Prompt MIT Supplement
MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (200 word limit)
Essay
In the summers of my Sophomore and Junior year, I co-hosted two mental health conferences for various predominantly Indian-American church youth groups within the Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island areas. Each region brought a distinct approach to understanding emotional well-being, shaped by unique circumstances and community dynamics, and bringing these diverse perspectives together was crucial in tackling the mental health stigma within our Indian community. Remotely from New Jersey, I collaborated with spiritual leaders and psychologists in New York to organize the conference, while also identifying speakers that could help break down long-standing spiritual and sociocultural barriers.
Working with respected members from different walks of life, we created a safe space for open discussions on a topic often considered too taboo. Our collaboration not only sparked vital conversations within families but also helped bridge the gap between religious teachings and psychological support. Through this experience, I helped to foster an environment where diverse perspectives could come together to address complex challenges, making a lasting impact on our community’s understanding of mental health.
Tips for Writing
- Choose something unique to you – whether that’s the community or actions you took.
- Isolating an individual event you worked with others or an organization instead of adding numerous examples helps to focus your essay on the points you want to make.
- If you are writing about contributing to the community, explicitly identify the community and how it relates/matters to you.
- For all schools, but especially for engineering-oriented schools, focus on lasting impact you made beyond just the event.
- This is similar to the “all people belong to a community” prompt but do not reuse the same one because this prompt has a focus on collaboration with others.
- MIT will appreciate sophistication in rhetoric but don’t overdo with the “fancy language.”
- If possible, focus on something not covered in your activity list.