria for the SAT Request for Waiver of College Application Fee. Will MIT accept that?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes, absolutely.

Hanjoon asked (read comments to see full question): 1) "I was wondering whether I should take a more recognized class like AP Statistics instead of Capstone Math or AP Computer Science instead of Capstone Chemistry."
2) "...for the application, would it be allowed to just send in my plans for the research project (if I'm able to finish the plans by October)? Or if I'm not able to finish it, will it be recognized if I just explain my plans?"
3) "Also, do you advise me to take additional AP's during senior year?"

Matt '00 replies: 1) There's no need to take an AP just because it's an AP. The Capstone sounds pretty exciting, I'd go for that. 2) Yes, that would work just fine. 3) It doesn't sound like you need to, but if you'd enjoy it, go for it.

[Thursday 10/29 12:15pm update]

Tani asked, "I know that the best scores from the SAT 1 are looked at individually, is this the same for the ACT as well or does MIT look at the best composite score to date?"

Matt '00 replies: We will look at the best section scores for both the SAT and the ACT.

Sam asked: "Are recommendations from persons other than teachers and school faculty accepted? If so what is the best way to insure their timely and accurate delivery to admissions?"

Matt '00 replies: We can accept supplemental recommendations. There is no special form for supplemental recommendations. Any supplemental recommendations being mailed should be sent to: MIT Office of Admissions; 77 Massachusetts Avenue; Room 3-108; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA. It need not have any special code on the envelope. All application materials, though, should have your full name and other identifying information, such as date of birth.

Shynggys asked: "Can I send SAT scores after deadline?"

Matt '00 replies: You can send SAT scores up until the November testing date.

Kenneth asked: "I am applying as an international student from Hong Kong, which practice the A-Level system. So, we actually graduate twice from our secondary schools. However, we have a so-called Early Admission Scheme which allows students doing well in their O-Level exams to enter the local universities without taking the A-Level exams. So I am applying as a F6. But then I encounter a question is Part 2 of the MIT application: Are you graduating from secondary school early or without a diploma? Should I answer 'Yes' or 'No'?"

Matt '00 replies: I would answer "Yes," so that we understand you are doing the Early Admission Scheme and so that we know not to expect A-Level results.

Nicholas asked: "There are parts of the application that ask for the things you do inside and outside of school. For example, one part asks for a list of summer activities. Do these sections want only activities from within the last year? activities for all of high-school? activities/achievements for my whole life? I don't want to list more or less than is relevant!"

Matt '00 replies: For summer activities, there is no rule, but I would look to mention notable summer activities from your past 2-3 summers.

JF asked: "1-The sibling major thing. What's the format for that because you can't quite fit 'Bachelor's of Computer Science.' Also one of my brother's received a bachelors degree and is currently going for his masters. Do I list him twice, only mention the one he has, or mention the masters because it's highest education.
"2-I Have SAT scores but am retaking in November. Should I send the past report anyways or wait for the new one. I don't want my application to be hurt because the scores I list are lower, when I'll most likely score higher this time around."

Matt '00 replies: 1) You can abbreviate. For example,

S.B., M.Eng. in CS
or
BA & MA in CompSci

Natalia asked: "I sent in three forms last week (both teacher evaluations and the fee waiver form), and it appears that the evaluation has been processed but the request for a fee waiver hasn't. Is it processed separately?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes, it is processed separately. I wouldn't worry at this time.

manis404 asked: "About the 'something you do for the pleasure of it' question, NOTHING other than one of my hobbies makes me so excited and passionate. But as I already mention that hobby in the 'Activities' section, should I talk about it again in the 11(a) question?"

Matt '00 replies: Sure, why not?

Alex L. asked: "I was talking to my guidance/college counselors and they suggested that I send a package to MIT with the application/other supplementary materials. Included is a DVD with videos of my community service project, and me doing various other things (i.e. inspirational speaking) that could not be conveyed in any other way. Will this be seen by MIT Admissions? Also, they suggested hand-delivering it to the admissions office. Is this a good idea?"

Matt '00 replies: It is more likely to be fully considered if you post the video online and provide us with the URL. You should not deliver anything personally, as it will only serve to waste your time and will not benefit you in any way (which isn't to say that visiting isn't worthwhile, but you certainly don't need to come here just to deliver a DVD!).

