Is MIT trying to swindle money from me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>I recently got some email from MIT that read:</p>

<p>
[QUOTE]

Dear ********** (I want to remain anonymous),</p>

<p>I'm sure you're beginning to receive a lot of mail from colleges all
over the country, so I promise to keep this short.</p>

<p>Your test scores suggest that you are an excellent student - that's why
we're making contact. You probably have the kind of special mind that
would thrive here academically.</p>

<p>But numbers don't drive our selection process, nor should they be the
primary focus of your college search. It's really the match between
applicant and Institute that matters, and there's only one way to know
for sure if the match is there - we'll need to learn a bit more about
each other.</p>

<p>MIT is a place of innovation and advancement - a place where those who
dream of changing the world become compelled to do so. We empower
students to take what they learn and apply it to society's real
problems. We're collaborative, creative, analytical, and curious - and
we're betting that many of these words describe you as well.</p>

<p>Even if MIT has never been on your radar, we'd like to send you a copy
of our new viewbook. It's foremost a collection of stories from our
community and profiles of the people who live and study here. No fancy
spin or marketing - just lots of windows into who we are and what makes
the energy of our campus palpable.</p>

<p>Simply click the link below and your viewbook will be on its way -
thanks in advance for taking a look.
((link removed by moderator))</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>Marilee Jones
Dean of Admissions, MIT</p>

<p>P.S. You may also wish to explore mitadmissions.org, where fifteen
student and staff bloggers share their uncensored stories of life at
MIT.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>So my point is, and I posted something similar in the stanford forum, that I did badly on the PSAT for this school's standards (92 percentile), so why would they want to send me info? Is it just so that they'll make me feel like I have a chance, causing me to apply, which leads to application fee $$$? I'm just wondering because a lot of other schools that I have no chance at are also doing this to me (brown, cal tech, etc).</p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>You're assuming that a "low" SAT score would knock you out of the running, but there are two things here. One is that your score may get better, and colleges know this when they choose the pool to which they advertise. The other thing is that scores ain't what they used to be. People with 2100's get into MIT all the time because they are impressive in other ways. </p>

<p>Nevertheless, of course it's in colleges' interests to have a lot of people apply -- it increases their chances of getting whom they want; rejecting the rest only makes a college look more selective. So you are wise to be aware that there are incentives on both sides here. But it would be too quick to conclude you have no chance. Find out more about each school and if you find one or two you really love, shoot the moon. Just make sure that most of the applications you send are in your "match" category.</p>

3

<p>All colleges love increased applicants, which leads to more people to choose from, as well as better rankings. The answer is half and half. They send letters to a lot of people, trying to increase applicants for no other reason than that, but they also get more choices when they do so.</p>

<p>If you believe you can bring something really special to the table despite weaker scores (say you speak ancient greek, or you've won 3 straight fantasy sports titles etc) then I would try it out.</p>

4

<p>The prior two posts give good advice. I suspect the application fee is not a consideration. They are looking for more applications from those who might not traditionally apply.</p>

<ol>
<li>Writing scores are not evaluated by MIT at this time.</li>
<li> PSAT performance is just that an early indicator not a final score.</li>
<li> 25-75% range for MIT was 1430-1570 for 2005-2006 showing a wide range of scores for those admitted. </li>
</ol>

<p>We were buried in mailings from a mulitude of schools. Advertising is clearly a cost effective way of introducing the schools to high schoolers.</p>