How to do everything wrong and still get into MIT, part deux

How to do everything wrong and still get into MIT, part deux According to my hit counter as well as by raw comment count, my entry on how I got here is the most popular thing Ive ever written. Therefore, even though sequels are often worse than originals (except perhaps in the case of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II wait, are you all too young for TMNT?), I decided to profile my endlessly put-upon boyfriend, Adam 07, and his admissions story. (Well, that and I took a thermo test today, and I was planning to write about tests. But Laura beat me to it.) Adam is what we like to call an airplane nerd. He likes to design them, build them, and fly them (guess who the cameraperson was on that video? Oh, it was me). Hes had a UROP in the Aerospace Controls Laboratory since his freshman year, and has been working at Draper Labs since the beginning of this summer and hes been told by one of the professors in the Aero/Astro department that hes one of the best undergrads to come through the department in the past decade. That doesnt mean he was one of those knock-your-socks-off prospectives. Although Adam was by no means a slouch in the classroom he was valedictorian of his 248-person high school class, and the first male valedictorian in 10 years hes not a standardized test taker. He took the SAT I three times, and even after the third time, his best combined score was a 710 in math and a 690 in verbal, giving him a not-particularly-spectacular combined score of 1400. (Note that he didnt get those two scores together the time he got a 710 in math, he actually got a 600 on verbal. But lucky for all of us, the MIT Admissions Office is staffed with wise, kind people who only consider scores that present the applicant in the best light.) His SAT IIs in math and science were more respectable he got a 750 in Math IIc and a 750 in physics and a 450 in writing. (Note: Adam and I are always warring about whos a better writer, and I just took the opportunity to razz him about his writing score, since I got a 790 on the writing SAT II. Me: Does that mean Im twice as good at writing as you are? Adam: Well, youre definitely not twice as good at math!) During his summers, Adam didnt have any fancy research internships or go to any summer camps; he worked for his dads construction business. He built some pretty nice roofs. He also built some nice rockets he and his dad like to fly R/C airplanes together, and when he was in high school they liked to make rockets, too. (Read: blow things up.) Adam was involved pretty extensively in his extracurriculars. He was a varsity cross-country and track runner for his high school, and was captain of the cross-country team his senior year. He was also a varsity mathlete, but he assures me that he was definitely a better track star than mathlete. Moreover, Adam has been a competitive freestyle skiier since he was thirteen at the time he applied, he was nationally ranked, and by the time he was accepted, he had been to Junior Olympics. (Adam: Tell them I got 21st [at Junior Olympics] my first year, and ask if theyve seen me on ESPN.) Adam discovered MIT during his sophomore year of high school, when he placed at the Massachusetts State Science Fair. The fair is held every year at MIT, and Adams award (a trip to a NASA shuttle launch) was presented to him by one of the aero/astro faculty members who has ended up being one of his closest faculty mentors. (Awww.) Adam swears that after the launch, he decided he wanted to come to MIT. (I am not entirely sure I believe this. After all, his childhood room is covered in things that fly planes hanging from the ceiling, pictures of rockets on the wall and I cant imagine he hadnt dreamed of MIT for a long time, considering hes from Massachusetts. I guess maybe after the science fair, he decided it was actually possible.) Once again, I reiterate: the successful MIT application doesnt require perfect test scores, or research experience, or being a National AP Scholar, or world domination in integration bees. The successful MIT application requires passion, and, luckily, you get to define passion on your own terms.

