<p>I am Anjana
Reddy, pursuing my under graduation in India. I went through the admission requirements for graduate studies at MIT on the MIT website. But I failed to properly understand the admission procedure. Please help me out. The basis on which applications will be valued is mentioned as grades and 3 letters of recommendation from faculty.
My question is when there will be students from all parts of the world applying , the grading system varying for each student as each would be from a different university , HOW will their applications will evaluated?? And the letters of recommendation can be manipulated. So what exactly is the basis of admission to MIT , when GRE is not the basis .</p>
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<p>There are definitely many frequenting this board who’re more knowledgeable about MIT as a school here, but I’ll say a few words given your question seems more generally to address the selection process. </p>
<p>Maybe this is obvious, but the GRE is not the basis given it need not be even close to a good assessment of one’s understanding of the given subject. For one thing, I know the math GRE covers very elementary material as compared to what strong applicants realistically would have seen, and further, the goal of grad studies generally is research, and potential in this area won’t be judged simply by a test. Perhaps these are very obvious points, but I include them for the sake of thoroughness.</p>
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<p>MIT generally will have a pretty good idea about several schools from which good students come, and the reputation of their faculty. Essentially, if you come from somewhere whose faculty and courses are regarded, having done well in undergraduate studies and having good letters of recommendation will be significantly to your advantage. If MIT does not have a reason to think quite as highly of the faculty, I imagine that you’re likely best off trying to shine in ways beyond your recommendations.</p>
<p>In essence, what I mean is that not all recommendations seem to be weighed equally by any graduate admissions committee. On the flip side, I would highly question how easy it is to “manipulate” top faculty to write a glorifying letter about a student. I’ve mentioned this anecdote earlier, but when requested by a student in his class, one of our very famous professors actually said “I haven’t known you that long. If you score the best on my next exam, I’ll write the recommendation” – something to that effect. So basically, given all factors aren’t weighted equally for every student, it’s important to figure out how to shine in your particular situation to compete with other stellar applicants.</p>
<p>@Anjana, each department has its own admissions criteria. You should contact the admissions office for each department you intend to apply to and ask them how the applications are evaluated.</p>