CASE STUDY: MIT interviews really that important in admissions?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21

<p>Jamescchen: Could you state how you are affiliated with MIT? (I'm a student at MIT right now) Because your reasoning is completely fubar. MIT Alums (99.99% of the time) want to help the school as best as they can. Do you really think the MIT alumni network in some area is going to suggest a lunatic? </p>

<p>Also the admissions office is not dumb. Usually Interviewers interview for many years. Admissions officers can establish a correlation between how qualified a student is and how qualified a particular interviewer is over a period of a few years.</p>

<p>Finally the interview is also partially to let the student get to know more about MIT.</p>

22

<p>My interview went great. The interviewer was an alumnus from my school and came here to interview us.
It was really nice, we contrasted my current school and MIT and he told me I was a perfect match, which I found really nice.
I guess we talked about things that weren't necessarily on my application and it was a pretty realxed and casual talk.
Whether it had any influence in the decision or not, it was quite reassuring to have that interview and made me feel a lot more confident.</p>

<p>I submitted my application on early Dec.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

23

<p>Interview: No, I wasn't aware of the Dec. 10 deadline for an interview. </p>

<p>Submitted: December 9 (Part 1); Dec. 26 (part 2)</p>

<p>Decision: Rejected RD</p>

24

<p>Interview: No.</p>

<p>Submitted: Dec. 31.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted.</p>

<p>yeah I was surprised too.</p>

<p>I'm not sure this "case study" tells us much without putting the numbers in context of other factors; the decisions thread might be more useful. I don't think the statistics that people who interview have much greater changes are wrong, but it might be the case that they are more qualified, tenacious, and dedicated to MIT in the first place. These qualities both help them schedule interviews on time and get admitted to MIT, but perhaps the interviews don't directly have a large effect on admission.</p>

25

<p>Interview: No, MIT said they made a note on my app that I did my best to interview (does that mean it was waived?) They provided me outdated contact info so I couldn't get in touch.</p>

<p>Date submitted app: Dec. 27?</p>

<p>Decision?: Waitlist</p>

26

<p>Interview: Yes, in late August, Drove one hour at night to get there
Date Submitted: 10/31
Decision: Deferred EA; Accepted</p>

27

<p>I honestly forgot to sign up for one and was too late to get one.</p>

<p>Interview: No.</p>

<p>Submitted: Dec. 31.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted =]</p>

<p>I did email with my would-have-been interviewer, asking her about the school, but no actual interview occurred.</p>

28

<p>Interview: Yes. My interviewer is an old but very nice guy. My interview was pretty short, only 40 minutes. He asked some basic questions and spent most time introducing MIT to me. I think it went pretty well! He thinks i asked some really good quesitons...</p>

<p>Date submitted: one or two days before RD deadline</p>

<p>Decision: accepted :]</p>