Brainstorming Ideas for Writing Proven Strategies

Brainstorming for Generating Ideas for Writing an Essay You have been given a prompt but have problems in essay writing and looking for ideas? Writers may often experience a shortage of writing ideas or have no ideas at all to start writing. If you lack ideas for your essay, you may try these proven brainstorming strategies to generate new ideas for narrative writing or organize your creative ideas for writing. One of the most important things you should remember about writing is that it is a process. You can hardly find few people who can write their essay from the top of the first page to the last page and do not stop until they finish it. The first step in writing essay is generating your thoughts and ideas for writing, which is also known as a prewriting. How to get ideas for writing? There are many ways to develop and organize ideas for an essay. Brainstorming is a very popular technique that is familiar to most people. You should make a list of potential ideas on your topic and make it as large as possible. Brainstorming ideas for essay writing can be done in groups, with the entire class or every student can do it on their own. You should not write in complete sentences or worry about grammar and spelling, but think about ideas no matter how crazy or silly they may seem at first. Freewriting is a strategy similar to brainstorming but you should write in sentences and paragraphs without stopping. You should not mind grammar or spelling but just put on paper every thought you have on the subject. The main sense of this activity is never to stop writing for a certain period of time (15-20 minutes). Journalistic questions represent a more structural way to approach a topic. When you are given the topic of your essay, you should ask questions starting with the question words: who, what, when, where, how, and why. This activity can also be done in class individually or in groups. Cluster mapping or idea webbing is a perfect way to show certain relationships between different ideas. You should write the topic of your essay in the center, draw a circle around it, and draw several lines extending from the circle. At the end of the lines, you should write any ideas that come into your mind that are related to your topic. Add some ideas that come from subtopics. Do it until you feel you have enough ideas and details for your paper or for asking a research question. But generally speaking, each of the subtopics can be a paragraph in your essay with examples and the details to support the idea. Flow charting is similar to idea webbing but it is the most effective when you examine cause and effect relationships. Double/Triple entry is useful when you compare and contrast two or three essay topics or when you explore two or three separate areas of one topic. You should divide your paper into two or three columns and each should have a special topic focused on the idea. Cubing gives you an opportunity to think about your topic from six different sides. You should describe your topic and then compare, associate, analyze, apply it, and argue against and for it. Doing research is useful when all else fails. You can use online sources or visit the library reference areas. These prewriting methods give students necessary tools and foundation for successful essay writing. Creative Brainstorming Ideas for Elementary School Writing Creative writing activities in elementary school teach students to express themselves and allow them to demonstrate strong vocabulary skills and have a good practice in grammar and sentence structure. But not all children like writing and some children don’t mind writing but find it challenging to start or come up with interesting ideas. So it’s vital at the beginning of the writing process to encourage brainstorming and ensure that the children have enough time to be creative. Brainstorming ideas for writing encourages kids to think creatively but students need guidance during this tricky process and not the assignment to come up with a complete list of ideas. Teachers have to model the process of brainstorming ideas for writing essays for their students and show the students what exactly they have to do. The students should be encouraged to be creative and use colors, shapes, and lines to write their ideas and group them together. Teachers should offer graphic organizers and creative writing tools to collect and organize ideas and support the brainstorming process. Writing process is time-consuming and writing skills require practice. If you struggle with your writing and face problems at any stage of the writing process, you can get qualified writing help with any assignment at our custom writing services. Our professional writers have necessary experience and skills to craft a strong model paper on any topic that can serve as a practical tool to hone your own writing skills.

The Meditation On The Passion - 1177 Words

The Interpretation Of The Meditation The Meditation on the Passion Edwin Rivas Orientation In Art Fall 2015 Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Venice 1460/66?-1525/26 The Meditation on the Passion ca. 1490 Oil and tempera on wood This extraordinary work by Carpaccio is a landmark in the history of devotional images. It is, in effect, a meditation on the them of Death and Resurrection. To the right, the Old Testament figure Job sits on a block inscribed in pseudo-Hebrew, while on the left, portrayed as a hermit, is Saint Jerome (ca. 347 -420), who wrote a commentary on the book of Job. Christ’s dead body is displayed on a broken throne, also inscribed in pseudo-Hebrew. A bird—symbol of the soul —flies upwards. The landscape, barren on the†¦show more content†¦Vittore Carpaccio’s symmetrical input truly served it’s purpose. Focusing on the center third of the painting, there’s a mere perfect symmetrical contrast of life and death top to bottom. Most impacting is the symmetrical division of the malnourished and tortured body of Jesus Christ, The left side of his body is in a lively sitting posture on the throne. While his right side is the embodiment of death, his punctured ribs and dangling arm. From the ground up, Carpaccio illustrates the contrast of life and death with minimal details in the painting. The supporting stones of the throne, directly below the arm rests, are divided by breakage, the left stone is cracked and falling apart, while the opposing stone appears to be intact. Vittore Carpaccio managed to capture the cycle of life with many elements one wouldn’t think of comparing life and death with. The top left portion of the throne is a half broken, followed by Jesus’s deadly posture to the falling apart ground stone of the throne, Death is captured in a very recognizable minimalistic form. Saint Jerome on the right and Job on the left, are vivid images of the epitome of true devotion and worship to Jesus. As they both have a contemplating stare in their eyes, evoking the acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ. Following their eyes out, it’s clear Carpaccio directed them towards the viewer to evoke the invitational feeling of devotion and respect towards the deceased image of christ. Even

