Complementary in Kinetic Typography by Chris S. '11

When I saw this video back in late April, it was instantly copied to a ton of MIT internal email lists that I am on. I proceeded to get into touch with Rishi – but his email was buried until I just discovered it a few days ago! (Sorry Rishi!)

Anyhow, this is certainly one of the most creative stories I’ve heard. Just gotta share this. :)

“MIT, for me, was always a dream, a place where I could imagine myself at, but never realistically go. In fact, if I had not visited the University in August and completely fell in love with it, I wouldn’t have even applied.

When Pi Day came around, I was certain that I would not be admitted. Not that I had no confidence in myself, I was just thinking realistically about the competition I was facing and the level of excellence that would be applying alongside me. In the days leading to fateful moment, I remember many friends and family members wishing me good luck. To each one I said “Luck won’t do me any good. I’m sure Admissions has already made their decision”. I guess I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Being waitlisted was almost more painful than a flat out rejection. I knew then that I would never really be set on a college until May, because MIT was to be my top choice, and I couldn’t put anything over it. It was then that one of my friends (a fellow Class of 2014 MIT-er) suggested that I pool my talents together to make a presentation to the Admissions committee.

As I started to write “Complementary”, the signature line ‘RRT + MIT <3’ was one of the first things I came up with. Afterwards, whenever I had writers block, I enlisted the help of my good friend Katherine Ebright, who was and is full of an infinite library of rhymes. The song itself took around 3 hours to write, and I worked on the chord progression over and over again until I was completely satisfied. Once again, I used the help of another one of my friends, Kevin Whitman, who lay down the beat for the song while I played the piano and sang.

The video took the longest to make, but it was rewarding, because every time I finished a verse, I was able to watch it, thinking the same thing: “this is so cool!”

I was out of the house when my father received a phone call from Stuart Schmill’s office, informing him that I had been accepted into MIT. When I found out, I literally screamed while jumping up and down for a good minute. It was probably the best feeling I’ve ever experienced. At MIT, I plan to major in EECS, Course 6, although I haven’t decided which path I will take. In addition, I want to get a concentration in Music.”

I totally DID NOT do anything this cool to get into MIT. Just FYI, ya’ll. I’m so impressed. :)