Landon asked: "I was accepted into the Duke TIP program during middle school, but I have continued an active membership in it since. I am assuming that since it was not awarded during high school it cannot count as an academic distinction that was won during high school. Would that be correct?"

Matt '00 replies: Feel free to list it as an academic distinction if you like.

Udit asked: "I am applying early the Nov 1 deadline, but taking the the 2nd subject test, physics, on Dec'09. Will that be accepted?"

Matt '00 replies: The last acceptable date for standardized tests for early action is November. December tests can count for regular action.

jialing asked: "For the music supplement, it says to attach the teacher rec as a pdf or microsoft word doc- does that mean that I am the one emailing it? Also, if the the whole email with all the files becomes too large, am I allowed to compress the files into a zip folder?"

Matt '00 replies: I would recommend for the teacher to email it directly. Also, I would not recommend a ZIP file. For more information, click here.

Quantum asked: "Is there any way to track or confirm that a supplementary recommendation letter has been received?"

Matt '00 replies: We do not track supplemental letters on the tracking system. EA applicants can call MIT Admissions starting in mid-November to see if we have received supplemental letters.

Robert asked: "My son, a high school senior here in Florida, just took the SAT a second time and received the following scores: critical reading 630, math 730, writing 560. He's doing very well in AP Calc and AP Physics and I'd like to encourage him to apply to MIT. Does he have a chance of admission?"

Matt '00 replies: Anyone who applies has a chance of admission. I can't comment beyond that without the benefit of a full application. As for the scores, you may find our admissions statistics helpful.

[Saturday 2:00pm update]

anonymous asked: "Is the writing portion of the SAT considered more or less than the other sections?"

Matt '00 replies: At this time, we are still evaluating the SAT Writing Test; it is not considered.

Robert J. asked: "If I submitted all my teacher recommendations and my transcript via mail; will your office of admissions indicate on my MIT account that you received those necessary materials?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes, you can track these materials on the MyMIT Tracking System. Please be patient, though, as processing takes 1-2 weeks.

Lindsay asked: "I was wondering if it would be okay to approach the optional essay in a jocular manner if the other ones are more serious."

Matt '00 replies: Absolutely!

monk2010 asked: "1) Last week, I heard that MIT does not accept any early action applicants with a C. Is this really true? 2) Also, what should I do when what I need to put in is longer than what the given textbox can hold? For example, I could not specify the years in which I did certain activities in 'Past Summer activities' section."

Matt '00 replies: It is true that a C isn't good, but it is false that we don't accept students with a C; we have no rule about it, and have accepted some applicants with a C in the past.

Rohit asked: "Our school does not offer AP courses. I have taken 11 ap tests on my own. Should I fill them in self report ap courses and test dates or it is only for the ap courses taken in school?"

Matt '00 replies: In the AP scores section, you should report both self-study APs as well as APs taken in school courses.

Nicholas asked: "If I send in my EA application on time, but my teachers don't send their recommendations in by the EA deadline, will my application be defferred to regular action, or simply thrown out all together?"

Matt '00 replies: Teacher recommendations do not need to be here by the deadline. While we would prefer it, we will accept teacher recommendations past the deadline. Your application will be considered for EA.

Tina asked: "Can the optional question at the end of part 2 be anything at all? Is it okay if I paste one of my blog posts that might give a more clear impression about who I am?"

Matt '00 replies: You can put whatever you want in this section. A blog post sounds great.

Lydia asked: "I am taking all of my courses this year at a local university. Unfortunately, the transcript from the university does not include courses until they are completed, and I am not even allowed to send a transcript until the end of the fall 2009 semester. Is it okay if my current courses are not listed on an official transcript?"

Matt '00 replies: Send in the transcript when it is available at the end of the semester. In the meantime, be sure to list all of your current year courses on the self-reported coursework form.

ashley asked: "does anyone know if mit wants a physical copy of our transcripts, or if an electronic copy through a service like docufide is ok!"

Matt '00 replies: We are happy to accept electronic transcripts through Docufide.