Essay on Soulless Technology in William Gibson’s Burning...

Soulless Technology in William Gibson’s Burning Chrome An old adage states that the eyes are the windows to the soul. What if, however, those eyes have a trademark name stamped onto them? William Gibson’s short story Burning Chrome depicts an advanced but soulless society where most of the technological advances are portrayed as being perverted by commercialization and human mechanization, rather than dedicated to improving the quality of life. This paper will touch upon the frivolous consumerism of as well as the dehumanizing uses of technology in the world of Automatic Jack, the reader’s companion throughout the story. Perhaps the most visible example of this perversion is the high degree of commercialized technology in their†¦show more content†¦One of the more popular forms of entertainment is the simstim, a portable simulated stimuli device that allows one to experience the lives of famous people. These people are only famous because they have their lives on display; they are stars that are manufactured by and for the makers of the simstims. Through this device, the user is allowed to experience the world as the star does, complete with parties with the rich and famous and with thrilling hobbies. The eyes, the plastic surgery, the simstims — this technology is not improving the quality of life for humanity; rather it is just another trend, another way to be amused, another way to keep up with fashion’s fickleness. Even medical technology has been misused to keep up appearances. Chrome, a steel-hearted entrepreneur, uses hormones and serums that keep her looking fourteen fo rever. In fact, she had run a drug trade in hormones for years before owning a bar and brothel that also sells hormones that allow the user to relive past memories. Hormones in our society are precious, and are used to treat diabetes, hyperthyroidism and infertility. However, in Jack’s world, they are little more than drugs, used either for escapism or for the maintenance of youthful looks. This trivial treatment of products that could be used for societal improvement further accents the soulless commercialization that is the

Abortion Is Not An Acceptable Choice - 1369 Words

Although Patrick Lee, Robert George, and Dr. Grazie Christie argue abortion is not an acceptable choice and should not even be a choice when an unborn baby is involved, senior editor of New Republic magazine Rebecca Traister counter argued abortions are about women’s choices and health not fetuses. Patrick Lee and Robert George are professors at respective Universities who have written many journals on controversial issues like abortion such as The Wrong of Abortion. Dr. Grazie Christie is a radiologist who completes prenatal diagnoses for pregnant women. Christie wrote about a first hand experience in her essay Abortion is about a child, not a choice. As the senior editor of New Republic magazine Rebecca Traister writes many political†¦show more content†¦Even though Christie did not mention the claim in her article, I’m sure she would agree with Lee and George the better option for the child would be adoption instead of abortion (23). Next, Lee and Georg e argue becoming pregnant in the result of rape is not a valid reason for aborting an unborn child. Lee and George state that a pregnancy may be unwanted but the baby is not posing any harm against the mother (24). Neither one of the other authors posed the statement in their articles but Traister would consider abortion to be an acceptable choice for a rape baby because the woman’s choice matters. Lastly, Lee and George argue the only valid reason for aborting an unborn child is when the mother’s life is in danger due to a medical emergency (21). For example if a pregnant women is diagnosed with uterine cancer then it is only right to remove the cancerous uterus along with the baby to save the woman’s life (21). This incidence would result in the baby’s death. Traister does mention in her article if she had to make a choice between her baby and her life, her rights to live would outweigh the rights of her unborn baby (Traister). This does seem selfish in my opinion but if you choose to die and allow the baby to live then the baby may not have a 100 percent survival rate. Christie does not address this claim in her article but since she is a doctor it is the ultimate goal to save the mother’s life during a medical emergency.

