So You Wanna Be A Blogger

So You Wanna Be A Blogger In years past, weve asked folks to let us know in August if they wish to be considered for an admissions blogging position, and weve made final decisions right after REX, when permanent housing assignments are solidified. (While previous blogging experience is paramount in our selection process, we must also be careful to provide a broad spectrum of the MIT experience so where you live, along with various other related criteria such as your intended major and extra-curricular interests, will all be considered.) While the traditional schedule will remain true for this years Regular Action (RA) admissions blogger selection process, Matt and I have decided to add an Early Action (EA) round for a couple of reasons first, there seems to be more interest in the program this year than ever before, and second, it will allow us to cover pre-orientation/orientation from the MIT 10 perspective. The EA round will only be open to incoming freshmen. (We have plenty of crusty old upperclassmen bloggers to cover orientation. :-) The RA round will be open to all MIT undergraduates, however (in the interest of full disclosure) you should know that we will be looking to hire almost exclusively freshmen to maintain a balance between new students and upperclassmen. To be considered in the EA round, you should email me (benjones at you-know-the-rest) by July 31st, 2006 and: Provide a link to your portfolio in other words, your current blog. If you post regularly on any admissions forums such as College Confidential, please provide URLs and username/screenname/etc. Tell me what you submitted for your housing choices (in order of preference), what youre considering for a major (list all possibilities), and what activities you hope to become involved with at MIT. Write a short essay (100 words or so) responding to this prompt: At 4:42 PM EST, an aardvark sprang from its burrow and headed southwest. Assuming a trajectory of 42.6 degrees for said aardvark, where is the banana and why is that man chartreuse? Answers to what I am guessing will be common questions: We will likely select two bloggers in the EA round, and defer everyone else to the RA round, but this number is not 100% set in stone. I am not yet sure how many bloggers will be selected in total by the end of the RA round. You may not submit supplemental recommendations. In fact you may not submit any recommendations at all. Do not feel that you need to clean up your existing blog for us. We know that just because you use the F-word there doesnt mean you intend to use it on the admissions site. (If we can trust Laura to make the transition, we can trust you. ;-) If you wish to apply in the RA round, the same rules apply but the deadline is August 31st instead of July 31st. To all of you who have already emailed me to express interest whether applying EA or RA, please send me a supplemental email answering any of the above questions that were not addressed in your original email. Any questions? Just post em in the comments and Ill update this entry accordingly.