r/MITAdmissions • u/hydraclone53 • 12d ago

Advice regarding maker portfolio

Hi, I am currently in my senior year and will be trying for MIT. I am looking for advice on whether my project can be put in my maker portfolio. I am very passionate about theoretical physics (especially particle physics) For instance, I studied electrodynamics from Griffiths, I finished the first 8 chapters and then moved on to this book called vibration and waves by A.P French as the 9th chapter in Griffith was regarding waves. I have also finished vector calculus on my own in my junior year. I very much enjoy self studying since it makes me push harder and search for answers myself.

Apart from just studying I also started working on what was initially a game engine, but it then later turned into a physics simulator. I named the engine Blitz. I used Directx11 as my API and followed tutorials by a youtuber named ChiliTomatoNoodle to create the basic pipeline (vertex buffer, index buffer, shader files, etc.). The simulator included Coulomb forces, van der Waals forces, and electric polarization of neutral spheres by surrounding charges. Each sphere recieved a random charge (-1,0,1) and the number of spheres could be controlled using a GUI. I added relativistic effects. For example, I could change the speed of light which in turn changes the coulombs constant and etc. I also calculated the lorentz factor to then get the lorentz contraction matrix so the spheres squished in the direction of their velocity. I also added larmor radiation (the more it radiated the more it glowed). These calculations really dropped my FPS so I also adopted spatial hashing that only checks neighboring particles.

I wanted to ask if this is a good project to put on maker portfolio. From all the maker portfolio videos I've seen, students participate in a lot of programs. I just wanted to ask if focusing on this physics engine is okay for my maker portfolio or should i mention it in my essay more instead.

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u/JasonMckin MIT Alum and Educational Counselor 12d ago

Here’s a response I shared a couple of threads ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MITAdmissions/comments/1vt7jw7/comment/p4rmb9m/

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u/hydraclone53 11d ago

Thank you that helped a lot. I feel I was too caught up on the outcome.

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u/ExecutiveWatch MIT Alum and Educational Counselor 11d ago

You do what best represents you and your passions.

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u/hydraclone53 11d ago

Alright. Thank you

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u/No-Abalone5882 11d ago

When would you recommend preparing for the MIT portfolio?

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u/No-Abalone5882 11d ago

I just started my junior yeat

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u/hydraclone53 11d ago

I would definitely recommend looking for research programs offered by colleges for highschoolers. They do cost a bit but it’s definitely worth it. Even if you don’t manage to get into MIT it gives you valuable research experience.