<p>^Your scores are literally perfect for MIT, so you can’t say you’re “an exception”. MIT doesn’t consider your writing grade - at all. I’d gladly trade in my 800 W for an 800 CR. As I was saying, a 2100 with 3 700’s is just about the same as a 2400 at MIT. In other schools, though, it’s quite different. In your case, I believe an 800-760-730 would’ve been an excellent breakdown for schools other than MIT (reasons below.)
And as I believe it is, HYP put more emphasis on your CR grade, which is why a 660 on my part would probably lower my chances quite a bit. Harvard is definitely the school with the applicants who have the highest test scores (that’s not to say that Harvard doesn’t put a huge emphasis on essays and such, which they do), while MIT admissions officers are skilled at pulling out intelligent people willing to work and who would fit in at MIT and add to its diversity. IMO, they’re very skilled at really reading a person’s personality from their application, which leads to an excellent student body there.</p>
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<p>You are right about the WR part, I actually forgot about this. It would be interesting though to see whether this would continue to be the policy because we knew MIT wouldn’t really care about it since we were the first class to be mandated to have to take the new SAT, so we knew that we were the guinea pig year. But this might be different as the WR score gets more and more ingrained in the system (HYP I think weighs all three near equally). Also, I wasn’t claiming an exception - I was just pointing out another example of a lopsided score and how I turned out (of course, scores aren’t everything, but I still have suspicions based on how drastically different my HYP results and those of the rest of my colleges were - WL at HY, R at P, A at SMC).</p>
<p>I think the important thing when it comes to HYP test scores is that you need to be at least “in range” for everything. For example, three 750s would be an awesome score, even though it sits just at 2250. Now, if you have 800/800/650, then that looks real bad, because you weren’t quite in the zone with one section. I think this kind of thinking is silly, but I guess when you literally have thousands of people applying with near perfect resumes and near perfect activities, you do have to draw the line somewhere, right?</p>
<p>Going back to MIT admissions - there’s a lot of people who scoff at the idea of “the Match” and how MIT adcoms really just pick whoever they like and whoever sounds good on paper, so your last sentence might be pretty controversial to some. I’m not a MIT adcom so I will never know what goes on behind those doors, but for now I will take Ben Jones’ word on what MIT Admissions is and that’s good enough for me (and I believe him!). Things like why people get in can never be justified to everyone’s satisfaction (cue the “chances threads are useless” debate), and so just do what you are passionate about and everything will work out for the best. Yes, you can’t have a 2.5 and still think you have good chances at MIT, but test grades and GPA are really not that big of a deal for MIT. (and this is what we’re both in agreement about).</p>
<p>^Well, the test grades are a big deal. It’s just not exactly correlative with admissions chances (at MIT). Hence the “chances threads are useless” thing. You really can’t tell if you’re in based on your grades, because to a top college like MIT, practically everyone has excellent grades. At that point, I guess the only thing to do is start checking out the person as, well, a person. For other colleges, higher scores = higher acceptance chance. For MIT, 2100 =~ 2400. So it’s very important to clear the 700 mark if you don’t want to hurt your chances, but above that it’s mostly the same. That’s when the grades start to lose importance.</p>
<p>Also, I’d be overjoyed if MIT suddenly started considering writing scores for next year’s admissions process, since I’m applying next year and have an 800 on that section and a really subpar score on CR (660). It’s beyond me why they don’t consider it still, actually, since it’s a very valid part of the SAT and it’s been shown to be the most correlative with a person’s college performance. Plus, it’s the section of the SAT with the least 800’s. Of course, I have no statistics or links to both these facts, but I’ve heard them on CC from some trusted sources.</p>
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Wow, thanks for the confidence boost 
I’m joking, of course, but I agree with you. I have a 660 on the CR (as I now notice I’ve said 300 times), which is subpar for practically every top college, but on the other hand, 800’s on the CR section are very rare in my country, and a 660 probably amounts to a 750 or something had I been in the States. (Plus my score should’ve been 670 and I was very pressed for time on test day during the CR sections, which is not a normal occurrence for me at all, I usually finish a few minutes early.) Anyway, not that I’m making excuses (I might take it again to improve it slightly.) But I do think the score should be taken into context, as I believe MIT does.</p>
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Well, I don’t really agree. Of course this is just my opinion so I can’t really prove they’re wrong but I’ve been on the MIT board long enough to know that they don’t just choose people they “like.” Granted, it’s a very subjective process, but I think MIT looks for certain types of people. Creative people, intelligent people, ambitious people, hard-workers, who knows. I think that they try and find certain qualities in you that would show that you’re determined to succeed in MIT and later on in life. Some may say that this is very subjective and excludes some very qualified people, but I personally think it’s pretty fair, though not always consistent. They’re looking for a certain type of person that they believe has necessary qualities for MIT - and as I’m sure that they know more about the college then we do, I guess we should trust them to be able to know that. Looks like it’s worked so far - MIT currently has probably the most intelligent student body in the world, and most go on to have a very distinguished life.</p>
<p>On a personal note: I would hate to be excluded from the MIT admissions process just because my grades were below the norm, when I’m actually quite qualified (though probably nowhere near as much as some of the higher up MIT students). I’ve really been quite lazy, often not paying attention in class, ignoring my homework, and studying for a test for a half hour the night before when I don’t even know the material due to the first two reasons. Basically, I suffered a bit in my math grades due to this habit, getting B’s for the past 2 years, though I’ve improved quite a bit now (ever since I decided I wanted to apply to MIT, in fact, which was around January) and I’m actually starting to pay attention in class, which has helped in my test scores. (I’m still ignoring my homework though…)
However, the B’s I currently have in math don’t signify a shortage on my part in being able to cope with math. I often find that after I finish the test, I understand the material perfectly, which goes to show that I’ve been amazingly stupid in my studying. Luckily my Physics and Chemistry grades are still high up there (though I have an 89 rather than a 90 in physics this year, ugh).</p>
<p>Anyway, my point from this is that I would hate to be excluded from MIT directly just because I have a couple of B’s. Luckily, if next year I get consistently high grades on math, it’ll likely make up for the B’s in my junior and sophomore years (seeing as senior grades matter much more, because you’re improving) and I definitely plan on doing that. This is one of the reasons why I find the MIT admissions process capable - it sees the person as more than just numbers. I know for a fact that I’m much more capable now than I was at the beginning of junior year, and that’s only because I’ve set in my mind that I want to apply to MIT. My grades before may have lowered my chances, so I’m not getting my hopes up too high, but hopefully, with a little luck, I might be accepted. I kind of wish I’d decided to apply beginning of sophomore year, though, but back then college was the last thing on my mind.
