<p>@texaspg: What a heartwarming story :)</p>
<p>@HCaulfield: I’d actually hope not, because hollistic isn’t a word :P</p>
<p>Haha
“holistic”…i mean.</p>
<p>Sorry to burst your bubble but yeah the world has no compulsion to work the way you want it to. In the end you think you’re deserving, but the arbiter of that decision will be the adcoms and nothing you think will change that. They will make their decisions as they see fit, whether you may think its just or not.</p>
<p>Its k. I’d rather live in bubble land…till I can 
than just accept the vicissitudes of the world.</p>
<p>Suit yourself. But be prepared from reality when it strikes.</p>
<p>Oh! By mentionaing Anshuman Panda, I meant non medalists do get into MIT. But yeah, those non medalists have got something else which is stellar 
So, yes, that Cornell guy was absolutely right.</p>
<p>No one can make it to MIT without doing something stellar, but being an olympiad winner is just an element of the stellar stuff set, one has many other alternatives, like researches, patents …etc.</p>
<p>If any international applicant believes that he can make it to MIT on basis of perfect SAT score and stellar essays, he is for sure living in a bubble.</p>
<p>There are enough normal people MIT accepts. An average grade, highly motivated guy from my school got in two years back. He decided to go elsewhere, but I find it hard to believe 1-2 normal, non-medal winners are accepted every year from India.</p>
<p>@tastycles - which school are you from? And were you present at the DAIMUN 2011 by any chance?</p>
<p>Well, I have VERY strong negative feelings about the Cornell guy who wrote this and VERY strong positive feelings about the Harvard admit, so I might come out a little nasty here, but guys, don’t listen to losers who played the admissions game, applied ED, legacy, not requiring aid, etc. to make it to an ivy. The person who got into Harvard got in because of completely authentic credentials. </p>
<p>Cornell is beautiful, hilly, has great classes, and professors who blow your mind away, and if any of you attend college here, I am sure you will come to love it as much as I have in the few months I have been here. But, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, it’s not Harvard. Of course, on the whole, the Cornell-Harvard thing is a good-natured hockey rivalry as far as I can make out, but many people here never made it to H and seek some kind of strange self-validation by saying “oh they get As easier” or “oh their engineering sucks.” As far as I know, my friends at Harvard have to work every bit as much hard as I do to get an A. And their engineering may be much lower in ranking, but as PD pointed out earlier, has placement and reputation second only to MIT, Stanford and Caltech.</p>
<p>That said, I think it is perfectly preposterous if anyone were to suggest that a Cornell education is worth any less than a Harvard one. There’s a LOT to learn here, and there’s no way you’ll ever exhaust all of Cornell’s learning opportunities and resources in your time here as an undergraduate. If you make the most of it, you’ll have an education comparable to the best in the world. I have some reservations about some humanities departments here(and in this aspect as in many others, H trumps!), but in the hard sciences, and MOST humanities departments, you definitely can.</p>
<p>However, and I say this for people who may be like me, Cornell is, as the original writer(OW) of the letter said, not very nerdy. The dominant culture isn’t, at least. For my first few weeks here, I was close to miserable, because I AM a nerd and came here to just get nerdier and everyone around me seemed to care more about frat parties or being at an ivy. I shall never understand Greek life and applied to only two ivies(out of a total of 10 apps). But, and this is the amazing thing about Cornell, EVERYONE can find their niche here, and I eventually found mine. So yes, the OW loves Cornell, and so do I, although that may perhaps be the only thing on earth on which we will ever feel the same, because you can tailor your education here to your personal requirements and preferences. You can be as nerdy as you like and make your academic experience the most taxing ever with honours classes, etc. or you can do what the OW suggested. I am not trying to suggest any one way is better than another, just stating possibilities. In any case, Cornell is pretty academically demanding anyway, unless you choose one of those “easy majors.” Again, no offence to “easy majors”, just saying that getting As in viticulture is easier than getting As in engineering or physics or classics.</p>
<p>What makes Cornell special then? Do I not, every now and then, while walking from one class to another or from my dorm to a class, feel like the luckiest person ever that I am here? Well, the sentimental(but truthful!) answer would probably be that Cornell is special to me because it is MY college. And wherever you guys go to college, you’ll get the same mushy feeling about that place soon enough. From an objective point of view, I’d say Cornell is special because of the reasons they mention in the website, brochures, info sessions all the time, trite as they sound: we’re diverse, we’re inclusive, we’re the only ivy with an English motto, we launched a bunch of practical majors that were thought useless in those times. What all these basically mean is that, Cornell has a much less elitist history than many comparable institutions. It tries the whole breaking out of the ivory tower thing, if you know what I mean. “Veritas” probably sounds way cooler than “Any Person, Any Study”(at least I think it does), but really, who says that in the real world?!</p>
<p>PS. So when people make a big deal about Cornell being Cornell or an “ivy”(it’s just a football league for god’s sake!!), it is especially saddening, because Cornell was founded on the principles of inclusiveness and non-elitism.</p>
<p>Every year students fall for that ‘holistic’ admissions portrayal of MIT. Even our batch did.
