CS program is second to none. I was wondering if people can give their input. I would like to know if people have experience any of the three things listed below
I have heard that need based aid @ MIT is very good.
Does an applicant gets legs up if one is a female applying to MIT who has necessary SAT 1, SAT II scores, GPA, hardest course load in math, science, English, foreign language and History. Is this boost really there
Does MIT really give applicant boost if one is math and science kid who has demonstrated talent in subtle qualities like writing, singing, volunteering, sports etc other than STEM focused activities.
Thanks for your real input as daughter wants to apply for CS field.
If you search up the Common Data Set for MIT (they are very transparent about these things) you will find that the acceptance rate for females is indeed higher than for males, the main reason being that even though it's been improving over the years, generally less females apply to tech schools than males, and colleges still need to balance out male-female ratio.
They don’t need to take the hardest course load in math/science/Eng/etc. for this so-called “boost” but obviously challenging courses do help the application
Again these aren't really "MIT applicant boosts" as just good student qualities for any college applicant... If a student has good academics but also has impressive extracurriculars then it adds to the competitiveness of their application for any college, MIT included.
It is relative, but very low-income students can get full coa and middle-income students can also get some aid.
Good scores, grades, rigorous coursework, ECs, etc. are not really boosts, but baseline requirements for being considered.
Idk, but female gender might be a boost, since MIT manages to keep the gender ratio 50/50 while other tech schools like Cal Tech, GA Tech, CO Mines do not.
MIT is very affordable for us based on Net price calculator we gets lot of need based aid. The reason i asked I wanted to make sure that it provided need based aid.
MIT is one of the very few schools that is need blind.
I think there are only five in the entire country that admit students without regard to whether they can afford the tuition.
Females get a boost, but not by getting certain scores or taking certain classes. In general, they don’t have to be as tippy top in their extracurricular activities.
@cocofan what scores and what classes students must take in order to be competitive. Could you explain. Does getting 750 above SAT 1 and SAT II help you? Taking beyond BC calculus math, beyond AP sciences does it help? taking the hardest course possible in your school, does it help.
"When we admit a class of students to MIT, it's as if we're choosing a 1,100-person team to climb a very interesting, fairly rugged mountain—together. We obviously want people who have the training, stamina and passion for the climb. At the same time, we want each to add something useful or intriguing to the team, from a wonderful temperament or sense of humor to compelling personal experiences, to a wide range of individual gifts, talents, interests and achievements. **We are emphatically not looking for a batch of identical perfect climbers; we are looking for a richly varied team of capable people who will support, surprise and inspire each other**."
"Overall, you should try to take the most stimulating courses available to you. ... We understand that high schools have different offerings and families have different resources."
"Some students feel so much pressure to get into the 'right' college that they want to make sure they do everything 'right'—even do the 'right' extracurricular activities. Fortunately, the only right answer is to do what's right for you—not what you think is right for us. Choose your activities because they delight, intrigue and challenge you, not because you think they'll look impressive on your application."
"By the same token, some applicants struggle to turn themselves into clones of the 'ideal' MIT student.... Fortunately, cloning is still for sheep. **What we really want to see on your application is you being you**—pursuing the things you love, growing, changing, taking risks, learning from your mistakes, all in your own distinctive way."
"There is nothing, literally nothing, that in and of itself will get you in to MIT. ... There is no golden ticket."
"I saw the 'perfect match' in a bunch of apps that we deferred. Please remember that **we deferred a LOT of people who wholly deserve to be at MIT** - folks who are passionate, who love life and the discovery thereof, who genuinely care about the people around them. The absolute worst part of this job is the fact that there are so few spots for so many qualified people, which means **we can't take everyone, even if they belong here**."
"I don't think I have ever in my summary of a student used high standardized scores as an argument to admit that student."
"Of course you need good scores and good grades to get into MIT. But most people who apply to MIT have good grades and scores. Having bad grades or scores will certainly hurt you, but I'm sorry to say that **having great grades and scores doesn't really help you - it just means that you're competitive with most of the rest of our applicants**."
"People make a big deal about test scores. No one seems to believe me when I tell them that when I'm reading an application, I just glance at the test scores to get a sense of them before moving on to the more important parts of the application -- that is, who you are."
"It's who you are that really matters. It's how you embrace life. It's how you treat other people. It's passion. And yes, that stuff really does drip off the page in the best of our applications."
"Yes, your grades and test scores (especially your grades) are important. But as I have said in the past, what ultimately really matters to us is who you are, what qualities you bring to the table. We want people who are academically curious and passionate, people who will bring their various talents to MIT and share them with others, people who will be good roommates, good mentors, good friends. **We do not admit test scores. We admit people.**"
These guys are really transparent and amazingly consistent about what they want. Read posts by multiple admissions officers - from Matt McGann to Matt Jones to Chris Peterson - and they all basically say the same things. It’s not a trick question on the test.
MIT is very concerned about admitting students with good personalities because it has a demanding curriculum. Support from others as people go through the 4 years is critical. Meaness is rarely seen or experienced. I love that about MIT.
If MIT emphasize good personality, that should help daughter a lot as she has a great personality and she has won awards for being who she is and that how involved she is in her school community in trying to be cheerful and helpful to others.
MIT is very generous with their aid and it’s based on income and assets. The cost is about the same as state schools here. Without MITs generosity, my son would not be going there.
Nice can’t be overstated. As Chris Peterson noted in his famous “Applying Sideways” blog:
None of these things will guarantee admission to MIT (“there is no golden ticket”), but they will make someone an attractive applicant, and more importantly, they will lead to success in life regardless of the admissions outcome at any given school.