Thousands of students across the country get excellent grades; many of them excel in a diverse selection of extracurricular activities, as well. So when an interviewer asks why you deserve to go to a given institution, be confident in what you’ve done in and out of school. Are you the kind of student (like I was in high school) who performed exceptionally well on exams and papers, but wasn’t very motivated to intellectually grow outside of class?

I found out that I was not deserving of my first college choice — I was accepted to an honors program at a selective private university and found myself among a group of students who were talented and applied in many substantial ways. After some time off to grow into my own brain, I found (during entrance interviews for my second foray into private education) that answering that question was very simple.

Be confident about what you’ve done with your time. If you need to think hard about what makes you MIT material, you might be barking up the wrong tree.