Office of Admissions

Room 3-108M

assachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA02139-4307

Whe

n w

e’re

wor

king

,

we’

re p

layi

ng

—W

ill—

Nice girls

don’t do th

at

— Jazlyn—

We dosomething,

we don’t just study it

— Raag—

Instead of spending

a week on a beach

— Am

y—

Places you can’t pronounce

— Sal —

I could read

about it in

The New York Times — or

I could do it at MIT

— Kevin —

There’s the world

. Go fix it

.

—Selam —

Taki

ng a

pre

tty

big

gulp

— A

lison

—

You’re ready for MIT

if . . .

ProfessorErikDem

aineis

oneofthe

world'sleadingre

sear

cher

son

fold

ing

theor

y,in

clud

ing

Origam

iMat

hem

atics

and

Compu

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rigam

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MIT

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which

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TheOrig

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rogra

mm

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languagewas

developedatM

IT'sMedia

Lab.

MIT

’sW

hite

head

Inst

itute

for Bio

med

ical R

esea

rch

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ele

ader

inpr

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sear

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... you think

. . . you’re too busy

. . . to read this.

Birthp

lace

: Iran

Arriv

al in

US:A

ge si

x

Curre

nt h

omet

own:

Woo

dinvil

le, W

ashingto

n

First s

ign

of p

oliti

cal

tale

nt:A

s a si

xth gr

ader,

callin

g the W

hite H

ouse

doze

ns of t

imes

until

he

lande

d a T

V inter

view w

ith

then

-Pres

ident C

linton

Curre

nt e

lect

ed o

ffice

:

Preside

nt of h

is M

IT cl

ass,

three

years

running

Reaso

n fo

r app

lyin

g to

MIT

:“M

IT w

as not

even

on m

y rad

ar. B

ut my

father’

s an en

ginee

r, and h

e

urge

d me t

o app

ly. I

never

imag

ined I’

d get

in. I th

ough

t, ‘They

just

want m

ath-an

d-sci

ence

peop

le —

not so

meone l

ike m

e who l

oves

polic

y.’”

Reaso

ns fo

r att

endi

ng M

IT:“

I was

lookin

g for

a co

llege

that

was

chall

engin

g aca

demica

lly an

d had

real

divers

ity —

not jus

t in

ethnici

ty an

d rac

e, bu

t in te

rms o

f what

peop

le are

stud

ying,

what

they

’re en

gage

d in. I

was

shoc

ked t

o find M

IT had

so m

uch in

tellec

tual

divers

ity —

the m

ost o

f all t

he sch

ools

I loo

ked a

t.

“At s

ome p

oint I

reali

zed I

could

eith

er rea

d abo

ut th

e wor

k on th

e

Human

Gen

ome P

rojec

t in T

heNew

York

Tim

es,or

I co

uld be

herean

d

see it

play

out.

I cou

ld hav

e one o

f the l

ead s

cientis

ts be

my p

rofes

sor

for in

trodu

ctory

biolog

y and k

now un

derg

radua

tes w

ho are

actua

lly

involve

d in th

e wor

k.”

Wom

en undergraduates outnumber m

en in three of the five schools and 15 of the 22 undergraduate majors.

Amy M

eadows offers four reasons to go to MIT

1Because where I grew up, it was

incredibly difficult to be a girl

with my academ

ic interests.

There weren’t many women going

to college, not to mention concen-

trating on math and science. I live

in a sorority now, and my lab is

almost all female. It’s been incredi-

bly important to me to have that

support network.

2Because I’ve always had an

interest in problem solving.

As a kid, I would always be bringing

home crawdads and insects to inspect. From there I developed an interest in

human illness. Right now, I’m focusing on linguistics and developmental

psychology — the relationship between language and space, and how

you develop a sense of space over time. Eventually I’d like to be a doctor,

working with kids.