But mystic is right, stop living in a bubble. If you don’t have stellar academics (matching international standards i.e. olympiads et al), you won’t get in.
And even if you do manage to be the one outlier from a thousand, then IMHO you should seriously reconsider attending, because if this is this case, then take it from me in writing that your life would become a living hell in the company of geniuses.
Speaking as a student from a top engineering school, it is very hard to accept that everyone in your class is a valedictorian and you really get a taste of being at a top school when the curve sets in (I’m sure mystic would agree). It’s all funky to say you got into MIT/Berkeley/Caltech but the point is how you do there, and it is ultimately for your own good that the adcoms choose to not throw you into an environment which utterly outmatches you, which is the case if you’re not a stellar academic performer and olympiad medals are one of the many indicators of this.
I’m not asking you to take my word for it, and in all probability you might not, all I’m asking is for you to be reasonable to an extent that MIT would expect from its applicants.</p>
<p>I see you left out Stanford in your listing of top engineering schools ;)</p>
<p>I have International-oly medalists in my class…and I have never had trouble keeping up with them…</p>
<p>Only difference being they know the 12th grade stuff beforehand. And are doing it for the third-fourth time, while I’m learning 12th grade stuff in 12th grade…Once the particular chapter is taught, and I’ve learnt its more or less an even keel.</p>
<p>Can’t generalize, but I’m speaking for me…</p>
<p>AND</p>
<p>mystic, yeahimthatguy</p>
<p>I totally get what you guys want to put across. But International oly medals are a <em>very</em> narrow way of sifting and portray “talent” in certain field fosho…</p>
<p>Someone who has in interest in Literature, lets say…<em>cannot</em> have an International-Oly medal. He could have published papers, gotten perfect AP/SAT scores and done all that despite never being taught Lit in his curriculum…while keeping up with rigorous Olympiadish PCM. Which IS kinda awesome I say.</p>
<p>Or if someone chose to spend his weekends at quiz-bowl tournaments rather than at Oly-special class or getting solving those problems in 9th,10th,11th grade…and attained all that a 16 year old school-kid can attain on the quizzing front…without getting an “international-medal”…I guess he should not be punished for it.</p>
<p>But then, thats just my perception of awesome. MIT’s and your’s might differ ofc. And you’re entitled to it.</p>
<p>Listen, no one is saying Olympiad medals are the only gauge of ability. That’s why there are essays and other stuff to see what you really like. Of course an Olympiad medal is the easiest way for an adcom to see passion for a subject and that’s why adcoms favour them so much. An Olympiad medal shows a lot of dedication. The same level of dedication cannot be gauged as easily in any other endeavour.</p>
<p>I am also an international Olympiad medallist(Physics Olympiad this year in Thailand.) International Olympiads may help but as far as I know,it does guarantee any one’s admission to top colleges like MIT or CalTech. Although I am not from India, I know that Indians are having really tough time especially due to the level of competition- wether it be JEE or US college admissions. But not every one who gets admitted to the top US colleges are Olympiad medallist. Therefore do not let your hopes down. Good luck to you all!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is so wrong a misconception. I have olympiad medallists all around me and even I thought they knew stuff just before we did. I was so wrong. You have to admit, they are not your level. Olympiad medals cannot be won be simply doing 11th class physics in 9th or 10th. It needs thinking. Moreover, if you are all well verse with the syllabus and the level, you might know that Olympiad questions are higher in level than IIT or any other competitive exams. So, nerds aren’t olympiad medalists; you have to have passion. You can’t discredit them. And heck yes, I know they deserve MIT more than me hence.</p>
<p>Note: All MIT admits are not International Olympiad Medalists. </p>
<p>Colleges want students that are well-rounded–stellar academic record, extracurricular activities (not 5000 of them, just a few that you are passionate about), and essays that show them who you are. But the truth remains that the college application process is arbitrary, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, just complete the application to the best of your ability, and leave the rest to the admission gods. 
Whatever happens will happen.</p>
<p>By the way, MIT has only 897 spots left to offer to students in the regular decisions round.</p>
<p>The point is not whether you can still get in if you didnt get a medal. Of course its possible. That possibility is just minute.</p>