‘A really surreal moment’: Rigby teen among only 4 Idahoans accepted to MIT
Published at
RIGBY — Addie Anderson has been dreaming of going to a prestigious STEM school since she was in 6th grade. On Pi Day this year, her dream came true.
That’s when the 17-year-old from Rigby received an acceptance letter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world’s premier science, technology, engineering and mathematics institutions.
“I feel like it was a really surreal moment,” Addie told EastIdahoNews.com. “There wasn’t really much leading up to it.”
“This has been my dream for a long time, and I’ve always been working towards getting into MIT, and I knew the odds were not the greatest,” she continued. “So seeing my work pay off like that was really nice.”
According to MIT’s student paper, “The Tech,” the elite STEM school has admitted only 1,337 of 33,796 applicants through early and regular round applications, for an overall acceptance rate of 3.96% this year.
Debra Anderson, Addie’s mother, said only four students from Idaho got accepted into MIT this year. Two were from the Boise area, and the other was from Twin Falls.
“She kept her nose to the grindstone throughout her years as a student, and now she’s getting rewarded for it,” said Jason Anderson, Addie’s father.
“She’s mostly a STEM, robotics kid,” Debra said. “(She has) a great sense of humor. She’s beautiful, intelligent — what else can we say?”
What got Addie accepted is a long list of accomplishments and accolades.
She has been in the Chinese language immersion program since kindergarten and has earned the Idaho Seal of Biliteracy in Mandarin and English.
She has over 80 college credit hours and is graduating with an associate’s degree in STEM from the College of Southern Idaho. She will also graduate with a technical certification in cybersecurity from the College of Southern Idaho.
Addie is the founder and president of the Girls Who Code Club at Rigby High School and has won awards in the high school’s robotics club.
She has also worked several summer internships with the Idaho National Laboratory.
Along with being accepted at MIT, Addie was also accepted into Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Brown University, University of Southern California and Purdue University.
But that’s just a few of her accomplishments.
Addie’s parents said at MIT she plans to study a combination of computer science, artificial intelligence and neurological science. She seeks these subjects because she’s seen many friends and family members with neurological disorders that are not curable, and she hopes to learn to improve treatment research through the use of artificial intelligence.
However, as MIT students don’t have to declare a major early on, she has time to explore.
“She’ll have a lot of research opportunities, and that area of focus might change,” Debra said.
Addie told EastIdahoNews.com that she is a little nervous to go to MIT.
“The Boston area is definitely way different from here, so I am a little scared to leave Rigby,” she said. “It’ll be a big change, but I am really excited because there’s a ton of opportunity there and I know I’ll grow a lot there.”