[/end life story]
If you read through that, I’m proud of you :D</p>
<p>@Jimmy- I zoned out a couple of times and took a lunch break, but I got through that. I guess it really depends on what you think MIT is looking for- someone who will be able to change their society and eventually our nation, or someone who has perfect grades and sat scores. I think its a mix of them, it seems that you think its the former. Too bad we don’t have an adcom on CC to discuss his opinion on all of this. </p>
<p>@oasis- how does a 660 amount to a 750 in the US? -.-</p>
<p>^We have 2 admissions officers on here if I’m correct, one being MITChris, and there’s also molliebatmit (not an ad. officer but very helpful nonetheless.) Perhaps someone would be kind enough to join in.
I believe it’s a mix of the 2, though each has to have some qualities of the other. (ambitious but has to have high grades, has perfect grades but has to have a personality too, one that fits MIT based on how the ad. officers perceive it.)</p>
<p>By the way, I was the one who said a 660 amounts to a 750.
I’m sure you know that the background a person grows up in affects his qualifications. I probably would’ve had a better grade in English had I grown up in the US. That’s not an excuse, by the way, merely an observation. I’m working on improving the CR score.</p>
<p>Why would you post your friend’s stats on here? Did you get his/her permission? Totally not cool to hijack their info like that and post it to the world…</p>
<p>I don’t think those SAT scores are subpar. The math 2 and chem are great and well within our green zone. You didn’t share his math SAT but I don’t see why it would be catastrophic. </p>
<p>There’s nothing “subpar” about him academically at all. 3This is why I say don’t listen to CC about SAT scores!! </p>
<p>Also: </p>
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<p>is untrue. We get literally hundreds of USAMO qualifiers who apply every year and we don’t accept them all. Being a two-time USAMO qualifier certainly helped him, but nothing you posted makes him look like a shoo-in to me either (then again, no one is a shoo-in at MIT). </p>
<p>The reason your friend got in is because his academics were good, his awards and ECAs were good, AND his letters/interview/etc were all good. You can’t see the last few things on CC, which is why no one can chance you accurately on CC.</p>
<p>^^^^^^ Okay. That clarifies some questions. Right, but I was wondering if the lack of community service, lack of sports, and having not done any research hurt him in the admissions process. I have heard volunteering is very important.</p>
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<p>certainly didn’t help him, but no one has everything.</p>
<p>WongTongTong is a stalker… O.O</p>
<p>The kid WongTongTong stalks probably was on the upper end of applicants who were accepted, anyone agree with this?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Seeing as how the whole school knows about what he did, it was in the school newspaper, our local newspaper, AND he is my friend, I don’t really understand how it is considered stalking. Also, do you have nothing better to do than post stupid comments on a CC thread? If you don’t, you need to go see someone.</p>
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You’re the one defending himself for being called a stalker on an online forum.</p>
<p>Anyways, I was joking because of binks and fireflakes posts, but I will repeat what I was trying to ask: Does anyone think WongTongTong’s friend was on the upper end of those accepted?</p>
<p>30 points subpar from MIT average…</p>
<p>@ripe- Ah, didnt realize you were joking, sorry then lol. Just tired of people who post for no apparent reason </p>
<p>^^^^^^
From the chance threads, people mostly, if not always said that 2220 was subpar for MIT. But now it seems it is just right for applying.</p>
<p>How is a 2200 subpar??
CC is not a good resource.</p>
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Yet again, it depends on the breakdown, and the writing matters almost zilch.</p>
<p>Sorry for bumping, but What if someone screws up the SAT Math (730) (What I got lol) which is good but MIT is more math oriented(Everyone seems to have a 750+), but gets a 770-800 on the Math 2? ( The SAT Math has such a bad curve and its so easy to make careless mistakes) </p>
<p>Hooks: First Gen, kind of Halfish URM.</p>
<p>^ Your scores are fine.</p>
<p>^ Thanks for the input, I still need to finish my apps lol.</p>