M.I.T. "match"

<p>There was recently an MIT presentation in my area, and during the presentation they mentioned how a student needs to be a good "match". They then continued to list 4 or 5 characteristics of this "match" student. I didn't write them down and would like to know what they are. I've tried looking online, but I can't find it anywhere. Does anybody know where to look or maybe what the characteristics are?</p>

<p>If you ask the question at <a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://matt.mitblogs.com&lt;/a> or <a href="http://ben.mitblogs.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ben.mitblogs.com&lt;/a>, you can get it answered by a real live MIT adcom (and possibly the one who gave your presentation). :)</p>

<p>ah yes, Ben is in fact the very one that gave the presentation. Thank you much. I have my interview Thursday, MIT is the only school I'm applying to early and really the only one I want to go to ;) Any specific advice?</p>

<p>As far as interviews go, I think it's a good idea to do a little background research and come in knowing about the school -- the interviewers like it when prospectives know about MIT, but still have a few burning questions to ask. </p>

<p>Enthusiasm about what you do/what you want to do is always a plus, both in the interview and in the application itself -- to put yourself through a tough school like MIT, you have to have the capacity to be passionate.</p>

<p>Ugh, I'm being super-generic, and I'm sorry. I wish I knew any top-secret tricks to getting in, but I don't... let me know if you have any other questions.</p>

<p>Ohhh ha just realized you're the mollie blogger on the mymit site :) I'm in marching band too (and a huge band geek at that), 'cept I play an instrument ;)
A few random questions:
1.) What's your favorite thing about MIT?
2.) What's your least favorite thing about MIT?
3.) What other cool hacks have there been besides the famous ones?
4.) How much do you think it will affect me if I have pretty much zero academic honors? It's hard to show that I'm a chem freak without any science competitions, olympiads, or fairs to my name...</p>

<p>Thanks. You rock.</p>

<p>Hey Maverach,</p>

<p>The things I noted were: matching our mission (wanting to make the world better somehow), thriving in a collaborative environment, doing hands-on stuff (our motto translated = "mind and hand"), being a good person (character), having a lot of passion for something and acting on that, and balance (taking seriously the question "what do you do just for fun").</p>

<p>I'm going to be doing a blog entry on these things in greater detail sometime in the next few days.</p>

<p>Maverach, I think you are getting an unfair advantage here, :) but also check out benjones' more detailed post in the parents forum (post #49)</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=97255&page=3&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=97255&page=3&pp=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think I'll only answer the hacks question now, since I'm supposed to be studying for a test and helping my boyfriend write an essay and about five zillion other things at the moment.</p>

<p>Have you seen the hacks</a> gallery? It's moderately out-of-date -- there are moderately-sized hacks (I don't want to call them "minor", since I'm sure a lot of work goes into them too!) that go on quietly every month or so, but they're rarely documented in an organized way.</p>

<p>My favorites are really the moderate ones, because they're sort of quiet and clever -- you just happen to notice one day walking through the Infinite Corridor that there's something absurd in a corner or something. I liked "Hackfield", where a large wooden dollar bill mural featuring the face of MIT's new president, Susan Hockfield, was fitted over the entrance to the cashiers office (which already has a dollar bill mural -- the normal kind with G.W. on it).</p>

<p>Thanks, the post was very helpful. Haha, why do you say that? Individual attention?</p>

<p>Ben Jones just wrote a really great posting on the Parents forum last night where he states:</p>

<p>*Thanks to both Mootmom & ADad for their invitations to contribute my opinions to this thread. Sorry for the delayed response; as mootmom noted above, I've been out on fall recruitment travel with limited access to the internet for the last 3 weeks.</p>

<p>As with most of my posts in the parents' forum, I'll try to respond both as an MIT adcom and also as a parent. This'll be sortof long, sorry.</p>

<p>First, the MIT adcom perspective.</p>

<p>I don't know the exact numbers; I couldn't tell you even if I thought it would be helpful. Numbers mean nothing to us because ~70% of our applicant pool is qualified in those terms.</p>

<p>Based on the thousands of apps I saw last year both in selection committee and as a reader, I can tell you that the average # of AP's for admitted kids was 5 or 6 (that's total for all 4 years of HS - i.e. 1-2 per year if evenly distributed). Many admits (most likely the majority) had no college classes. The most common AP's taken were in math and science (no surprise, it's MIT). The overwhelming majority got 4's and 5's on all tests.</p>

<p>I'll pause here to add that I frequently saw kids with perfect SAT scores and perfect grades and a gazillion AP classes get rejected. Why? Because often these kids knew how to grind, but brought nothing else to the table. And that's not who we're looking for at MIT. We admit kids who show genuine passion. Sure AP's can be one of many passion indicators - but I emphasize one of many.</p>

<p>When I was on the road, kids asked me repeatedly whether or not they should take a given AP class.</p>

<p>"Well," I'd respond, "would you be taking it because you genuinely want to, or simply because you think it will get you into college?"</p>

<p>Sometimes they didn't know the difference, which is a tragedy that deserves its own thread. But I digress.</p>

