Am I REALLY not competing against other applicants from my school?

<p>So I found out today that there are TEN early applicants to MIT from my school.
I know MIT says that they don't consider same-school applicants against each other, but is this REALLY true?
Would they really not hesitate at all to accept, say, five of these ten - if they were truly qualified and what MIT was looking for?
OR would they defer some who would have otherwise gotten in?
Just curious - getting that number was definitely a shock. :P</p>

<p>I checked out your stats and they look strong. Last year, almost everyone from my FIRST Robotics team applied EA MIT. Only one person got in, only because she was just completely brilliant and everyone else were not that great.</p>

<p>Don’t be afraid, MIT will see past everything and choose you if you are really the great fit :). REGARDLESS OF WHO ELSE FROM YOUR SCHOOL IS APPLYING.</p>

<p>A few years ago 3 kids at my school were accepted. I’m not sure whether they went early or not, but, I wouldn’t worry.</p>

<p>

You’re not compared against people from your school.</p>

<p>If you are ever asking a question that starts with “I know that MIT says…” and ends with “is it really true?”, the answer is yes. MIT does not make a practice of lying to applicants.</p>

<p>On the anecdata side, there were two of us who applied my year from my mediocre public high school in Ohio that had never sent anyone to MIT. We both got in, although we were very different sorts of applicants.</p>

<p>This is a huge relief, since I think more than 10 people are applying EA to MIT, out of a grade of 59 kids…</p>

<p>Then again, getting into MIT would be a much huger relief, no? ><</p>

<p>Are you an international applicant?</p>

<p>10+/59 ?! Holy moly! I’m pretty sure I’m the only applicant from my class of ~450.</p>

<p>Same here, only applicant EA or RD from 600.</p>

<p>Woop woop! I’m so ready to get out of my school- no matter where I go. I’m dying for some intellectual stimulation and culture.</p>

<p>I’m one of two applicants from a class of 500.</p>

<p>@cgarcia Was that directed towards me? I’m in the US, but my school is a magnet school of sorts so we have a very selective group of students.</p>

<p>You’re competing against the applicant pool as a whole</p>

<p>It was directed at the original poster. I seem to remember hearing that MIT compares international applicants against those from their country in certain aspects. I could have imagined that though.</p>

<p>@cgarcia: I remember that too. I think it’s in one of the sections on the admissions website, in the paragraph(s) explaining what they do when evaluating your app.</p>

<p>No, I’m not an international applicant. And I’m very glad to hear that the answer to my question seems to be a resounding no… Someone (not included in the ten others!) from my school already got in through QB, so I was kind of nervous. :P</p>