Factors in Admission Decisions v(GPA, SAT,...)

Test Preparation
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<p>Pardon my apparent rudeness but how do you expect people to take you seriously when you say stuff like that fizz'de or what ever you said. I mean, this isn't like a formal forum, but when I see that stuff I don't take people too seriously. Just a heads up ;)</p>

22

<p>I think jq722's message is well-intentioned.</p>

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<p>duuuuuuuuuudes....it is not the same for all schools! they don't all weight everything the same. some don't even ask for an essay (like jmu). you have to look at what each school says they care about, what's most important. there isn't a formula for all of them. would be nice, but it don't work that way (i have an older brother who's been thru this...)</p>

24

<p>jq is full of it.</p>

25

<p>continue please</p>

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<p>From what I gather from randomly checking the MIT part of CC forums(actually, going there twice a day), passion and self initiative is very important, as is humaness. In fact, sometimes I think getting straight A's could be a turnoff, whereas if you got a B, and did an Intel project, or created a nice hack or mod(the good ones, not the bad ones), you would get further.</p>

27

<p>I agree w/ LF61, generally. Not all the specifics maybe, but generally.</p>

<p>Think about this...</p>

<p>Do you really think someone w/ a 3.8 GPA, 1300 SAT, & stellar EC's has anywhere near a chance as someone w/ a 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT, & medicore EC's?</p>

28

<p>Straight A's is is a turnoff? I wish.</p>

<p>It would be preferable to have straight A's AND enter a project to the Intel STS and everything. But all of that and one B would be preferred over straight A's and nothing else.</p>

<p>Overall, though, MIT is known to be a more numbers-oriented school. Check this out: <a href="http://www.pclaunch.com/%7Ekayton/MIT/InsideAdmissions.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pclaunch.com/~kayton/MIT/InsideAdmissions.htm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

29

<p>Yes, i have seen that countless times. But if you notice, they don't categorize things like: 4.0, 3.9, etc. They do it like:</p>

<p>good grades
medium grades
bad grades - turnoff</p>

<p>good ec's
medium ecs
bad ecs - turnoff</p>

<p>etc</p>

<p>and that is a basic triad. Almost everyone applying to MIT is going to have nearly straight A's, 1500+ or so, etc. So this is just a filter. However, once you get past the filter, admission i believe is based on depth of ec's, passion, etc.</p>

30

<p>If academics are really so weighted, then the kid who got a 1200 on the SAT with a 3.0 GPA shouldn't have gotten in.</p>

<p>Ivies are erratic. There's no point in trying to figure them out!</p>

31

<p>how does a low gpa and high SAT effect URMS like Afro-Am's or hispanics?</p>

32

<p>totoboyo, i'm not sure about this, but what i've seen is URM status offers more leeway (sp?) for SAT scores than GPA. The reason I think this is is they want everyone to be able to handle the courseload and graduate. However, the GPA standards aren't the same for a URM either, but I just think the elite privates are a lot more lax on SAT scores than anything else.</p>

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<p>the site from theoneo is important information</p>

34

<p>"MIT is known to be a more numbers-oriented school" I've heard the exact opposite. Like Sagar said, many, if not most, applicants to MIT have top-caliber scores so a lot of their admission decision is based on the non-numeric factors like recs and essays.</p>

35

<p>I agree with tanman.</p>

36

<p>EC's are one of those things that won't make you or break you. As long as your semi-active, you should be fine; unless you want to go to Harvard or something. They know that like 10% of the people who apply make up some of their stats anyway...</p>

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<p>to harvard, if applicant is a science student, is EC's very important?</p>

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<p>Research is a big thing for science students. Especially if you win something for it, even if it's at a local science fair.</p>