Racial Discrimination The Worst Form Of Inequality

Aristotle once said â€Å"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.† Racial discrimination occurs everyday to many different people. In America,the individuals who are usually discriminated against are the minorities like African Americans and Hispanics. Affirmative action is a policy that was created and has been claimed to be positive discrimination. The policy was created to give equal opportunity to groups of people who are usually discriminated against. Although Affirmative action has been named to be positive and support minorities, it is still unjust. There should be no positive aspects of racial discrimination. Many believe that it is only racial discrimination or racist if a caucasian person discriminates against a person of color but do not consider it racism if it happens to be the other way around. Racial Discrimination in any form is harmful which is why affirmative action policies are not correct. Discrimination occurs to many different types of people but racial discrimination seems to occur more to these specific individuals which in America it appears to be that the groups most discriminated against are African Americans and Hispanics. America has grown into a place where certain events are associated with these groups. Many people simply assume that African Americans are associated with crime and that all hispanics are illegal. This is called prejudice. People who assume these things about an entire group of people are the rootShow MoreRelatedThe Racism Of Black Resentment900 Words   |  4 PagesColor blind racism ideologies operate in four frames which is abstract liberalism, biologization of culture, naturalization of racial matter, and minimization of racism. 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Hamlet vs. Laertes Free Essays