Cassie asked: "When we list our awards/accomplishments, do we need to send in actual physical evidence, like copies of certificates, signatures from sponsors, and such, or is typing it into the application enough?"

Matt '00 replies: Listing awards that you have received is sufficient. We do not need certificates. Do not lie or be deceitful, though.

Lydia asked: "The names of my classes are very, very long, and won't fit as they are in the name box. Is it okay if I put the university they were taken at in the grades box and not the names box?"

Matt '00 replies: If that fits and doesn't displace the grade, it would be fine. However, I might recommend using abbreviations. I am sure that "6.01: Introduction to Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" wouldn't fit, but it would be fine to list it instead as "Intro to EECS @ MIT."

anonymous asked: "1.) I just found out that my counselor may have sent the resume I gave her for use in writing my recommendation. i was planning on sending an updated and improved version, but now there might be two. can i still send the other, and should i label it anyway? 2.) I don't remember if I signed off to waive my rights to see the teacher recommendation. I know this is crucial, but I don't recall doing it. what should I do?"

Matt '00 replies: 1) Sure, feel free to send it if you like. Remember that we will primarily use your Part 2 and not your resume. 2) There's nothing to be done now, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Mary asked: "Is there any way to get superscripts into the essay section of the application? I need sin^2 x."

Matt '00 replies: Sadly, no. Do your best.

Eden asked: "I have a question about the self-reported coursework section. I asked for my transcript from my school earlier and had planned on using that to fill out the application using that. However, it has come to my attention that there was a glitch in the system and my transcript was incorrect. How should I fill in the self-reported coursework section? Should I just leave out the grades and let my official transcript confirm the grades?"

Matt '00 replies: We would prefer your self-reported coursework to be as complete and accurate as possible. I would report as much of the transcript as you can that you know is correct.

Josh asked: "I took several courses in middle school for which I was awarded high school credit and, thus, appear on my transcript. However, the Self Reported Coursework section does not allow for grades under 9. Should I report these courses without a grade, or as grade 9?"

Matt '00 replies: Either way would be fine.

anonymous* asked: "I have a question about the musical supplement. Would it be alright if I mail a hard copy of materials to MIT, or does the supplement have to be in pdf format?"

Matt '00 replies: The music supplement page very clearly says, "music supplements may ONLY be submitted via email." So, a hard copy would not be considered for the music supplement.

[...and some extra questions answered from Dave's comments]

Justin H asked: "I already submitted my application, but is it okay if our teachers submitted their evaluations more than a week ago and MIT has not processed them yet, even though I only live like an hour away from MIT? Is there like a very large pile of application supplements waiting to be processed at the moment?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes, we are still processing documents. Please be patient.

Lauren asked: "Does anyone know when it says the deadline is Nov. 1, if it means we can submit our apps online ON Nov. 1, or does it have to be done BEFORE Nov. 1--ie, (the night of) October 31st?"

Matt '00 replies: You can submit your application any time on November 1.

Allie asked: "Does anyone know if I need to send in MIT's secondary school report form, or if I can just use the one from my school?"

Matt '00 replies: We prefer our form, but we will accept your school's form.

Yixing asked: "what happens if my employer sends a supplemental recommendation to MIT except all it contains is my full name as identification? I'm pretty sure I'm the only Yixing S. applying though... but what should I do?"

Matt '00 replies: If it's already been sent, do not worry; I'm sure with your name and context clues we'll figure it out.

Tim asked: "Do the teacher recommendations have to be postmarked Nov 1st as well?"

Matt '00 replies: We would prefer it, but we are very flexible with late teacher recommendations.

mcYunBaconBitz asked: "I signed up for MIT 2 other colleges, and a scholarship service to recieve my SAT scores when I tested this month. Now (the day before my application's due,) I check on collegeboard and it says I only sent it to the scholarship service. What do I do?"

Matt '00 replies: We will need an official score report. Assuming your scores don't show up on your MyMIT Tracking, I would talk to the College Board about it.

AHHHH asked: "I sent my sat II scores two days ago through collegeboard. I figured it would be okay, since it says that scores from the november test date make it on time. But now I'm freaking out, even though I have a towel. Should I stop freaking out, or continue freaking out, or go back to collegeboard and sent a rush report, or what?"