3Because instead of spending a week on a beach, we helped

build a welfare-to-work center.The past three years, our project for

Alternative Spring Break was in West Virginia. As President and trip

coordinator, I’m responsible for finding the organization that needs our

help, and then managing all the logistics — safety, food, housing.

4Because MIT is m

ore like a family than

you think. People outside imagine MIT as

very difficult, a cold place with everyone

just striving to succeed for themselves alone.

But it’s actually really inclusive. Everyone —

your fellow students, the faculty—they’re

all trying to help you.

You’re applying to medical school. Have you always wanted

to be a doctor?

I came into freshman year thinking I would do string theory and

hard-core theoretical physics. Now I’m applying to medical

school. At MIT, I could make a switch like that, because what-

ever MIT does, it does well. I turned to medicine because

I missed the real-world aspects of the biology I had done in high

school. I’m really interested in the idea of translational medicine.

I want to make sure that what I’m doing in the lab is translated

into patient care or drug discovery.

What do you like m

ost about MIT?

MIT people love what they do, and they do it to the max. The intensity of the place really

attracted me. We dosomething, we don’t just study it. And people’s interests are incredibly

diverse. You might be doing computer science, but you’re also doing drama.

We’ve been told the house you live in is “wacky.” W

hat’s that about?

My living group has been a huge part of my life here. I live with some of the most creative

minds at MIT. W

e’ve got a musical staircase, so three people can get on it and play “Happy

Birthday” or whatever. And we have a room with over 2,000 different light sources. They’re

connected by computer, so you can only turn them on from our website. And when we play

music, we can make the lights dance to it.

Basically, we have a good concentration of

artsy/crazy people. I’m cooking for all 32 of

them tonight.

What’s for dinner?

Gorgonzola cream sauce with oregano, over

gnocchi. It’s probably even easier than mac and

cheese, but you get more credit.

The distance between MIT and Jazlyn’s urban New Jersey

neighborhood is a little over four hours by car — and

about a million miles.

As an immigrant from Chile who never had a chance to finish high school,

Jazlyn’s father firmly believed his daughter would live at home until she

got married. “When I told him I wanted to go to M

IT,” says Jazlyn, “he said,

‘You mean you want us to move to Boston?’ He didn’t have a clue about the

American college process. I took my parents to an MIT info session where

they had an actual MIT parent saying ‘Look what my daughter has done!’ and

both my parents said, ‘Wow, we want our daughter to do this!’ ”

Then there was the macho culture of her inner-city high school. For a girl

“to be assertive, independent and intelligent was dangerous.” By contrast,

says Jazlyn, “In a lot of ways women are the strongest voice at MIT.”

“When I went to my guidance counselor about college early on, he said, ‘Come back when you’re a senior and we’ll

apply to a state school.’ I was so frustrated! I didn’t even know what tests to take. But I was the first person in my

family to go to college, and I thought, ‘If I’m going to do this, I want to go to the best.’” Jazlyn realized she would

have to navigate the entire process herself. “The more I researched about what MIT was like —

about the way people

think — the more I knew I had to go here.” And she not only found her own way in: she agitated until the school

district agreed to let her create a program called “Road to College,” which organizes visits to far-away campuses for

kids in her old neighborhood who otherwise couldn’t go.

Getting in to MIT, as it turned out, was the

easy part. “First semester, I kept saying,

‘I’ve never seen this material

before!’” But gradually Jazlyn

found her niche — includ-

ing a passionate interest

in Civil and

Environmental

Engineering, the

presidency of

LUChA —

La Unión Chicana

por Aztlán —and

last summer, an

engineering

internship in

Italy. She

now has enough

Italian to

order dinner —

and read an

engineering

document.

Her inter

est in

art a

nd engin

eerin

g led

prett

y natu

rally

to a f

ascinati

on

with in

dustr

ial an

d pro

duct

desig

n. “I c

an re

ally r

elate

to wor

king w

ith

industr

ial ar

tists,

” say

s Alis

on. “

I wor

ked f

or A

pple,

and a

lthou

gh

they

’re an

engin

eerin

g com

pany,

they

care

so m

uch ab

out h

ow th

ings

look a

nd wor

k in th

e rea

l wor

ld. I

want t

o be i

nvolve

d in m

aking

prod

ucts

that

help pe

ople.