Jeffrey Kotch Mrs. Ingram Literary Analysis English 12 The main theme in Hamlet is revenge. Although Hamlet and Laertes are both seeking revenge, they go about it differently. We will write a custom essay sample on Hamlet vs. Laertes or any similar topic only for you Order Now Because they are in the same situation, they can be compared to one another. Shakespeare probably created the retaliatory Laertes in order to make the reader or audience side with Hamlet, the protagonist. By comparing him to the rash Laertes, the author forces the reader to appreciate the careful thought that goes into Hamlet’s every move (until towards the end when he too becomes rash). They are both high-class males placed in strenuous positions. Without Laertes, the audience would have no one else to compare Hamlet to, other than Fortinbras, who rarely appears. Laertes is almost the standard to which Shakespeare wants his audience to compare the Prince to. Comparing the two almost intensifies their different characteristics. The differences between Laertes and Hamlet affect a main theme of the play revenge. Both men have fathers killed, and both are seeking revenge. Hamlet, though he knows who murdered his father, hesitates to take direct action against the villain. In stark contrast is Laertes, who doesn’t know who killed his father but will kill anyone on a whim. Laertes’ rashness throughout provides the play with an unlikely stereotypical hero– brave, unwavering, ready to kill– and is rather ironic because Laertes is not the play’s â€Å"hero† role. The hero instead is Hamlet, and Hamlet is not a typical hero, in that he shies away from violence, and is portrayed as insane for half of the play (though that is by his own doing). Hamlet is not even able to kill his uncle until Act 5, by which time he can be argued to be mentally and emotionally instable, if not insane. In order to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet must lose himself in insanity; he must become, essentially, an entirely different character. Another considerable difference between Hamlet and Laertes are their relationships with Ophelia. Hamlet is obviously taken by Ophelia in the first two acts of the play, as he writes her letters and even tries to grab her in his lustful advances. This is clearly not the case with Laertes, as he is Ophelia’s brother; although Shakespeare is not beyond writing about incest, it is not being portrayed here. Instead, Laertes takes on a protective role of â€Å"big brother† (although we do not know which sibling is the elder), warning Ophelia of Hamlet’s advances as being juvenile and false. Hamlet later begins to treat Ophelia badly, scorning her affections and seemingly driving her insane and to her inevitable death. Laertes seems to dislike Hamlet from the beginning of the play, and emotions collide in Act V: the two men scuffle in the open grave of Ophelia, each believing that they loved her the most, and jealous of the other’s affections for her. Hamlet’s clashes with Claudius also build the plot of the play; knowing that his uncle killed his father in cold blood, Hamlet’s scorn of the new king grows throughout the play. Hamlet continually struggles with his emotions as he fights the desire to avenge his father’s death by killing the king. He uses circuitous means to take metaphorical stabs at his uncle: a play about a man killing his uncle by pouring poison in his ear (the same method of murder used to kill Hamlet’s father). Claudius eventually gets the feeling that Hamlet knows more than he is letting on, and begins to feel threatened. Claudius begins looking for ways to get rid of Hamlet, and eventually decides to send him off to England, where he has sent orders to have his nephew killed. His plan, however, is thwarted when Hamlet discovers the orders for his death. Claudius now needs Laertes, a rash and violent person, to kill Hamlet for him. He tells Laertes that Hamlet killed Polonius, and Laertes allies with Claudius against Hamlet. Thus, another dissimilarity is disclosed, as Hamlet would never consider allying with Claudius for anything, and Laertes, hungry for blood, is willing to ally with anybody who will give him an easy kill. How the characters feel about their fathers is also very dissimilar. Hamlet loves his father and is devastated when King Hamlet is killed; Hamlet is suicidal at the beginning of the play due to his father’s death. Hamlet feels that, for the love of his father, he must take revenge, yet is unable to do so for lack of courage and ambition. Laertes (while the level of his relationship with his father is unclear in the play) shows very little emotion over the actual death of his father, but is over-eager to avenge it. It is therefore apparent that while Hamlet truly loves his father, Laertes is more concerned with the saving the pride of the family by avenging his father’s death than with realizing that his father is dead. Therefore, Hamlet seems to be more exocentric, while Laertes, continuing his father’s quest for personal gain, appears to be more egocentric. Hamlet seems to fancy himself an actor; several times during the play, he either gives â€Å"pointers† to other players or excessively dramatizes a scene. The famous line, â€Å"Alas, poor Yorick! (V. i. 179-188)† finds Hamlet dramatically talking to a skull. In order to enhance emotion and to add a mood to a monologue, Elizabethan actors often talked to inanimate objects. In this scene Hamlet is utilizing the skull and the overall dark aura of the graveyard to speak of Ophelia’s death. In addition to these instances, Hamlet is acting insane for the majority of the play, in order to put his devious schemes into action without being suspected by his uncle. He uses his surroundings to enhance his words, thus acting out a philosophical monologue in a regular conversation. Laertes seems to be more rough and unrefined than Hamlet– like his actions, his words are bold and to the point. Unlike Hamlet, Laertes’ lines at the end of the play tend to be short and to the point– he speaks no more than eight lines at a time in all but one occasion beginning in Act 4, Scene 5. Hamlet frequently goes into long monologues that can exceed fifty lines. The distinctions between Hamlet and Laertes are significant because they provide some insight into the personalities of both characters, particularly Hamlet. By introducing Laertes into the play as a fiery, compulsive person; any resemblance of ambition or courage displayed by Hamlet pales in comparison to Laertes’. This enhances the emotion in Hamlet’s monologue at the end of Act II, when Hamlet examines himself and finds him lacking in courage. The inner turmoil in Hamlet is strong, as he calls himself a â€Å"coward† and thinks himself as weak as a woman. He wants to avenge his father’s death at Claudius’ hands, yet, like his uncle, he does not approach conflict directly– he takes covert action. Conversely, Hamlet’s lack of action allows him to think through his plans before he puts them into effect, allowing for much deviousness in planning on his part; Laertes does not tend to think before he puts his throat to a person’s throat. Laertes provides a counterpart to Hamlet– they are in relatively the same situation, but they deal with their problems in entirely different ways. How to cite Hamlet vs. Laertes, Papers