<p>And this is where you all start saying that adcoms are talking out of both sides of our mouths: we encourage kids to follow their hearts in the choices they make, and then as adcoms we want to see that they've taken "the most challenging courseload."</p>

<p>To which I say: guys, I work for MIT! If a kid doesn't want to be taking a challenging courseload in high school, that kid is certainly not going to be happy here.</p>

<p>Quite simply, the students who are happiest here are those who thrive on challenge. Most of our admits have taken AP math and science because they would have been bored silly in the regular classes. Indeed, they genuinely wanted to take those classes. They don't look at MIT as the prize; they look at MIT as the logical next step. It's an important distinction.</p>

<p>That said, AP's are not the only way to demonstrate that one is passionate and likes challenge. Read Anthony's story for an example:</p>

<p><a href="http://anthony.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/06/hello_im_anthon.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://anthony.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/06/hello_im_anthon.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>When faced with the choice, we will always choose "the right match*" over numbers. We're not lying when we say that. You've heard me beat that sentiment to death in other threads, so I won't do so here.</p>

<p>(*Match = mission, collaborative spirit, hands-on, balance, character, and passion, among others.)</p>

<p>But the reality is that when you have 10,500+ applications for ~1000 spots and 70% of the pool has great numbers, your pool is going to have plenty of kids who have the passion and the match and the scores/grades/AP's. So we admit those kids - what other choice do we have?</p>

<p>But then (understandably) you guys say "Look! You need X, Y, and Z to get into MIT!" To clarify, we don't require those things; many of our admits just happen to have them. And, I might add, for the right reasons.</p>

<p>This brings me to the more important part, where we toss my affiliation with MIT out the window and I give you my thoughts as a parent.</p>

<p>There is only one coin. There are many sides to the coin, but there is only one coin. And you can flip it however you like.</p>

<p>So when a parent says to me, "Why does HYPSM put so much emphasis on AP's?" I reply "Why do you put so much emphasis on HYPSM?" When a parent says "My kid's value as a person/student shouldn't be measured by how many AP's he/she has taken" I say "...and your kid's value as a person/student shouldn't be measured by whether or not he/she goes to HYPSM." I could go on and on.</p>

<p>There are literally hundreds of amazing colleges and universities out there (some of which actually admit kids with no AP's!). Many of them would actually be better matches for your child. Many of them would provide your child with a better education. Most importantly, many of them would ultimately give your child a greater sense of happiness and fulfillment. The right match will do that.</p>

<p>And the match goes both ways. We try to determine if your kid is a good match for MIT. Your kid should be trying to determine which school is the best match for him/her. As a parent, what are you doing to help him/her figure that out?</p>

<p>Here's a hint: if you're spending time obsessing that a lack of AP's is going to keep your kid out of Stanford, you're missing the point.</p>

<p>As I told the kids in my blog, I had a wonderful college experience that I wouldn't trade for anything, at a school that is currently only #23 on the USNWR LAC list (The HORROR!). I got a phenomenal education and can certainly hold my own against any Ivy grad. As a bonus I got to grow up, get married, have kids, buy a house, land a great job, and enjoy life.</p>

<p>I took one AP class in high school.</p>

<p>Make sure your kids are choosing their schools for the right reasons. Name, status, "brand" - these are not the right reasons. Let your kids be kids. Let them follow their hearts. Encourage them to have a present, not just a future. Don't let them define themselves by which colleges accept them - and don't let them define themselves by doing things only to get into certain colleges.</p>

<p>The machine is fed from all sides. USNWR, the media in general, the GC's, the parents, the colleges and universities, the high-priced independent counselors, the test prep people...</p>

<p>My kids are still many years away from college, and I'm no expert on the parent side of this process. But I do know one thing: I will fight to protect them from all of this, to help them with perspective and clarity. Because if I don't, who will?</p>

<p>Because if we don't, who will?</p>

<p>-B
*</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=97255&page=3&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=97255&page=3&pp=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Yep, thanks, just read it this morning before school. <em>Sighs</em> My interview is in <em>looks at watch</em> 5 hours and 45 minutes. <em>gulps</em> here goes :) :)</p>

<p>Hope your interview went well, maverach!</p>

<p>Thanks ohio mom, it went okaaaay, considering it was my first interview for anything. He didn't want to focus on my academics at all...so it was pretty much all extracurricular. He never asked me straight "Why MIT?", so I'm not sure I said everything I wanted to say. But we had some good conversation and it lasted for 1.5 hours, so I can't complain. Now on to the essays!</p>

<p>My interview today went similarly. :D He did ask me "Why MIT?" though. But yeah, he began with "I'll just assume you have good grades, good scores..."</p>

<p>Yeah, he said he needed to get to know me as a person, but I still wanted to talk about the school I was at and the relative difficulty level and all that jazz. He started mine off with "Sooo, what's the competition?" Ha. As with almost every interview, I wish I could have done it over again though =/ I was asked for 5 adjectives. 5!! That's a lot, I only had to come up with 3 for my counselor =/</p>