”

Like ev

eryon

e she k

nows a

t MIT

, Alis

on do

es —

a lot

. “I’m

on th

e

women

’s hoc

key t

eam, a

nd the w

omen

’s club

ultim

ate F

risbe

e squ

ad. W

e wen

t

to th

e nati

onals

two y

ears

ago.

People

say M

IT is

like d

rinkin

g

from a

fire hos

e. Yo

u can

take

a pret

ty big

gulp

if you

wan

t to.

If yo

u com

e here

, you

shou

ld

just t

ry to

take a

dvan

tage o

f what’

s

offere

d and e

xperi

ence

the p

lace i

n

so m

any w

ays.”

For A

lison

, the p

eople

have b

een

the m

ost a

mazing p

art of

her M

IT

expe

rience

. “The fi

rst ti

me I ca

me,

it was

for pr

eview

wee

kend,

and

it era

sed an

y ster

eotyp

es in m

y

mind. Peo

ple here

are i

ntellig

ent i

n

many m

ore w

ays t

han ju

st math

and s

cience

. They

’re fo

cused

and

they

’re do

wn to ea

rth. P

eople

come

here to

learn

, not

to sh

ow of

f.”

Have

you

alway

s wan

ted

to g

o to

MIT

?

As a ki

d, my t

op ch

oice w

as ac

tually

a sta

te sch

ool

back

in Tex

as. T

he only

thing I

’d rea

lly hea

rd ab

out i

t

befor

e was fro

m mov

ies—

you k

now, th

e Astr

ophysi

cist

Who S

aves

the W

orld

turns o

ut to

have a

tripl

e-Ph.D

.

from M

IT.

Whe

n yo

u vi

site

d ca

mpu

s on

pre

view

wee

kend

,

what s

urpr

ised

you

the

mos

t?

That M

IT do

es not

have a

cutth

roat

compe

titive

atmos

phere

. Stud

ents

work t

ogeth

er on

prob

lem se

ts.

People

reall

y pus

h them

selve

s, bu

t I w

as su

rpris

ed

athow

nice ev

eryon

e was.

Eve

ry 15

feet,

someo

ne

would

ask m

e,“Do y

ou nee

d help

with

your

suitc

ases?”

That jus

t didn

’t hap

pen ot

her pla

ces.

How d

id y

ou g

et s

o pa

ssio

nate

abo

ut

volu

ntee

r wor

k?

I was

born

in a

refug

ee ca

mp in A

ustri

a bec

ause

both

my pare

nts are

refug

ees f

rom E

ritrea

. My m

om is

like

Moth

er Tere

sa. She w

as de

finitely

my intro

ducti

on to

commun

ity se

rvice

. If w

e were

drivi

ng alon

g and s

aw a

family

slee

ping i

n their

car, m

y mom

wou

ld go

buy t

hem $5

0.00 w

orth of

groc

eries.

My d

ad w

ould

hire hom

eless

peop

le to

help ou

t with

home

impr

ovem

ent p

rojec

ts. T

hey’d

often

have l

unch

at ou

r hou

se, ta

king

leftov

ers fo

r dinner.

Gro

wing up I

thou

ght m

ost p

eople

wou

ld

do so

mething l

ike th

at. So I

tried

to do

the s

ame.

You

have

an

inte

nse

inte

rest

in th

e Erit

rean

refu

gee

crisis. H

ave

you

been

abl

e to

pur

sue

that

thro

ugh

MIT

?

MIT

has ton

s of m

oney

for s

tuden

t pro

jects.

When

I

said,

“I wan

t to g

o to E

ast A

frica

and t

ake p

ictur

es of

refug

ees,”

peop

le h

ere

help

ed

me

find

a way

to d

o it.

