2014 MIT Early Action Countdown Thread

<p>I qualified for questbridge, but I didn’t do it because you’re less likely to get accepted, and the colleges know that they’d be giving you tons of financial aid. I’d rather apply using fee waivers and have colleges not know I’ll need a ton of financial aid, and get the same acceptance rates as everyone else. Most of my schools are need blind, so I’d rather have them not limit the number of QB people they let in.</p>

<p>I know there’s the advantage of applying to a ton of schools early- even the early decision ones- but it just wasn’t worth it to me to have to decrease my chances and do all those extra essays.</p>

<p>I just found out that I’ll be working at the lab (for my internship) the day decisions are released. It will be so tempting to look because my mentor wants to know if I got in. I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on my work…</p>

<p>Well I’m flying into Boston the 15th… I’m imagining if I don’t get in, how depressing will that vacation be? I’ll be visiting a few friends at Harvard and MIT and the the MIT lab I worked in this summer. Everyone will be wanting to know…</p>

<p>nwood, dont do that to yourself…</p>

<p>Mollie-</p>

<p>I’m not sure if you might know the answer to this, or if a similar question has already been asked, but I’ll pose it anyways: Is there a greater possibility of acceptance if an applicant applies EA after not being matched to MIT through QuestBridge? I’d imagine that there is-- and that is why MIT offers to consider QuestBridge finalists for EA-- but I would think that MIT does not have an upper bound of QuestBridge finanlists to accept. Why might one have more chances through EA if one was not offered the College Match Scholarship in the first place? Could it be that the admissions officers want to consider more applications first before admitting students?</p>

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<p>If anything, low income applicants are at a massive disadvantage.</p>

<p>arnt they supposed to be need blind?</p>

<p>yeah, they’re supposed to be need blind, but low income kids, such as myself, can’t take the SAT as many times as they want or take prep courses. There are also a lot of extracurriular activities that require money. Lots of money. I couldn’t do model UN or youth in goverment because I couldn’t afford the trips and the fees. Same with foreign exchange and a couple other clubs. Those would have helped my app a ton. There’s also the issue of having a stressful homelife, and that can affect studying and extracurriculars as well.</p>

<p>The colleges (well, most of the colleges I’ve seen) don’t go “oh, she’s poor and we’ll have to give her financial aid so, reject.” It’s mainly that the lower income kids’ applications aren’t going to be as strong across the board due to decreased opportunities. That said, I think I’ve put together a great app. I don’t have the best test scores, and I could have improved them if I had another shot, but that isn’t all that matters. That’s the good thing about holistic admissions. In some ways, i wish they knew our income level so they could have a better context of our application. They could still be “need blind” doing that- they would just have to consider it in context and ignore its effects of the university’s finances.</p>

<p>Too late, already have the tickets, :D</p>

<p>i don’t believe low income should be so much a problem unless you are homeless… i’ve never taken any prep courses, gone to public school all my life, never did any of those exchange things or summer things that cost thousands of dollars (the summer programs were almost free because they were funded by the state and other institutions), I didn’t do the clubs you mentioned either(just because my parents have the money doesn’t mean they will spend it on my clubs)… plus my family used to be on food stamps when I was little so its not like i don’t know what it’s like</p>

<p>sorry if my little rant offends anyone, but I just wanted to put this out there</p>

<p>

I don’t actually know, but I am happy to speculate (recall that I am a scientist, and therefore a professional speculator ;)).</p>

<p>As I recall, we had a few CCers last year who were were not matched to MIT, but were admitted EA. I don’t remember having seen the overall statistics for QB applicants in the EA/RD pools. </p>

<p>My suspicion is that the admissions office might have an internal cap on the number of students who will be matched to MIT through the QB application process, much as they have a cap on the percentage of the class that can be admitted EA. For the latter cap, they do this because they don’t want to promote the impression among applicants that one must apply EA to have a shot at getting in; possibly the same line of thought is at work for QB.</p>

<p>I’m really irritated that you can apparently apply both QB and EA… I stopped doing the QB application so I could do the EA one. (I qualify for QB.) I thought because there was lower chance with QB, I’d do the application that had a higher chance. Now I see that I could’ve tried both.</p>

<p>It’s not that you can apply to both QB and EA, per se – it’s that QB applicants who are not matched to MIT are rolled into the EA pool and treated as EA applicants.</p>

<p>and also I feel like it’s the same situation applying EA v. RD. If you would’ve gotten in EA, you’ll get in RD.</p>

<p>So if you would’ve gotten in from QB, nwoodward, you’ll probably get in EA, or at the very least, RD. I don’t think it makes a big deal chances-wise, although if anyone knows differently, do correct me.</p>

<p>Also, about low-income being a disadvantage - I second that there a many opportunities that don’t require a lot of money - most of my extracurriculars cost no money at all - they just take my time. I did take the SAT twice, but I didn’t really see a big jump in my score at all, so I don’t think it makes much of a difference.</p>

<p>Either way, I would’ve liked the extra look at my application :/</p>

<p>you talk as if you would be selected as finalist for sure. >-<</p>

<p>MIT needs to give the EA decision release date like right now >.<</p>

<p>well nwoodward, it’s your mistake for not thoroughly doing your research on QB…</p>

<p>@Djokovic: I agreeeee! D:</p>

<p>@Djokovic & quiteVALid</p>

<p>YES. It should be in the next few days right? I’m seeing numbers like 11 and 14 in random places and thinking “!!! Maybe thats the date!”
I think I’m loosing my mind.</p>

<p>Well when I got a phone call from MIT about QB, I asked them when they will give us results the girl on the line (a freshman) said December 15th. Which seems reasonable as it is mid-December.</p>