Applying Sideways (in Chinese) by Chris Peterson SM '13

Almost 11 years ago, I wrote a blog post called Applying Sideways that was my attempt⁠01 Audacious, in retrospect, given that I had been an admissions officer for a single cycle. to give some advice on how prospective students —  and their parents —  should think about the process of preparing to apply to MIT. Since that time, it’s remained one of the most widely read and shared posts on the blogs, which makes me very happy.

Awhile ago,⁠02 It was early 2020, which makes me feel bad about how long ago, but the pandemic crowded a lot of things off my proverbial plate. I got an email from former blogger Allan K. ’17, who told me his mom, Catherine Mao, had thought enough of the post that she had translated it into traditional Chinese characters, in the hopes that it might be more accessible to other Chinese-speaking students and parents than my idiomatic English. Recently, Alice L. ’24 translated Catherine’s translation into simplified Chinese characters, for readers who prefer those. Rona W. ’22 also did reads of both of them too.

I’ve linked the PDFs of the translations here:

• Traditional / 橫向申請 by Catherine Mao
• Simplified / 横向申请 by Alice

Thank you to everyone above —  especially Catherine and Alice —  for these translations! I am both bashful and grateful, and hope they will help a broader range of readers access whatever wisdom remains in that long-ago post.