Chance Me not getting denied for EA MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Premise:
I’m probably going to EA MIT, however, I may have some things that I can use to strengthen my application, and I’m afraid that I might get denied EA and not be able to apply Regular.

Demographics
Asian male in TX, public school (pretty competitive)

Intended Major(s)
Computer Engineering/EECS

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
4.0 GPA
5.83 (6.0 scale)
Rank: 39
SAT: 1580 (780 R&W 800 M)

Coursework
Freshman Year:
Adv Alg 2
Adv Bio
Chinese 2
Adv English
AP HUGS
AP CSP

Sophomore Year:
Adv Precal
Adv Chem
Chinese 3
Adv English
AP CSA
AP USH

Junior Year:
AP Gov
IB Physics SL
IB Lit HL
IB Chinese SL
IB Analysis II
IB CS HL

Senior Year:
AP Physics C
IB Lit HL
IB Analysis III
IB CS HL
IB Econ SL

Awards
2-time AIME Qualifier
2-time DECA State finalist
3-time All-Region Orch
Mu Alpha Theta (MAO) member

Extracurriculars
AI Club President
Organizing a hackathon currently
Worked on 3 Research Projects
Attended Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) 3 times
Schoolhouse.world tutor/auditor
2-star Tennis Recruit
Varsity Tennis (team ranked #2 in the state)
Principle Cellist in school’s phil orchestra (second highest orch in school)

Essays/LORs/Other
Decently strong but nothing super special

Cost Constraints / Budget
Middle/high income

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
Safety:
A&M
Match:
UT (EA, auto admit)
UMich
VTech
Reach:
Duke
Cornell
UC Berkeley
CMU
Long Shot:
Stanford
MIT

2

Applying to MIT EA there are 3 potential outcomes; accepted, denied and deferred to RA. Most likely, by far, is deferred.

You look like a strong enough applicant as to not be denied in EA.

3 Likes
3

You’re a strong enough applicant that you won’t be rejected in EA, but you aren’t strong enough that you won’t be deferred.

3 Likes
4

Va Tech is a safety.

You are ranked 39…out of ???

How do they get to 6.0? What is the weighting?

If you are 4.0 and ranked 39th either your school is huge or there is rampant grade inflation.

Your record is awesome but the 39 rank doesn’t seem to match.

5

If you get denied admission at ANY college EA or ED, you can NOT reapply this year at all.

2 Likes
6

The most likely outcome for EA applicants with your profile is deferral, not denial.

And overall, low single digit chances of acceptance.

1 Like
7

If you are denied (not deferred) EA, you’d be denied Regular if you waited. So there’s no risk.

PS I usually don’t beat up on spelling, but it’s PrincipAL Cello. You do not want to raise a red flag: “unfamiliar with the terms of the activity”.

4 Likes
8

Out of how many?

Median household income is about $70k. Are you sure you mean middle income?

MIT defers 2/3 of EA applicants. So that’s the most likely outcome. However, the acceptance rate of deferred applicants was less than 2% for class of 2026.

1 Like
9

Texas A&M computer science or engineering requires entering as a first year general engineering student. Then you have to pass the secondary admission to the major which probably requires a 3.75 college GPA.

UT Austin automatic admission applies to the campus, but not to competitive majors like computer science.

You may need safeties where admission to your desired major (in addition to the campus) is assured.

Have you checked the net price calculator on each college?

1 Like
10

Have to think that if the school has at least two orchestras it is a pretty big school.

11

Competitive for MIT. If it is your first choice, go for it. Hope you have already applied to honors programs at AM and UT. Those are decided on a rolling basis.

1 Like
12

You should probably apply EA to Purdue and UMD as well. Likelies for you, I think, and both have strong EE/CE programs.

1 Like
13

You might get deferred at Michigan also…

14

38/704, there is a lot of grade inflation unfortunately

15

Well as others have pointed out your premise is wrong. If you’ll get denied, you’ll get denied. It doesn’t matter when you get denied. Once denied that’s it.

Most schools EA gives you better odds but as someone noted not MIT.

Your rigor and ECs seem strong so what am I missing that you are 38. What is the weighting scale?

16

Not quite true. For class of 2026,

Overall acceptance rate: 3.96%
EA: 4.72%
EA deferred, accepted in RD: 1.85%
RD: 2.44%

17

The EA numbers are skewed upward by recruited athletes and strongly hooked applicants. Once you factor that out the acceptance rates in EA and RD are similar for MIT.

2 Likes
18

The same is true for other highly selective colleges of similar size.

19

Because MIT needs to keep its top-ranked football team. :football:

OK, enough fun. I agree - the people who apply early are a different sample than the people who apply regular. Differences in acceptance rates are driven largely by these differences and not the application cycle.

It’s the same as an SAT. SAT doesn’t really care 780 vs. 800. But the kid who has maxed out all the high school math and is taking the bus so he can take Differential Equations in a nearby college is more likely to get an 800.

20

MIT has fewer hooks (notably, legacy is not considered at MIT, unlike at other private most selective colleges), but even controlling for hooks, the early applicant pool probably differs significantly from the regular applicant pool in application strength.