<p>Recently I got a clear plastic envelope with a letter from a student at MIT saying contact me with any questions and in addition to a pamphlet that said I got to skip the application fee. Not going to lie, MIT has been my dream school since middle school (and I have spent an inordinate amount of time reading admissions blogs) but with such an incredibly low acceptance rate the last thing I want to do is to get my hopes up. Can anyone tell me how many of these things they send out or what they mean (or if they mean anything) admissions-wise?
Thanks,
Hope</p>
<p>Many schools send out fee waivers. It’s a way to get more people to apply, which in turn keeps the acceptance rate low.</p>
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<p>@collegebound752:
Can you expand on MIT’s practice of this?</p>
<p>I would be baffled to hear that this is what this is all about. MIT is not looking to get more people to apply to keep its acceptance rate low. Indeed, MIT has been very clear about trying to do the very opposite. Indeed from a couple of years back, MIT stopped doing college fairs (in most countries) as it was only encouraging applications from students who did not match well with MIT, which MIT definitely did not want. As far as I was aware, MIT did not send out speculative fee waivers. However, MIT does not want the application fee to be a significant barrier to anyone applying, so they are fairly open about accepting fee waivers. From the mitadmissions.org website:
So if you need the fee waiver, take the fee waiver. If you do not need the fee waiver, pay the fee.</p>
<p>Filling students’ inboxes with emails, sending mailers, sending fee waivers --> the purpose of all of this (marketing) is to draw in applications. Obviously, the school plans to admit a certain amount of the applicant pool but they want the applicant pool to be large. Part of what allows a school to maintain its high ranking is having a (preferably, increasingly) low acceptance rate. Ask any admissions counselor and they will admit this (I have).</p>
<p>@collegebound752:
Does MIT do this because all schools do it? </p>
<p>To look at it less cynically, MIT is interested in having the best people apply (and be admitted), and that’s especially true among students who qualify for fee waivers. The goal is to increase the quality of the applicant pool, and encourage outstanding students who otherwise might not apply. Keeping the acceptance rate low is not the primary motivation.</p>
<p>The thing is I don’t think I am qualified financially for a fee waiver but they sent one anyway (not that I am complaining since I have to pay out of my own pocket for college applications). I was just wondering why and how many of these things they send out. I am sure there is a positive and a negative way to spin everything admission offices do at these elite colleges (I believe that they do these things for the right reasons) but we are (or at least I am) still at their mercy when it comes to getting in.</p>
<p>We sent out a small number (four digits) of these fee waivers to highly qualified students who we thought, based on the best information we have, might be eligible for fee waivers. We want to make sure that economic disadvantage or hardship won’t prevent qualified students from applying. Students can always apply for a fee waiver, but we are experimenting w/ proactive steps in light of the research by Hoxby et al on undermatching. </p>
<p>collegebound752 is correct that we mail things to people because we think they are comparatively good applicants for MIT, but Mikayle is correct that we do this much less than peer institutions, and quite conservatively. We don’t need or want more applications as such; we want applications from students who are good applicants to MIT. </p>
<p>I think that sending out the application fee waivers is a really great thing! I don’t have the cynical take on it that some have suggested. I think this lets students of moderate means apply to a few more colleges than they otherwise might, given the cost. This increases the odds that the students will wind up going to colleges where they match well. It should also help to increase the economic diversity of the students at many colleges.</p>