Then I

spen

t last

summer

in Wash

ington, D

.C. in

an M

IT in

ternsh

ip. I

would

say it

’s one o

f the t

op

prog

rams a

t MIT

. They

find out

what yo

u wan

t to

work o

n, where

you w

ant t

o wor

k, an

d then

mak

e a

match w

ith th

e righ

t age

ncy. I

worke

d at U

SAID

(U.S. A

gency

for I

nternati

onal

Develo

pmen

t) in th

e

East A

frica

Bur

eau.

Amy M

eado

ws

Sal o

n ge

ttin

g in

to M

IT

MIT

was

my stre

tch sc

hool. I

wen

t to a

reall

y small

publi

c sch

ool. L

ess th

an 20

kids

a

year

go aw

ay fo

r coll

ege,

and I

was

the o

nly on

e to g

o to M

IT si

nce th

e ’70

s.

Visitin

g the c

ampu

s was

very,

very

impo

rtant. I

came u

p in O

ctobe

r and l

ooke

d at o

ther

schoo

ls aro

und h

ere, to

o. I t

alked

to qu

ite a

few M

IT st

uden

ts, an

d they

just

seemed

very

motiva

ted. I

knew

righ

t away

this

was th

e plac

e I w

anted

to be

.

Sal o

n ho

w an

ordi

nary

kid

from

Lon

g Is

land

got

wild

abo

ut C

hina

Since el

emen

tary s

choo

l, Asia

just

fascin

ated m

e. I h

ad a

map co

llecti

on, a

nd I us

ed

tosay

, “One d

ay I’

m going t

o visi

t these

plac

es I c

an’t e

ven pr

onou

nce.”

When

I go

t to

MIT

, som

e of m

y frat

ernity

broth

ers had

done t

he CETI p

rogr

am be

fore,

and t

hey

said,

“Abs

olutel

y, do

this!

You d

on’t e

ven nee

d to s

peak

Chinese

.”

The first

summer

I tau

ght w

eb de

sign an

d basi

c rob

otics

at a m

iddle

schoo

l in

Guangz

hou fo

r five

wee

ks. I

didn’t k

now an

y Chinese

. My s

econ

d sum

mer, I

had a

more

formal

internsh

ip with

a non

profi

t that

prod

uces

video

s abo

ut en

viron

mental

and s

ocial

issue

s in C

hina. I l

ovedit —

so m

uch th

at I s

tayed

until

Decem

ber. I

t rea

lly in

fluence

d

my dire

ction

in lif

e. Now

I wan

t to u

se civ

il engin

eerin

g in de

velop

ing cou

ntries

to wor

k

on ba

sic sy

stems,

like w

ater i

nfrastr

uctur

e where

peop

le rea

lly nee

d it.

I’m in

my fi

fth se

mester

of M

anda

rin now

, and I

’m

conve

rsatio

nal. B

ut fou

r yea

rs ag

o, I n

ever

would

have

thou

ght I

’d be

at M

IT. O

r in C

hina. Or s

peak

ing Chinese

.

Sal o

n wha

t sur

pris

ed h

im a

t MIT

I rea

lly di

dn’t t

hink it w

ould

be th

isintense.

Eve

ryone i

s so

motiva

ted, s

o ambit

ious.

They do

things. A

nd they

have

such

cour

age a

nd suc

h dedic

ation

. When

I hea

r abo

ut

some s

tuden

t with

a gr

eat id

ea or

who j

ust w

on so

me com

-

petit

ion, it

mak

es me w

ant t

o do

more —

and i

t mak

es me f

eel I

can

do th

is, to

o.

How long have you known you wanted

togo to M

IT?

Pretty much as long as I can remember.

There’s a picture of me at three with an

MIT shirt on. But ultimately, I was

surprised I got in.

I was pretty good at MIT-like things, and

my high school really stressed the liberal

arts. For me, that created a balance. I could

write pretty well and I had an appreciation

for things besides equations and formulas.

