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how I entered the best US universities / Habr

About how I tried to enter the best universities on the planet for prikmat and what I got out of it

Hi, my name is Adelaide and I am 19 years old, and this article will be about that , as I entered Harvard, Princeton and MIT at the age of 17 on a budget. Please share it, I tried

A little background. From the third grade, I was the best in the class of the first-class school in the country. I actively participated in the Olympiad movement, won competitions and, in principle, they predicted a rather successful future for me. I was mainly interested in mathematics and English, but the teachers constantly tried to force me to participate in various competitions in Russian, since it was also good for me, but to no avail.

From the 5th grade of school I wanted to enter Baumanka, but in the 8th grade I went to a pretty good foreign school, and my interest switched to foreign universities. Then I was very interested in chemistry (due to the fact that I liked to imagine myself as a crazy chemist working with reagents: h), but I wanted to enter the bioinformatics department, not the chemistry department, since I was very attracted to the field of genetic engineering, and at that time she was terribly promising. Nevertheless, I did not like biology and, frankly speaking, was not given, and therefore, instead of bioinformatics, I decided to first go to radio engineering, so that later I would stop at mathematical as a universal option.

At a foreign school, I was the best student in the class in all subjects, except for history, where I began to build my curriculum. To enter American universities (and I wanted to go to American universities), I had to pass 7 exams IB, TOEFL, SAT, SAT Subject Tests and the Unified State Examination, just in case. IB is a very difficult international program for admission to European and American universities. There you are forced to choose 6 items - 3 HL and 3 SL, where HL are profile and SL are additional. Initially, I had Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics HL, and English, History and Russian SL, there was also a 6th subject - Theory of Knowledge (cheat. Philosophy) - but it was neither SL nor HL. Over time, I transferred English to HL in order to enter prestigious American universities (usually 3 HL subjects were required, so the fact that I had 4 of them was considered very cool :) ).

Math HL was the hardest subject in HL, and History SL was the hardest in SL. Mathematics IB is famous for its complex program, non-standard tasks and high workload, which is in many ways similar to Russian, and history - a huge number of essays and information to remember. Moreover, all these subjects (except Theory and Angle) were also accompanied by a 2000-word essay and one huge work on a specific subject for 4000 words (I wrote the main essay on mathematics, on the HOMFLY polynomial, if anyone is interested). The most difficult subject in terms of essay was physics. It was necessary to conduct an experiment on it, but this subject did not interest me from the word at all, especially from a practical point of view. I chose the light reflection from the cans and wrote with great difficulty. I really liked chemistry, but even though my grades in it were very good, I didn’t grow together with an essay on it. I took a topic on physical chemistry, namely the viscosity of a liquid, and because of problems with the purchase of reagents, nothing came of it.

As far as the humanities are concerned, everything was, so to speak, no easier there, even though giving up the Russian language to people who do not know it seems like an unfortunate anecdote. It was supposed to be learned on my own, it was my native language of choice, and the way they offered me to do it seemed very boring to me. I had to sort through a ton of literature, learn a bunch of literary techniques and write a dull essay about Othello in translation. But in history, on the contrary, everything was incredibly interesting. Although I had difficulties with the subject, I admired it. As a topic, I took the far-right regime of Vidkun Quisling in Norway between 1941 and 1945, without any regrets. By the way, there was also a 2000-word work in mathematics, and I wrote it about division by zero from the point of view of general algebra. This was one of the most interesting essays, but also one of the most problematic, since the topic was quite broad :( For each lesson, it was necessary to write a “review” for 150 words, and these words should have been + - 40. As a result, the program could get a maximum of 45 points, 42 for exams and 3 more for the combined Theory score scale Knowledge / Core Essay. IB was one of the most important exams and my certificate in principle. However, American universities required not only IB, but also SAT and SAT Subject Tests, a kind of analogue of our USE in the USA. SAT consisted of mathematics (58 simple tasks for 80 minutes) and English (96 simple tasks in 100 minutes), which could get max. 1600 points.