Matt '00 replies: Do not freak out. You will not need to send a rush report. If College Board shows you having sent scores to us, we probably have them; it could be a matching problem between your registration name & address and your application name & address. If College Board does not show you having sent scores to us, then send us the scores again. You will not need to use Rush Reporting.

Clara asked: "I submitted part 2, and I just realized that I made a stupid mistake on the app! I had put "Baseball" for Athletics section, and I have nothing to do with it. What do I do?"

Matt '00 replies: Feel free to email us a quick note about it. Sorry for the error.

AnotherAnon asked: "Do we have to mail in proof of our accomplishments, such as certificates or signed statements from club sponsors, or is typing it into the application sufficient?"

Matt '00 replies: Listing awards that you have received is sufficient. We do not need certificates. Do not lie or be deceitful, though.

Eden asked [see above for earlier question]: "1) Just to follow up, I can't be sure of the validity of any of the grades on the transcript, as I was only told that it was inaccurate and given no specifics as to how. The only grades I can be positive about are grades from my last years report card. Since I can't be sure, should I estimate based on my performance in the class? 2) Additionally, I took some high school classes (Math A, Earth science) etc in middle school. Do I report these under the coursework section as well?"

Matt '00 replies: 1) Report your accurate grades for 9-11, and leave this year's blank. 2) You can, but you are not required to.

Mir Ali wrote a long comment.

Matt '00 replies: We're happy to help, but I don't exactly understand your situation. Feel free to email or call us directly and we'll do what we can to help.

Joe asked: "I am currently studying in an 'American School' in a foreign country and am a bit confused of the Self-reported course work aspect. If our school tries to use a US based policy but deviates considerably from it (for example, it includes at least 10 other classes which are non-US based), should I still type it in? If so, if there are some final grades which truly lack confirmation, is it okay if I leave the Final Grades box empty so that they can appear in the updated transcript?"

Matt '00 replies: I would recommend including all classes on your transcript, and all confirmed grades.

Su asked: "I realized that my school sent my supplementary materials (teacher recs, transcript etc.) to MIT Undergraduate Admissions Office; 77 Massachusetts Avenue; Cambridge, MA 02139; and left off the room number.
Do I need to resend it? or will it get to the admission office?"

Matt '00 replies: It will get to us, no worries.

Anonymous asked: "My 100-word 'interest' essay is largely redundant with another essay. Would it be more helpful to write about something different, even if it is less important to me?"

Matt '00 replies: I don't have any great advice here. Do what you think is best.

Matt P. asked: "I was planning on sending a supplement with my research abstract and a letter from my mentor. My mentor just wants to know exactly what the purpose of the specific recommendation is, and who / where exactly to send it to. and any other relevant info."

Matt '00 replies: The purpose is to recommend you, and to give us a sense of the research work that you did. Your mentor should send it to the admissions committee at the usual address, being sure to include your full name and other identifying information, such as date of birth.

Kari L. asked: "There is no open post office today, and tomorrow is sunday, when none are open either. I got a sculpture back from a gallery it was being stored in, and tomorrow is the deadline to send in an art portfolio, but I have no means to send in the pictures of my work. Can a portfolio be postmarked one day later, if the circumstances are like this?"

Matt '00 replies: You should be fine, I wouldn't worry.

Olivia asked: "I have my early action app ready to submit; however, my recording time for my voice & piano submissions was delayed until this coming Friday. Am I better off submitting the app now and following up with the music supplement next week or waiting to send both in at the same time? Thank you for being there for us procrastinators."

Matt '00 replies: You should submit your EA app by the deadline, and send in your music supplement as soon as it is ready.

AZ asked: "For section seven of part 2, should we list our senior year first marking period grades?"

Matt '00 replies: You may but you are not required to do so.

Anonymous27 asked: "I was supposed to have my interview today, but some confusion was involved and we could not meet. If I have an interview after November 1st will it not be considered for EA?"

Matt '00 replies: It will be considered for EA as long as you reschedule it in a timely fashion.

Frank asked: "When I started the application I checked off regular action but now I realize I am all ready and would like to change to early action but the section is locked. Can I change to early action."

Matt '00 replies: Yes. Submit the application by the EA deadline. Email us at admissions -at- mit -dot- edu to request the change from RA to EA and we'll make it happen.