Frankly, as an engineer, I’ll be making

things for people, things that will affect the

world, so I have a responsibility to be aware of and appreciate other things in life.

You grew up knowing a lot about MIT. Anything still surprise you when you got here?

Number one was the people. I came thinking they’d all be nerds, but it’s been completely the

opposite. We’re all here because the work is important to us —

but we’re all interested in

other things, too. When we’re working, we’re playing. I could take anyone on campus

here and have a really good conversation on any subject.

The second surprise was how involved undergraduates could be in research.

I don’t think you could match that anywhere. UROPallows you to apply all

these things you’re learning in the classroom, before you go out into the

real world. W

hat’s the single best thing about MIT?

The resources. If you can think up something, and think

how to build it, at MIT you can find the resources and

people to get it done.

You’re a California native. Tell us about

your first winter in Cambridge.

(long pause) It’s all about finding the

right jacket.

SinaKevinNazemi

prego !

ManhattanBeach, CA

AverageJanuary

temperature:58 degrees F

Cambridge, MAAverageJanuary

temperature:29 degrees F

ManhattanBeach, CA

Average Julytemperature:73 degrees F

Cambridge, MAAverage Julytemperature:74 degrees F

Ratio of MIT students from

the warmest25 states

to studentsfrom the

coldest 25states: 5:4

UROP — the imm

ensely popular Undergraduate Research

Opportunities Program — offers undergraduates the “very M

IT”

experience of working directly with faculty on frontline, hands-on

research. By the time they graduate, 80 percent of M

IT students

will have done at least one UROP, some as m

any as half a dozen.

Projects range from genom

e sequencing to interactive cinema,

from designing eyes for robots to developing artificial cartilage for

human beings.

gulp

!

pow !

More than 400courses are offered each term in the humanities,arts and social sciences.

MIT’s List VisualArts Center hasbeen named theBest Art Gallery in Boston.

The Grants Program of the MIT Council for the Arts has awarded over$1,000,000 to more than 1,000 projects.

MIT

take

s an

in

terd

isci

plin

ary

appro

ach

to r

esea

rch

in i

nte

rnati

on

al

dev

elopm

ent,

wit

h

facu

lty

an

d s

tuden

tsfr

om

ever

y s

chool

at

MIT

work

ing

toget

her

to s

olv

eis

sues

of

glo

bal

fam

ine,

dro

ught,

mig

rati

on

, ed

uca

tion

an

d p

over

ty.

Jazly

n Car

vajal

Will DelHagenAlis

on W

ong

Selam Daniel

Sal S

catu

rro

Raag Airan

And really,

what more

do youneed?

MIT’s China Educational Technology Initiative(MIT-CETI) promotes cultural exchangebetween America and China by sendingMIT students to teach in teams ofthree at Chinese schools in the summer. Past CETI participantshave taught robotics, biology,computer programming,aerospace, electronics,civil engineering,English and more.

One-third of MIT students speak one of 43 languages other than English at hom

e.

42% of M

IT undergraduates are women, but 53%

of student activities are run by women.

Reaso

ns to

enc

oura

ge m

ore

“pol

icy”

peo

ple

to c

hoos

e M

IT:

“We’r

e in th

e midd

le of

a tec

hnologic

al rev

olutio

n

that

will sig

nificantly

chan

ge al

l our

lives.

Yet

we hav

e all t

hese la

wyers

in Wash

ington

who hav

e hist

ory b

ackg

roun

ds, w

ho hav

e

to arg

ue ev

eryth

ing base

d on se

cond-

hand a

nalysis

of sc

ience

and

technolo

gy. I

t wou

ld be

grea

t if

we had

mor

e law

makers

verse

d in

scien

ce an

d tec

hnology

.”

How h

e sp

ends

his

spa

re ti

me:

“I’ve

been

wor

king f

or th

e Wor

ld

Bank a

bout

20 hou

rs a w

eek.