As you can see, the main difficulty of the test was not in the tasks themselves, but in the time required for each of them. In 80 minutes, solving 58 tasks in mathematics was, for example, almost impossible, not to mention English. The average score for this “USE” was 1000 points, but first-class universities demanded more than 1500. Less than only for Stanford, where they still somehow took with 1400, but MIT, for example, did not make such concessions. Even if you had, say, 1600 points, then there could still be problems with admission - not a single number of points guaranteed you admission to an American university. They could take Harvard with 1300s, but not with 1600s, it was always a lottery. American universities are only guided by exams.

All this is because exams alone, especially in a country with the most competitive universities on the planet, you will not find students for yourself. That is why US Universities are looking for students with the help of “holistic review” - the experience of each applicant is studied individually. It can include anything: internships, competitions, extracurricular activities, volunteering, etc. The result is always unknown, as different universities have different preferences. For example, in the Ivy League (Harvard, Princeton, etc.), leadership is important, in MIT and Caltech, teamwork is important, and in Stanford and NYU, extracurricular achievements are important.

In general, the best US universities are divided into three categories

First - MIT and Caltech. Contrary to the popularity of the former, Caltech is just as prestigious, if not more so. Both universities are the largest technological institutions of higher education in America, it's just that MIT is located next to Boston, and Caltech is in Pasadena, California.

MIT is a huge, famous institute with 11,000 students. He is known for his draconian academic requirements for applicants, and he is most attracted to internships, olympiads, hackathons, etc. on his resume. Well, because of the intellectual atmosphere that reigns there, the university is overflowing with a wide variety of representatives of the left movement . And so much so that in one hostel there were as many as 20% of heterosexuals, and the other was even closed due to rampant drug addiction and drawing on the walls.

Caltech is much smaller, with only ~3,000 students. Its difference from MIT in the first place is that it is located in a completely different environment - the west coast, Stanford, Google, Apple and countless technology startups and corporations. Secondly, in relation to foreign students. MIT provides financial aid regardless of whether he is a US citizen or not, and Caltech looks at it very carefully and will even force you to apply for it every year if you are a foreigner. Here it is necessary to make a digression and say that American universities cost crazy money and families save up for them from the very beginning of the birth of a child. Studying at the same MIT costs $58,000/year, not to mention accommodation. For the average family of a talented person, this is an unbearable amount.

Therefore, in the USA they introduced such a thing as financial aid - when the university partially or fully pays the amount for the student's accommodation and tuition. Foreigners need to know that there are two types of universities - need-blind and need-based. Need-based - the fact that you cannot pay for a university affects your application, need-blind does not. For example, the main Ivy League universities, namely Harvard, Yale and Princeton, are need-blind. And it's not just that, because the Ivy League is an association of some of the best universities in America, at the level of Stanford, the University of Chicago and MIT.

Harvard is the most successful and well-known representative of this league. It stands next to MIT and is famous for how useless it is to enter. At 5%, however, it turns out, and unlike MIT, there are not so many suicides afterwards. By the way, it is almost the complete opposite of MIT, almost in everything. While MIT takes those who excel academically, Harvard focuses on extracurricular activities. At MIT, there is a leftist, progressive atmosphere of collective labor, and at Harvard, the emphasis is on the individual. The learning process is also very different. At MIT, there is a colossal study load and there is almost no time left for other things. The goal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to educate a good employee, an outstanding scientist in any particular discipline, and not a person who is subject to everything. That's why while MIT students invent incredibly cool things (look at the MIT channel!), Harvard is famous for its clubs/sports/newspapers and magazines. However, this does not mean that these institutions cannot be better in the discipline of the other. For example, Harvard has the hardest math program in the world, and MIT has one of the best sites for introducing freshmen to the university and a wonderful media lab.

But there are other Ivy League universities besides Harvard. Despite the differences in individual disciplines, the overall picture looks something like this: Harvard > Princeton > Yale > Columbia University > University of Pennsylvania > Brown University > Dortmouth > Cornell.

