Is it possible to transfer to MIT on a full-ride scholarship [even as an international student] ?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

I thought this would be impossible unless you won IMO or ACM ICPC or started your own Facebook.

But it looks like it sort of is possible: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/04/20/all-usa-spotlight-using-community-college-to-get-full-ride-to-mit/

What magic got Quan Nguyen in there? (or is he already a citizen/green card holder? I thought MIT is status-blind in terms of merit-scholarships)

I’m an international student as well, currently a freshman at a state school. MIT rejected me last year when I applied. I thought there might be a chance for me to achieve this too-good-to-be-true metamorphosis, but the chance is probably too slim.

2

MIT doesn’t give merit scholarships. If this person got “full need-based financial AID” then it was based on his family being low income. Some schools call their need-based aid “scholarships,” but that is just misleading. This person was given full institutional grants for being low income.


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This spring, Nguyen achieved the goal he had when he first came to America: he was accepted as a transfer student to MIT — along with being offered a full scholarship. He is majoring in chemical-biological engineering and pursuing a minor in biomedical and materials science. He has received praise from BHCC faculty and administration for his achievements.

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The below is for incoming frosh…the odds are probably worse for int’l transfer students.


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MIT receives many applications from very smart and talented international citizens. From this great pool of candidates we may only take a small cupful. Every year more than 4,000 international students apply to MIT, and we can admit fewer than 150.

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We limit the number of international students we can accept because of our generous financial aid. MIT is one of the few schools in the world that offers need-blind admissions and meets their full financial need. “Need-blind” means we will consider your application equally, no matter how rich or poor you are or how much you could pay to attend. “Meeting your full financial need” means MIT will give you enough financial aid so that you can afford to attend, no matter how much or how little your family can pay.


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This young man likely has an unusual story.

3

http://web.mit.edu/SFS/financial_aid/

4

Ok, then the article’s wording isn’t correct: “This spring, Nguyen achieved the goal he had when he first came to America: he was accepted as a transfer student to MIT — along with being offered a full scholarship.”

I’m still a bit confused: if aid is, in its traditional sense, based on FAFSA and state money, can int’l transfer students still receive aid? Unless MIT offers its own private funds…

5

Aid at MIT is NOT based on FAFSA and state aid.

Aid at MIT is based on CSS Profile (or whatever int’ls have to use), and the aid given is MIT’s own money…not from the state or feds.

6

Know two things:

  1. MIT has a really low transfer acceptance rate. Getting in would be a miracle.
  2. There are no scholarships, there is only aid from MIT’s own funds. Your full need would be covered, depending on your parents’ income.
7

The article doesn’t say he is International, only that he came to the USA in 2010.

Also maybe his research internship was really interesting to MIT

It’s hard to tell from the pooy written article, but it sounds like he might have been working on the impact of oral drug coatings on efficacy.

8

Which would make him like many other college students. Don’t see what differentiates him.

But honestly, some kids go to community college because either a) they are told that is all they can afford, or b) that is all they can afford. If he had a paid internship, it might have made it easier for him to apply to MIT.