I mad

e

the c

onnec

tion th

roug

h Oliv

ier

Blanch

ard, a

profe

ssor I

helped

wor

k on

a boo

k with

.”

Whe

re h

e’s h

eadi

ng n

ext:

A year

in the r

eal w

orld,

follo

wed

by la

w schoo

l

The jo

b of

his

dre

ams:

US Sen

ator

Som

e pro

fess

ors

wh

o t

each

intr

odu

ctory

cou

rses

, an

d w

hy

you

mig

ht

read a

bou

t th

em i

n T

he

New

Yo

rk T

imes

•E

ric

Lan

der

— a

lea

din

g s

cien

tist

for

the

Hu

man

Gen

om

e P

roje

ct

•P

aulin

e M

aier

— l

eadin

g s

chol

ar o

f th

e A

mer

ican

Rev

oluti

on

•A

lan

Gu

th —

dev

eloped

th

e th

eory

of

the

infl

ati

on

ary

un

iver

se

•R

ober

t W

ein

ber

g —

dis

cover

ed t

he

firs

t on

cogen

e an

d t

um

or-

supr e

ssor

gen

e

76%

of M

IT s

tude

nts

atte

nded

pub

lic h

igh

scho

ol.

17%

of M

IT s

tude

nts

had

high

sch

ool g

radu

atin

g clas

ses

of fe

wer th

an 10

0 stu

dent

s.

Other “wacky” MIT living groups:

•Random

Hall residents wired their bathrooms

and laundry machines to the Internet.

• New House is home to Spanish, Russian, Germ

an

and French Houses, where native and non-native

speakers can become im

mersed in foreign culture.

• The Wom

en’s Independent Living Group (WILG) is

a cooperative residence for 48 women who cook,

clean, pay the bills, fix the clogged drains, patch

the roof, and more —— all on their own.

Oth

er M

IT a

lter

nati

ves

to t

an

nin

g:

• T

he

win

nin

g t

eam

of

the

MIT

ID

EA

S C

om

pet

itio

n,

wh

ich

en

cou

rages

in

nov

ati

on

for

com

mu

nit

y n

eeds,

won

$5

,00

0

to t

ravel

to N

icara

gu

a t

o d

evel

op b

ette

r w

ate

r fi

ltra

tion

pro

cess

es•

Mec

han

ical

En

gin

eeri

ng s

tuden

ts d

esig

ned

an

d b

uilt

a

un

iqu

e pool

table

an

d c

ues

for

the

dev

elopm

enta

lly

dis

able

d•

Wri

tin

g s

tuden

ts c

reate

d s

pee

ches

an

d p

ublici

ty m

ate

rials

to

advoca

te f

or

the

Coa

liti

on

for

Cri

min

al

Ju

stic

e

Alison

wan

ted to

go to

art s

choo

l.

Alison

wan

ted to

go to

MIT

.

Alison

had a

prob

lem.

The solu

tion: g

o to M

IT, m

ajor i

n mec

hanica

l engin

eerin

g, minor

in arch

itectu

re —

and d

raw a

weekly

comic

strip

for T

he Te

ch.

“Integ

ral Forc

e is kin

d of n

erdy,

but I

have t

o think o

f my

audie

nce! A

ctuall

y, I j

ust p

ut the s

trips

toge

ther as

a com

ic bo

ok

and p

rinted

3,00

0 cop

ies. I

got a

coup

le of

gran

ts fro

m MIT

to do

it — $2

,385!

MIT

has a l

ot of

resou

rces l

ike th

at —

you j

ust

look o

n the w

eb, a

sk pe

ople.

There

are a

ll kinds

of pe

ople

who

can help

you d

o what

you w

ant t

o do.

My f

riends

at ot

her sch

ools

can’t f

athom

the a

mount o

f opp

ortun

ities a

nd reso

urce

s ava

ilable

here.”

To see Selam’s photos and her website on the Eritrean refugee crisis, go tohttp://web.mit.edu/selam/www/