Princeton is the best University for studying natural sciences, and in particular mathematics - many outstanding mathematicians studied in it, including Terence Tao, one of the best research institutes is located nearby, where Einstein himself taught, and he is also famous for his political faculty. Connecticut is home to Yale, arguably the best in the entire liberal arts league. Many American politicians, economists, etc. studied there, and, in principle, the university is one of the most international members of this league, often inviting people from various countries to its walls, including, for example, the head of the central bank, Elvira Nabiullina.

On the lower end, Columbia University is located in New York City and Pennsylvania University has the best business school in the US, the latter being Trump himself. By the way, Columbia still boasts of its mathematical disciplines, because next to it is the famous Courant Institute of Mathematics. Sciences. (it was there that our compatriot Grigory Perelman began to solve the Poincaré theorem). To the east of the University of Pennsylvania is Brownovsky, which is worth talking about separately. It is located in Providence and is known for the fact that there almost the entire program can be compiled in your own way. Do you want to study mathematics and Egyptology? Please! However, it is very difficult to get there.

The top university for admission outside the Ivy League is Stanford. This is the most difficult university for admission, on a par with MIT. It is located in California and attracts applicants with its connections with corporations and idiosyncratic education, compensating for this with a complete lack of financial assistance for international students. Its admissions committee values ​​a student's determination, leadership qualities, and overall development, being the opposite of MIT in this matter.

Other notable universities in the country are Georgetown (Politics and Philosophy), Vanderbilt, Rice, Chicago, Duke, NYU, Johns Hopkins (Medicine), Michigan and Northwestern. Separately, there are technological universities: Carnegie Mellon, Rochester, Georgia, Purdue and Texas. There are also public universities (cheap and cheerful, the most famous is OSU), Brigham Young Universities, Texas A&M, HBCU (historical universities for black segregation, for some reason there are a lot of women), etc. Colleges of liberal arts give general education, very beautiful and small in size. The best and most famous among them are Amherst, Colgate, Bowdeen, Williams, Grinnel, Wesleyan, Trinity, Wellesley, Bernard, Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, Reed, Swarworth and Haverford. For an ordinary American, these establishments are associated, first of all, with the senseless waste of accumulated funds.

In general, I applied to only four universities - MIT, Princeton, Harvard and Northwestern. Why not more? First, almost all of the above universities did not look at whether you are a citizen or not when providing financial aid. Secondly, I also did not want to write a bunch of letters for admission. And, thirdly, I was a fool. Only later did I find out that usually foreign students apply to 50 or even 100 universities in order to be admitted to at least one with a financial aid package. And in most cases they still do not take.

By the way, yes, each of these universities had to submit applications consisting of essays, questions about personal life, etc. , understandable and non-individual approach to the exam. Some of them also had to pass SAT Subject Tests, analogs of SAT, but in separate subjects, optional (but it was recommended to write them to my universities) and with a huge variety of topics. So in the SAT Subject Test in mathematics there were matrices, and in physics there was the theory of relativity. I failed the SAT with a whistle, writing at 1300. Why is that? Firstly, I have only been preparing for three days. Secondly, during the last year of my studies, the roof flew in full, and occasionally I could even get out of bed, not to mention preparing for such exams. Mathematics for 740, English for 560. Mathematics was given to me much easier than English and, in principle, it can be seen from the results. I did it completely and even managed to double-check it, but with English I stopped halfway, because my reading speed (In SAT II, ​​reading is the most difficult part) left much to be desired.

Actually, this didn't upset me, since my main choice - MIT - had the option to select Subjects instead of SAT II. Here it is worth saying that in the USA there is a “main choice” of Early Action, with which you must apply in November and (with rare exceptions) to one university, and Regular Action. According to Early Action, of course, the chance to get into a university was higher. I applied for EA at MIT, even though MIT was that rare exception, because I thought there was a difference. Do not repeat my mistakes, it turned out that it really does not matter. I got lucky with SAT Subject. I prepared for them for a long time and passed both physics and mathematics II. I got 740 in physics, and 800 in math, which was not great, since usually applicants in both subjects received more than 1500 points.

