<p>My grandfather used to be a professor at MIT in the 70's.</p>
<p>Would this count as a "legacy" in any way?</p>
<p>i think a legacy is if your mother or father attended MIT. i may be wrong?</p>
<p>It's not a legacy, but that might even be slightly better. Careful though - cause on your app they might expect more out of you coming from such intelligence.</p>
<p>MIT doesn't do legacies. Sorry folks.</p>
<p>No, but they will take where your parents went to school in their overall "picture" of you as a candidate.</p>
<p>"MIT doesn't do legacies. Sorry folks."</p>
<p>Not quite true. According to an interview I read a little while ago, Marilee Jones personally reviews denied/waitlisted alumni kids, so being a legacy does get you, in some sense, more careful treatment.</p>
<p>I think if you're in the reject pile and are a legacy, Marilee double checks your folder. I also think she said she mostly does this just so when the parents call to complain, she can explain why their kid was rejected. I hear she rarely reverses a decision.</p>
<p>As it says in our application, "we are a meritocracy. We judge each other by our ideas, our creativity and our accomplishments, not by who our families are."</p>
<p>Marilee believes strongly in this statement (we all do). It is true that she personally reviews the applications of denied/waitlisted alumni kids, out of respect for the alums - but I've never seen her reverse a decision on these grounds.</p>
<p>This is also a good place for me to clarify that our definition of "meritocracy" is comprehensive. Certainly academic achievement is paramount, but there are many other ways to demonstrate merit - and we look at all of them when making a decision.</p>
<p>But merit (in whatever context) really has nothing to do with whether or not your parents went to MIT or taught here or donated a lot of money. Merit is all about you.</p>
<p>Ben, let me ask just out of curiosity. Has Marilee ever reversed a decision *on some other grounds<a href="noticing%20oversights%20in%20other%20reads,%20etc.">/i</a> during her review of the alumni folders? Not trying to be tricky --- it would just seem a little strange if the top dog went through a pretty large group of files solely for pleasure reading.</p>
<p>To be honest, I've personally never seen Marilee reverse any decision - alum-parent applicant or otherwise; she wholly trusts and believes in the members of the selection committee. </p>
<p>I'm sure that it does happen from time to time though, but I'm not privy to the how or why - only that it would take something significant for it to happen once the app reaches that stage.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks for the answer. That's certainly consistent with our process at Caltech. Our director, Rick, goes (with modest sacrifices of sleep, I think) through pretty much all the completed files... but I've never known him to singlehandedly change a decision, if only because that would prompt some dissatisfaction from a committee that believes in the process. </p>
<p>I was only asking because that absense of autocracy certainly wasn't the rule, at least in the past, at some well-regarded non-tech schools (not to name names), so I was curious about MIT's policy. Thanks for the reassurance : )</p>
<p>"some well-regarded non-tech schools (not to name names)"</p>
<p>Hahaha I can only imagine :)</p>