My Background Information

Hi, Gülce here. I am currently a freshman at MIT, and I graduated from Ankara Science High School. During high school, I was a math olympiad student. I got the opportunity to participate and receive medals in several national, regional, and international Math Olympiads. Beyond academics, I was a music enthusiast; playing the piano was a hobby that I was most passionate about. 

Why I chose the US to Study Abroad

I decided to try my chance at universities in the U.S., mainly because there are several big tech companies and initiatives where I can gain experience. Also, at MIT, there exists a multitude of makerspaces, places to practice for extracurricular activities, and flexible class options. I had also applied to the University of Oxford in the UK, as their class offerings also attracted me.

My Stats and How I Studied

My GPA was 99.4/100, my TOEFL score was 105/120, and my SAT score was 1540/1600. My main way of studying for the TOEFL was to solve as many practice tests as I could; I think this helped me a lot, especially in the reading and listening sections. From my experiences on the SAT, I would highly recommend the use of Khan Academy.

My Extracurricular Activities

I competed in several international, regional, and national Math Olympiads when I was in high school, which resulted in me receiving a bronze medal in the International Math Olympiad (IMO), 3 gold medals in the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO), a silver medal in the Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad (JBMO), and a gold medal in the Turkish National Mathematical Olympiad (TUBITAK). The international student body at MIT consists of those who attended international/regional math, physics, informatics, chemistry, or biology olympiads. So, I assume, at least, studying towards any of these olympiads is an advantage while applying to MIT. Besides math olympiads, I've been playing the piano since primary school, so I'm quite interested in it too.

Experiences With MIT-specific Essays

For my application to MIT, I submitted 4-5 shorter essays with fewer open-ended prompts, such as ‘What is an extracurricular activity that brings you joy?’ In these essays, I believe that the most important thing is to signal your passion candidly. All the prompts aim to reveal the passions of candidates; so, willingness to share these passions is the most welcome. As far as I have seen, the language is preferred to be somewhere between formal and informal.  

Experiences With the UK Personal Statement

For my application to the University of Oxford, I submitted a Personal Statement in which I mentioned my background information and achievements that I believed would help me thrive at the university. Also, specifying the topics/fields that excite you and that you would like to pursue a career working with/in is a crucial point in writing such essays. For the sake of being persuasive, the best thing to do while writing them is to never lie. This is because, first of all, it is the ethical way, and second, the universities also employ interviews to evaluate candidates. So, it is quite probable that they will ask you to elaborate on anything you mentioned in your application during these interviews. And therefore, I would also recommend reading through the reports of any projects mentioned in your resumé, and getting ready to talk about your extracurriculars, even about a typical day of yours!

My Application Process

My process began with the SAT, which I took in August. Then, in September, I took the TOEFL. After this, I proceeded with writing the MIT essays in October, and finally, at the end of October, I submitted my application to MIT during early action. Then, in December, the acceptance letter arrived. In this process, my friends who were also going through the application cycle and the consulting firm that I worked with were quite helpful to me in achieving my acceptance from MIT and the further procedure by shedding light on when, how, and where to apply. 

Why I chose MIT

MIT is quite flexible when it comes to choosing the classes you take; there is no strict plan for any major. Therefore, students can explore new areas and also focus on the areas they want to pursue a future in in a personalized way. The way that this institution has many really hard classes that I can take may have attracted me the most. Also, MIT has many makerspaces, music rooms, and PE classes. For example, I learned glass fusing in a marble-making workshop held in a makerspace, and I made a glass turtle, mouse, person, and some marbles. Moreover, I took rifle and archery classes in my first year, which were quite enjoyable. To graduate from MIT, students must have completed at least 4 PE classes and have passed the swim test, which requires students to swim from one end to another 6 times. Last but not least, there are piano rooms in the student center where students can access grand pianos to practice, as well as a dance room. 

My Scholarship at MIT

I received a full scholarship that covers educational costs, dorm costs, meal plans, and winter clothing. I think it is worth mentioning that MIT is a need-blind college, which means that the applications for scholarship and admission to the college are evaluated independently. For some colleges, it is more difficult to get accepted if a scholarship is requested. Upon my scholarship, although it varies greatly depending on my needs at that time, mostly 2,000 USD per term is enough for me to survive.

My Adaptation Process at MIT

After I arrived, there was an international orientation week for international students, and it was really useful when trying to get used to a foreign country - it was my first time here in the US. They introduced some buildings and some initiatives for supporting MIT students. Also, they had free lunch, breakfast, and dinner, so it was very satisfying. Maybe because of the excitement of living in another country, I didn’t experience any culture shock at first. The end of the first term was when it hit me, and I started to feel homesick. American people are more individualized than Turkish people, so I felt lonely. Then, I realized that I had just missed Turkiye, and after talking to my family and friends, I began to feel better.   

Key Opportunities at MIT

There's a program called UROP that connects you with a graduate student or a professor to gain hands-on experience while being supervised to conduct a research project. 80 %+ of the students participate in this program, so it's a very valuable opportunity. Also, there's a program called UPOP, which gives students an internship chance to work in labs as teaching assistants. These are a few of the many opportunities at MIT.

Pieces of Advice for Students Who Wish to Study Abroad 

In my application cycle, the thing that most challenged me was writing the essays, so I suggest focusing more heavily on them. Furthermore, being an Olympiad student is a strong thing when applying to colleges in the US. If you have the capability, I highly recommend any international student to compete in these kinds of initiatives to greater the chance of admissions, which, in my opinion, helped me the most too.

Academic Workload and Work-Life Balance at MIT

I’m just a freshman, so I’m not fully capable of answering this, but we have a grading system called P/NR for the first term. It means that whether you got an A, B, or C doesn’t matter; it just appears as passed or no record on your transcript, so you don’t have to worry too much about your grades. Thanks to this, the first term was not that tiring, but probably in other terms it will become much more challenging. Of course, it very much depends on your major, too. Furthermore, since there are loads of clubs, practice rooms for dance and music at MIT, work and life are fairly balanced. I was able to go for a walk near the Charles River and watch movies/series with my friends while also doing problem sets.

Campus Life and Environment at MIT

There are many clubs where everybody can join. We have a student center that contains places to eat and some libraries, and here on campus, we have a lot of pianos, even in the dorms, and I enjoy playing them. There is also a sports center and lots of charming libraries here on campus.

My Major and Opinions on Education at MIT 

I am taking classes to fulfill requirements for mathematics and computer science, and engineering degrees. I chose them as there are many fascinating classes in these areas, and I want to work on the problems in these areas. Moreover, about education, professors are so talented about teaching the lectures that classes are very understanding, and the student body’s atmosphere is very supportive for getting through these classes without trouble.