A couple of years ago, I designated March 15 as “Celebrating Our Common Humanity Day,” because I had been troubled by posts on the MIT forum and elsewhere, characterizing some applicants as “robots,” “clones,” or “machines.” This most commonly was applied to students with excellent GPAs, course rigor, standardized test scores, and (sometimes) research experience, who were rejected by MIT and other “top” schools. MITChris “liked” my original post about this.
Last year, I noticed that this characterization was almost entirely absent from the MIT forum, and I would like to thank everyone who posted then, for that situation!
People in the applicant groups who are most likely to be characterized as “robotic” have feelings as deep and authentic as anyone else’s. They might have devoted more time than most to academic work, but that does not alter them as persons.
Also, because they meet the objective criteria for admission (and often blow the top off that), rejections may seem to them like a comment on their personality (or worse, personal worth). They may understand that the admissions decisions are not “personal,” that the admissions office needs to build an entire class with varied types of people, and that perceived fit is a major issue; but nonetheless, the application encourages students to reveal their personalities, so the rejection can come off as indicating to them that something is wrong with them personally. I have seen student posts to this effect multiple times on various CC forums.
CC has been very helpful, in that the admissions situation for “top scorers” is better understood than it used to be, a decade or more ago.
End of sermon. Thanks for understanding!