Anonymous asked: "When you say that the writing section of the SAT is not considered, do you mean that admission officers don't look at it at all or is it considered a little bit, like a tipping factor?"

Matt '00 replies: We do not consider it; it is not a tipping factor.

Jeff asked: "I just submitted a music portfolio for drum kit about an hour ago. On the music supplements page, I now see that it says, "At the moment we are only able to evaluate supplements in the fields of classical, jazz, and world music performance." My performances I sent in do not particularly fall into any of these genres, but my music resume does address that I have experience in them. Is my music supplement now null and void?"

Matt '00 replies: My guess is that it will be considered.

Ehsan asked: "1) Does MIT focus only on grade 12 marks or do they also pay attention to previous grades? 2) What would you say is a larger factor grades or SAT scores?"

Matt '00 replies: 1) We very much pay attention to previous grades. 2) Grades are certainly more important.

Nick asked: "1. How much will I be penalized for exceeding the word limit on one of the essays by 25 words? I do not think I can abbreviate my writining any further without comprimising valuable content. 2. For the self-reported coursework, should we submit grades by quarter or semester?"

Matt '00 replies: 1. We do not have any formal penalties for such things, nor do we count words. However, we do believe that good answers can be provided within the word limit. 2. Either way is fine; I have a slight preference for just the semester grades.

Vedha asked: "I am an American citizen currently attending high school in India. My school does not offer AP or IB courses. We follow the CBSE curriculum. I, however, am in an accelerated program at school which preps students for engineering entrance exams conducted in India(IIT-JEE, AIEEE). Hence, my Math, Physics and Chemistry courses are on par with the AP curriculum. How would I get that across in my application?"

Matt '00 replies: You'd be surprised about how much we know about schools in India, but you can feel free to send in extra information about your school.

Southpaw asked: "I've already submitted my application. I'd been hoping to submit an essay I wrote for a contest in the optional question but I didn't have a copy of the essay. I later emailed the essay contests people who sent me the essay, but unfortunately I've already submitted the app. What do I now? Should I forget about it, or is there a way to get it to admissions?"

Matt '00 replies: Feel free to email (plain text, no attachment) or snail mail it to us.

Dion asked: "Is it bad that I personally mailed my teacher recs and secondary school report? They are all individually sealed but enclosed in the same manila envelope..."

Matt '00 replies: That's fine.

Eden asked: "My dad has never really been a part of my family, he completely disappeared from our lives when I was less than 2 years old. All I really know is his name, I don't know whether he is alive or dead, or anything about his education. My mother suggested, putting N/A in his section, since I really don't know any of the information. What would you suggest?"

Matt '00 replies: I would put his name and either leave the other fields blank or put unknown.

Larry asked: "Can an applicant list more than one URL in the "box" for URL's? If so, what is the best separation?"

Matt '00 replies: Feel free to list extra URLs in the additional information box at the end of Part 2.

Clarinetist wrote: "So if I send my music supplement over as an attachment, the attachment would be around 20 MB so I was wondering if the email address I'm sending it too have some kind of attachment limit when if an email with an attachment over a certain amouint would be automatically blocked..."

Matt '00 replies: I'm not aware of any such limitation.

Cassie asked: "In the self-reported coursework section, where it asks for the grades in which you took science courses, are we to put the grade that we took the Honors science or the grade that we took the AP science? I the AP grade down, but I want to be sure."

Matt '00 replies: Where it askes about Calc/Phys/Chem/Bio at the end, you can list either grade level; I would recommend the most recent grade.

Jen asked: "If I am accepted EA, do I need to send my grades from senior year at all?"

Matt '00 replies: Yes. We require final grades from all enrolling students.

MyMIT will be inaccessible on Saturday, October 31 from 6:00am until 10:00am EDT for essential maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I thought that would be less terrifying coming from me the day before instead of in the morning when you fired up the browser to finally submit your EA application. Rest assured there will be plenty of time for applications after the maintenance is completed. Go ahead and sleep in, read a book, watch some cartoons, finish that last minute work on your halloween costume, or......

I can tell you aren't listening. You're already thinking about re-reading your essays for the millionth time. That's good, too. Just try not to panic.

