Advice for the ages

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>I've been around this board for a while (too long, maybe! :)), and I have a few observations that I'd like to preserve for posterity. They won't help this year's applicants much, but hopefully there are some current juniors who could use the advice.</p>

<p>Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. About 87% of the people who apply to MIT don't get in. It's just going to hurt you on decision day if you've convinced yourself you're a shoo-in.</p>

<p>The MIT admissions people are nice, but don't push it. If you're a day late on your financial aid forms, or if your teacher didn't mail your recommendation on time, it's probably okay. But do try to keep your delays reasonable, if at all possible. And if something isn't your fault (the post office lost your application, your guidance counselor didn't send your mid-year report), it's totally fine. Nobody's going to mark on your application that one of your teacher recommendations was a week late.</p>

<p>The time for supplemental material is between January 1 and February 10. Supplemental material will be looked at while the admissions officers are reading applications. Around February 15, they go into selection, at which point they are no longer reading applications.</p>

<p>Don't fabricate anything on your application. This should be common sense. If you say you're an Olympiad medalist and you're not, you're not going to get into MIT. And yes, they will know.</p>

<p>If there's a problem with your application, you should call to resolve it. It will make a better impression if you call than if your parents call for you -- you want to show that you're mature enough to handle your own problems.</p>

<p>Schedule your interview, and schedule it on time. Every year there are tons of people who put off scheduling their interviews until the last possible nanosecond, and it causes them a lot of unnecessary stress. Just get it done.</p>

<p>Try to take your standardized tests early. Every year there are tons of people who put off scheduling their SATs and SATIIs until the last possible nanosecond, and waiting on pins and needles for the scores to get to MIT causes them a lot of unnecessary stress. You're allowed to take the January SATs for RD and the November SATs for EA, but do you really want to?</p>

<p>The blogs are not an excuse for forgoing normal etiquette. If you're angry or disappointed in the result of your MIT application, don't run off to the blogs and post your enraged manifesto in somebody's comments. It doesn't reflect well on you. If you have something to say when you're upset, wait at least 24 hours before saying it.</p>

<p>Anybody else have any gems of advice for MIT applicants?</p>

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<p>How about when your interviewer asks you if you are interested in research, don't snort and roll your eyes and say "not really!" when you are 17 and have no clue what "research" really involves. </p>

<p>Fingers crossed that the interviewer understands 17 year olds don't know what they are talking about--the one in question thinks "research" is what you do in those horrible high school chem labs.</p>

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<p>Um, I would say to get really psyched about other schools, too. I mean, obviously you won't be as psyched as you would be about MIT, but at least you won't be super-devastated if you don't get in. I, personally, had gotten really excited about Harvey Mudd (it's an awesome school, check it out), which helped my anxiety levels back in December tremendously. Even seniors can do this...take a look at the other schools you applied to and GET PUMPED WOO.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Mollie!</p>

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<p>Dally's advice is very, very good. Honestly, MIT is an amazing school, but by far not the only superb school around; in the top 10 and also outside the top 10, there is almost certainly a school that you would be just as happy at. You probably fell in love with the idea of MIT the moment you found out what it was about. But that's kind of a mail order marriage and it's important not to give your heart away too easily. Think seriously about the other places there are. Often you'll find a lot to love about them too.</p>

<p>Whether you get in or not, I promise this will make the process a lot more pleasant. I know because I have tried to do this both ways (undergraduate and graduate admissions) and the way dally advocates is a lot more pleasant.</p>

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<p>Great thread guys, really invaluable advice.</p>

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<p>i don't know, i thought it was pretty valuable</p>

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<p>
[quote]
take a look at the other schools you applied to and GET PUMPED WOO.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Haha, that made me smile. =D</p>

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<p>Corroborator, invaluable means really valuable/priceless. It does not mean not valuable.</p>

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<p>...i think he was joking</p>

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<p>now i feel like an idiot..right at home</p>

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<p>MIT is a fabulous school; however, it may not be the the right school for you. If you have the credentials to apply to MIT with a straight face, odds are that there are a number of other outstanding schools out there that would also provide with what you're looking for (or what you don't even realize is what you really want yet).</p>

<p>Getting INTO MIT doesn't set you for life -- you still have to get THROUGH it.</p>

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<p>Great advice! I think this thread is still relevant and hence </p>

<p>Bump! :D</p>

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<p>Thanks shruthi for bumping it. it is really helpful, indeed.</p>

