Let's start a place for class of 2020 MIT hopefuls or something!

Good luck to everyone!

So close yet so far away!!

I really hope to be accepted, but just writing the MIT essays, filling out the application and dreaming of, one day, becoming a part of the incredible MIT community was an unforgettably exciting journey I am grateful for.

I wish you all good luck, and let our decisions be what they will be on Monday! And remember: we are all together on this never-ending wait until Pi Day, Tau Time.

@skywalker11 Yeah it was a great experience, but a frustrating wait as well. If I am declined, I wouldn’t say that I would be surprised, but to know that the school I’ve always told people I wanted to attend actually denied me, is a little disappointing to say the least. But there are plenty of other great schools out there for us all to attend so this is really not the end, but the beginning.

The weirdest part is that I feel like I want to hug you all…

What is the equivalent of a hug on the internet?

On a sociological and psychological point of view, I really don’t think there is an equivalent for a hug on the Internet. There is “The Nicest Place on the Internet” (http://thenicestplaceontheinter.net), though. LOL

Will a rejection from MIT equate to a high likelihood of rejection from the Ivies?

I think that the “type” of student that MIT wants is significantly different from that of the Ivies… So there’s really no way to compare the likelihood of acceptance/rejection between them.

Could you elaborate and describe the types that Ivies/MIT prefer?

@Kyuutoryuu The only way to know for certain is to work in admissions at those universities. Colleges always look for “fit”. Colleges aren’t all the same, so someone that is a “fit” for one of the ivies may not be a fit for the other ivies, or MIT, or Stanford. This goes for all schools.

@skywalker11: Thanks for the response. I’m just getting angsty and over analyzing everything!

From what I see, it’s not a matter of preference, but rather profile. Colleges have their “personalities”, as do students., and the whole application process is just a way of matching those. That’s the same reason that makes each of us prefer some colleges instead of others.

MIT is one of the best places for the intellectual masochist than enjoys being the dumbest person in the room from time to time. Its culture is overwhelmingly driven by science, technology and engineering, and is heavily focused on research. For that, MIT seems to seek students with a very high aptitude for those areas, and this translates into a very technical-oriented student body. In regards to stereotypes, although most MITers do not fit the usual “nerd” stereotype, they are extremely hardworking, enjoy being geeks, don’t mind focusing a lot on the “work hard” part, strive to break convention, and are much more into math and science than humanities, obviously. If you get out of your dorm at MIT, for instance, people will be probably be talking about something related to science. It’s not called a “nerd’s paradise” without a reason.

Each of the Ivies, in the same way, has a distinct personality. Harvard students, for instance, are very accomplishment/prestige oriented, and tend to see their extracurricular activities as if they were their jobs and their lives depended on them. They are usually more well-rounded than the average MIT student, and have much more diverse interests that range from Computer Science to Economics and Literature.

That’s for starters. You could also think of the following joke about the Ivies:

The eight institutions of the Ivy League found themselves all marooned on a desert island… in personified form, strangely enough. And so they went about their business.

Harvard appointed himself the president for life and set out to get everyone else to bow to him. Columbia started a newspaper for the residents of the island. Yale set up a stage and put on a show every night. Dartmouth distilled the juice from the island fruits and set up a bar. Princeton set up an exclusive eating club and invited the others to apply for membership, even though they had no idea how to cook food. Ever shrewd, Penn tried to get the others to trade between themselves and skim off a commission for himself. And humble Cornell went about its own business, planting a garden to grow food and building a water-tight boat to get off the island as soon as possible.

Cornell’s garden yielded bountiful food and soon the Big Red Boat was ready to set sail with ample provisions. As they all climbed onto the boat, Dartmouth looked around the island one last time and belched, saying, “Funny how we haven’t missed Brown at all.”

Just out of curiosity, what are your intended majors? I’m thinking about 6-3, but a double major with 9 really appeals to me. (As you can probably guess, I’m fascinated by AI.)

Do those numbers correlate to majors @skywalker11.

If you mean CS, then same here. I really like robotics, machine learning, AI, computer vision, neural networks, and the prospect of quantum computing (although thats a CE topic mainly).

@infiniteCircle Course 6-3 is Computer Science and Engineering (there’s also 6-2, which is more focused on the engineering part, beyond other courses/majors on the EECS department), and Course 9 is Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

@skywalker11 Interesting.

CS is really awesome isn’t it? Such a booming field right now with so many different paths to take intersecting with so many other disciplines. It’s fascinating. So much to do.

Hello everyone, I am new to CC and am an international student from Egyot applying to MIT, and waiting nervously just like most of you. I wanted to ask if MIT will use drones to send letters to applicants in all states or not? I currently reside in Idaho and was curious, so that I can prepare myself to witness the drone coming to my house. Thank you and good luck to all of you! I am sure you worked hard just to compete your application. No matter whether you get accepted or not, I believe it is largely your attitude that will determine your success. MIT is a great school, but it is not for everyone. Who knows, maybe you will end up at a better for for you, if not MIT. Good luck!

@Kimo212 The purpose of the drone video was to relieve tensions before the decision date. It would be cool to have drones come to your house lol, but unfortunately, that’s not the case!

@Kimo212 they will send you a tube full of awesome swag, but it’ll be through the regular mail. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s legal yet to send drones everywhere; plus, that would be super expensive, and also super awkward if you didn’t happen to be there when they dropped it off.