MIT had its own submission system, and all the rest went through the common American Common App. From the very beginning, it was necessary to do quite simple, uncomplicated things there - what school did you study in, name, country of residence, passport, exams, etc. , and then - essays for each of the universities. These essays were the most important part of the application process, as they are the judge of how the applicant expresses his thoughts. You had to write an essay on your favorite book to Harvard, send your research paper to Princeton, and “why did you choose our university” to Northwestern. Since MIT was my first choice, the essays there were the most difficult - you had to separately write down each extracurricular activity, what you want to be, your favorite hobby, etc. Brain power, in short.

This is followed by an interview with a representative of this university in your country. MIT, Harvard and Northwestern sent me to hell with them and, it’s understandable why, I clearly shouldn’t have focused on universities with 5-2% of income. As for Princeton, he decided to interview me after all. A rather nice-looking man of venerable age from the North of Italy wrote to me when I was in Russia. He admired my hobbies, successes and said that they could most likely take me. They didn't take me.

After I was rejected from all US universities, I had a real apathy. I sincerely did not understand why everything was so difficult, because I tried very hard and did a great job. For this reason, I decided to overdo it and went to the forums to look for reasons. (Subsequently, I was accepted to a Dutch university, where I passed quite quickly due to very good results in IB (40, 7 Math HL, 7 Chem HL, 6 Phys HL, 7 English HL, 7 Rus. HL, 5 History HL, 2 TOK + EE) and excellent performance in the English exam.)

It turned out that I was heading far in the wrong direction and, in general, did not understand the admission process very well. I went to MIT as an international student, and they only take 2% for free among non-citizens (which they justify with quotas from the US government, but we all know). The SAT tests completely ruined everything. My extracurricular activities were also not super-class, to put it mildly. I played keyboards in a band, worked in the school garden, worked as a newspaper translator, wrote articles on mathematics and participated in Olympus. movement, but that was not enough. The people who applied to these universities didn't even get in with lots of internships at the best companies, international olympiads didn't guarantee admission, let alone anything local, and "A" students were treated like manure—the average MIT student had a 1,500 SAT. Yes, I did get very high marks in math for my school, but only for her - these universities did not pay much attention to them.

Summing up, I would highlight the following my mistakes when entering American universities

1. Let's start with the fact that I should have applied to more than 4 universities, and at least 25 universities initially. American universities are very competitive, and their admission process is blurry, so it was necessary to stock up on options as much as possible just in case.

2. I should have devoted myself more to social work, as it is highly valued by American universities. I saw how people with gold at the Mathematical International Olympiad were not taken, and some nondescript girl who had worked as a volunteer for a long time was taken with open arms.

3. I should have studied better the universities I applied to. Well, Harvard or Northwestern did not suit me, they are almost completely opposite to my character. I'd rather apply to Georgia Tech or some California.

4. Please prefer internships to olympiads. A good internship for Americans always means more than your awards and certificates, because it shows not only your intelligence, but also teamwork, practicality, etc. All those who entered had them.

5. Don't serve exclusively in need-blind, it's a trap! In need-sensitive universities, as it turned out, it is much easier to get help in the same volumes than in some need-blind Harvard, etc.

That's all, I hope you liked the article, I tried very hard and will try to write something like this about my life more ;)

Don't make my mistakes and be bunnies :3

Useful resources:

Tom Stagliano - MIT face on Quora

Crimson Education - About very good blog about applying to US and UK universities

Online SAT / ACT Prep Blog by PrepScholar - A useful blog about admission to American universities

MIT Admissions - A wonderful MIT blog about the life of university students

A story about how one careless provincial entered MIT - An excellent article about admission to MIT on Habré