Fortunately, I already have a bunch of things on my closet that I could use as costumes (blame the Assassins' Guild).

Unfortunately, I'm hosed and indecisive.

Conveniently, I have a blog (and a penchant for adverbs).

This calls for crowdsourcing!

Prospective MIT students and blog readers of the world, your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to pick my Halloween costume. Voting will last until Saturday, October 31, at noon. I will actually wear whatever costume you pick, so choose wisely. :)

Your options are...

Have no fear, though! Because here is what you should do this week in 3 easy steps (results not guaranteed, though they turned out alright for me):

1) Finish (or start…) your essays/"short written responses"/whatever they’re calling them these days- This sounds like common sense, but considering I wrote my entire main essay for UChicago the night it was due, I figure a few of you might need this reminder. You need to actually do the essays first before you can edit them. Just throwing that one out there.

2) Pretend you’re not you- This sounds counterintuitive, I know, especially because you’ve just spent hours crafting essays that perfectly depict who you are. The thing is, after all this, you really, really know yourself, to the point that if you keep reading over your own essays, you’ll just fill in the gaps of information that someone else might need to make sense of the essay. Like, you might know that your brother is only a year younger than you, but if you reference your baby brother’s first girlfriend or something you might need to clarify a bit.

So this is knowing yourself business is no longer super helpful. Ideally, you have someone else who doesn’t mind reading over multiple drafts of your essays to do this for you, but it doesn’t hurt to do it yourself, too. Take a step back, and while reading your essay, try to answer the question: If I didn’t know myself, what would I think of the person writing this essay? If that person isn’t the part of you that you were trying to get across, then you need to fix something. If you don’t like the person who came across but it was an honest essay… you have larger problems that it is not in my job description to deal with.

3) Read over your entire application as the you-who-isn’t-you-from-number-2- What does it say about you? Does each part contribute to the bigger picture of you that you’re trying to get across? Would you want to admit yourself? Do you have typos? Did you spell your name right? (true story: I almost submitted my Common App as Shanon).

The best analogy that I’ve ever heard regarding college apps is this: your college application should read like a story, with each part building upon the next. You don’t want it to get repetitive, but it should have some organic unity and a few general themes running through it. Remember that your application is your only voice to the admissions officers—make that voice count. Your teachers and interviewer will vouch for you, but your application is your only real chance to speak to the admissions officers and tell them who you are, what’s important to you, what your dreams are. Don’t blow it off and assume you’ll get in anywhere because you have a 2400. It doesn’t work like that.

… And that’s that. At this point, you can’t change the grades you’ve earned or the scores you got. All you can do is put your best foot forward and hope for the best—things have a crazy habit of working out in the end in world of college admissions.

So when you wrap up your applications and hit submit, just breathe. It’ll all be ok.

And puppies make everything better!

(The older younger brother and my actual puppy. This is what I'm missing at home).

Your thoughts on Alaska are welcomed.

Geez! you say. That's a harsh claim. Perhaps you might soften it down until it's fluffy like a throw pillow*.

Alright: Let's just say that the week of October 19th left much to be desired. I will elaborate on the details of “much” once I finish therapy.

*Recently, someone I was talking to managed to gently massage this phrase (“fluffy like a throw pillow”) into a conversation of otherwise forgettable nature, by which I mean that I completely forgot the rest of it ten minutes later. I was completely hooked on the colloquial fruitiness of the phrase as soon as it reached my ears, resplendent in its evocations of tacky yet luxurious department-store sofas. Of course, you can barely tell how wonderful of an idiom it makes just from reading my comparatively-dry prose: imagine someone saying it with a gangsta inflection, perhaps in a context that makes absolutely no sense. Like: “Yo, it's raining so hard, my shoes are fluffy like a throw pillow.” See? Pure, vernacular magic. Anyway, back to how much my week sucked.

Three weeks, 13 Nobel Prizes, my friend's semi-spontaneous wedding (featuring a hat parade, an Ethiopian feast, vegan carrot cake, and the coolest farm-owning Canadian grandma I've ever met on this side of the Mississippi), a trip to NYC, three midterms, two papers, Windows 7, three nights of cooking dinner for 30, 105 miles of running, and a lot of Barack Obama have happened since the last time I blogged. The same amount of time has passed since the last night when I slept more than 6.5 hours. Now that I think about it, I don't even sleep while I blog, usually.

