MIT uses a ranking system that assigns students scores for academic style, personal style, and personal accomplishments. Academic style is more than just grade point average, test scores, rank in class, and other numbers, she says. MIT also looks for academic initiative. Personal style has to do with making good judgments, having a sense of humor, and motivating others to effect change. And personal accomplishments include those that demonstrate a student's leadership skills: participating in extracurricular activities, receiving recognition at the regional, national, or international level, holding down a job, or perhaps even establishing a new group to address a problem in the community.
