The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about college, and according to him, his cousin already got a scholarship and is pretty much guaranteed admission into MIT. She’s in 9th grade. Apparently this is because her team was a finalist in the Cyber Patriot competition. Could this be true? MIT giving her a scholarship even though she didn’t win? I’ve never heard of MIT doing things like this unless the person is exceptional and has done something amazing in comparison to their surroundings.
I have no idea about the Cyber Patriot thing, but there is no way she got a scholarship to go to MIT.
“What is MIT’s financial aid and scholarship policy?
We recruit and enroll the most talented and promising students without regard to their financial circumstances.
We award our undergraduate aid on the basis of financial need, and we do not provide undergraduate scholarships based on any non-financial criteria (such as academic or athletic achievements).
We guarantee that each student’s demonstrated financial need is fully met for all four years.”
Absolute garbage, pure and simple.
MIT, as well as other universities, do a lot of things with HS students. Sometimes, parents get confused by the name association.
“My son is attending Harvard this Summer!”
“Really? Harvard Summer School?”
“And, he got a scholarship!”
“He’s going the whole Summer?”
“No, it’s for 6 days, but you basically don’t get selected unless you can get in Harvard.”
Oh, I see.
So i asked her about this, and apparently they gave her the admission because the cyber patriot thing was held on MIT and she said that since she won, they gave it to her.
You want us to believe MIT accepted a high school freshman based solely on a Cyber Patriot completion, with three years of secondary school remaining and with no comprehensive GPA, or conclusive standardized test scores, or discussion with her GC, or being extensively challenged by an AP/Honors/IB curriculum, and so forth. I’m sorry, but that simply doesn’t pass the laugh test. Now, I don’t doubt some MIT professor or administrator might have commented, “you did a wonderful job in that competition; you’re a natural for MIT, and we’d like to have you attend (or words to that effect),” but a formal, binding admission . . . I’m VERY skeptical.
The Cyberpatriot website says that finalists receive college scholarships. So it may be that she would get a scholarship to MIT if she is accepted.
I think the scholarships may refer to a general scholarship that can be applied to any school, if it was received in that context at all.
I agree with @TheDidactic. Probably general scholarship money. Always a nice thing to have, though! Or like @justonedad said, it may be for a summer HS program.
Ok, thanks for the info. I got scared that there was something that I could do that I didn’t, haha.