Fantastic thing about MIT, #261: Sure, you're miserable on weeks like, say-for-instance-hypothetically-speaking-of-course, October 19-23. On the bright side, it's the best miserable experience ever. If MIT is the Disneyworld of misery, then I rode all the rides this week and didn't even have to wait in line. If you asked me about how I felt last week on a scale of 1-10, I would have said negative 15 +/-2. On the other hand, if you'd asked me how I felt about feeling like negative 15 +/-2, I would have given you a solid 9.5 and then offered to adjust my answers if you paid me 20 bucks for taking your survey*.

*Fantastic thing about MIT, #262, is that you quickly learn to not take surveys unless there's a predicted payoff of at least $10, with exceptions for course evaluation surveys that give you free excuses to complain about your life. If I'm not mistaken, there was a 3.091 class survey last year that automatically deposited $15 into the TechCash account of every student that participated (and there's 500-600 people enrolled in 3.091). 15 bucks! I could have bought 1/15th of the class textbook with that fortune!

Anyway, back to my misery. It was rhythmic. I woke up every morning at 7 am dressed in a fresh layer of panic, bolted outside in 40-degree wind chill, ran several miles, made breakfast and French-pressed coffee, went to school, did work, went home, did work, went to my Black Studies class and talked about the Black Panthers, did work, went to 8.07, worked on 8.07 in the basement of the library, went home, roasted chickpeas and cauliflower, did work, socialized, went to bed, repeat five times and jump to coda.

Over the torturous course of the Week from Heck (am I allowed to say this on the blogs, Matt?), I sludged through oodles of problems. Problems involving relativistic point charges, floating blocks oscillating underneath a dripping faucet, magnetic dipole radiation, proper time in an accelerating reference frame, the Maxwell Stress Tensor (stress makes me tense too! I need to stop making this pun until I pass 8.07), and electron/positron pair formation. But never did I satisfactorily solve the deeper problem of why I cared. Perhaps I never will, but let me tell you what I've figured out so far:

Insight is indistinguishable from imagination. Like all alliterative statements, this is probably profound. Take the example of a mass on a (massless, frictionless) spring. You compress it. In Soviet Russia, spring compresses you! By which I mean that it oscillates. A hummingbird of energy hovers in the liminal space between opposing forces, lingering persistently.

(Can you spot the bad pun? Hint: Sho!)

You imagine a metaphor for your spring. It's a metaphor that looks like this:

You imagine an infinite number of masses, connected by an infinite number of springs. It looks like this:

(If you've ever tried untangling one of these, you know what I mean by infinite.)

Like all reasonable things, your string of infinite springs despise second derivatives. Gently you pluck a second derivative into its limber form, and it responds with a violent, burning hatred for you and all your posterity. In Soviet Russia, string second-derivates you! By which I mean that it snaps back with a second derivative in time. You pull out your pencil and scratch out a new metaphor:

After twisting your imagination up a ladder of metaphors, the waves rippling along the string become rays of light propagating through space at 3*10^8 m/s.

Somehow, in the grind of a pencil on paper, you've crystallized the subtleties of energy.

In truth, the process of squeezing a physics problem through layers of abstraction is a frolic in playgrounds of tedium. Which is why I had a great week, even though it was terrible.

On a happier note, did I mention that I went to New York City for an all-expenses-paid 23-hour field trip with my Black Studies class? Legitimately speaking, my homework was walking around Harlem, eating soul food, appreciating Black Panther art, visiting the African Burial Grounds, downing a plate of conch at a Haitian diner, and sitting through a production of Hair. Fantastic. It was a journey of self-discovery in the sense that I uncovered a secret fondness for plantains.

I attempted to become a critically-acclaimed street photographer in the meantime. The first step to a Pulitzer is to set your camera to greyscale.

(At the African Burial Grounds, where a student pays respect to the history of African Americans in New York by, um, looking up. I guess.)

The ironic part is that I tried to make this entry sound angsty, but it ended up being fluffy like a throw pillow.