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<p>No problem, I thought it would be :)</p>

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<p>Tis an interesting read, indeed! :D</p>

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<p>Great post, Mollie. I hope you continue on this board, because you always provide good advice.</p>

<p>My two cents, for students (and for their parents): Whatever others say, remember that luck plays a role in the admissions process. If you don't get in to MIT, it doesn't necessarily mean that you aren't a great match for MIT. It doesn't necessarily mean that you would not have succeeded there. It does mean, as others have already said, that you will be a good fit at some other fine schools.</p>

<p>Students who are admitted (and their parents and friends) will probably believe that they were admitted because of merit. They will believe that they were admitted because they were the most talented, the most capable, the most worthy.....whatever. Don't believe it. Sometimes an admissions committee, trying to decide between two equally talented students, will select the ski jumper over the pianist, particularly if the committee has accepted four or five pianists already. I know of 4 students from my daughter's high school who were rejected from MIT and are now at Harvard. One of them, now a freshman, was rejected by MIT but accepted at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Go figure. I also know quite a few gifted students who are now at Berkeley and other state schools, and they are happy with the outcome. </p>

<p>If you applied to MIT, you are already amazing, whatever the outcome. If that particular door doesn't open, don't take it personally.</p>

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<p>....However, being admitted to H/P/Y has nothing
to do with being admitted to MIT. Each of these
schools are looking for a specific type of individual
and specific backgrounds.</p>

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<p>."...However, being admitted to H/P/Y has nothing
to do with being admitted to MIT. Each of these
schools are looking for a specific type of individual
and specific backgrounds."</p>

<p>However, the individuals I mentioned in the above post had all the characteristics that MIT looks for: passionate interest in math and science, demonstrated leadership in math and science clubs, etc. The boy who was rejected by MIT but accepted at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale had been on the mathematics team for 4 years, had won major prizes at the county and state science fairs 2-3 years, had conducted a science research project at Stanford, was a valedictorian, was president of the Science Bowl Team (it placed among the top nationally, as well), etc. </p>

<p>I agree that MIT is looking for a specific type of individual and for specific backgrounds. But unfortunately, there are many more such individuals than there are available slots.</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>I could not concur more strongly. This is precisely the crux of why selection is both so enjoyable and so heart-wrenching for MIT's admissions officers - even though it's a hard truth to swallow for students who aren't admitted.</p>

<p>That being said, I must respectfully disagree with your claim that "[admitted students] will believe that they were admitted because they were the most talented, the most capable, the most worthy.....whatever. Don't believe it." I agree, in the main, with the thrust of your argument - I myself applied to over ten schools for two reasons: first, because I wasn't totally sure MIT was my first choice; and secondly because I recognized the same thing you did, that what we may loosely call "luck" does play a role in admissions.</p>

<p>But "luck" is a tricky term, and frankly belittles the complexities of the situation involved. You know from your own experience that admission to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. does not guarantee admission to MIT - nor, in my opinion, should it. I have stated this very firmly on the admissions blogs. As arwen stated, the schools are very different. The types of applicants HYPMS seek overlap in some qualities, but far from all. MIT and Harvard are not total opposites; a significant portion of my classmates would doubtless be very happy and do very well at the school up the river - but that does not mean they aren't happier here at MIT.</p>

<p>Because, quite frankly, my fellow students and I are the most qualified students MIT could admit. There is no doubt in my mind that MIT rejected students equally qualified as myself, I don't dispute that - but when you get to the level of student MIT admits, the terms "qualified" and "more qualified" lose much of their usual meaning. Quantitatively, on paper, we are all extraordinary. Trying to define who is "more extraordinary" than someone else is almost as pointless as trying to define who is "more ordinary."</p>

<p>I hope this doesn't come across as arrogant, but I am very proud of my class's collective accomplishments and credentials, not only as students, but as people - and I reject completely any notion that we do not belong here.</p>

<p>In closing, I will say that I strongly believe that, just as denial of admission from MIT does not imply that a student is a "failure," nor does admission to MIT mean that a student is somehow special or necessarily destined for success. I sincerely hope that no one admitted to MIT would ever lord that fact over someone else. Acceptance to MIT is what you make of it, and it is not a ticket to an easy ride (far from it!). Only hard work, motivation, and maybe a little outside help along the way can bring success.</p>

<p>The admissions process may seem simple sometimes. It may even appear arbitrary and unfair. But it's not.</p>