I am a rising senior looking to apply to MIT this year. However, rumor has it in my school that our school is “Blacklisted” from MIT. In the past, many students have been accepted to MIT but did not end up going. As a result, it seems that MIT isn’t accepting many students from our school anymore (no one was accepted in the last 2 yrs despite ppl being accepted to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, and other good schools).
MIT has always been my dream school and I have visited it many times in the past. I believe that it is a perfect fit for me.
Is it true that MIT will “blacklist” high schools and if so how should I explain my situation so I can get an equal chance as everyone else?
apply ED: no question that you will be offered a place & turn it down
Given MITs low acceptance rate, 2 years is not a representative enough sample from which to conclude that there is a ‘blacklist’ (it is unlikely that MIT would do something that formal anyway). fwiw, I know quite a lot of students who were accepted RD at tippy top school A and turned down at B- just b/c Harvard wants you doesn’t mean Yale or Stanford do.
Almost every HS has rumors that it is blacklisted from one top tier school or another. It is almost always false and in any event there is nothing you can do about it. Apply where you want and try to make your interest in the school clear in your application.
Please do not try to explain the “blacklist” – you will come off as a person who believes silly rumors and the admissions officers may be offended that you think they would be so small minded. Keep in mind that students may be deemed a good fit for one top tier school and not be a good fit for MIT. And a “sample” of a handful of students over 2 years is not significant.
And as a bit of unsolicited advice – no matter how wonderful your application is that MIT is a reach for everyone and with an acceptance rate under 8% the school cannot accept all of the qualified applicants. Be sure to create a list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend.
I don’t think that you have anything to worry about, other than MIT’s rather low acceptance rate and the need to be pretty close to a perfect candidate in order to have a small chance to get in.
MIT’s just starting class of 2021 allegedly has 1,102 members (from the MIT web site). According to Google there are about 37,000 high schools in the US (26,407 public schools). For a high school to go 2 years without a student getting into MIT should not be a surprise at all.
