Application tips from first-year LGOs

If you're working on your application for the MIT LGO Class of 2015, you know the December 17 deadline is approaching fast. We asked some first-year LGO students to offer application tips, and two pieces of advice came up repeatedly: put a lot of time into your essays, and be yourself. Here are some of their suggestions.

Take a holistic look at your application and think about how you're unique and what you'll bring to the program. Focus on just being yourself, and be genuine in your essays and application material. Give yourself plenty of time to work on the essays and make sure you get feedback from people who know you well.

—Orion English

• Revise your application essays—have someone else read over the prompts and let you know how well you're answering the questions.
• Practice for the interview—ask a friend or significant other to ask you interview questions so you get used to telling your stories.
• Be yourself!

—William Bellows

Write about things you're passionate about. Apart from serving the purpose of describing your true self, you'll find it easier to create essays that are compelling and "alive" when you write about something you really know and care about.

—Andreas Christogiannis

• Do your research, especially for essay questions 4 and 5. Look at the course offerings and requirements for each department and even some of the material in OpenCourseWare to understand the focus of each department and track.
• Start early. Getting essays down to 500 words is harder than you think—most of mine were 1,000 words and I had to do a significant amount of editing.
• Try another topic if you're getting stuck. I remember saving some time for reflection and running to clear my head and refocus when I had writer's block. Usually I was trying to force something that really didn't work in the essays. And don't worry about trying to get every great story across in the essays. Hopefully you'll have an interview and you'll need some material for that!

—Jane Guertin

When I came to LGO Interview Fest during my first application attempt, I remember Craig Rothman (LGO '12) talking about having to apply more than once. After I didn't get in the first time, I remembered his story. That gave me the confidence to apply again the next year, which worked out well for me...I think the biggest thing I changed from year one to year two was that I stopped worrying so much about trying to make my essays fit me into what I thought LGO wanted, and started just being more direct about my passions and what I wanted to do.

—Robbie Harris

Rewrite your essays as many times as possible. Trim the amount of context to the bare minimum that still allows your essay to be understood. Content—what you did in response to a scenario—should be the bulk of each essay. Too often, context is overemphasized in an effort to ensure the reader understands the message. Readers are concerned about your actions, not the background story.

—Oliver Schrang