How to choose activities for the MIT application

MMIT's admissions office runs its own application, and its activities section has room for only four entries, which the office asks applicants to choose as the four that mean the most to them. A resume will not substitute. Most selective colleges take the Common App's list of ten slots, read by someone who skims, so students arrive at MIT's form used to listing everything and hedging across it.

That habit does not survive the cut to four. Choosing which entries make it, and which of the rest you are willing to leave off, is a strategic decision, and the right four tell a reader whether you match the Institute.