<p>After reading several MIT blogs & CC threads, I have a question regarding the admissions process.</p>
<p>Its said that
"All applicants are considered holistically and are not compared to the any other students, as everyone is unique. You'll not be compared against better students applying from your same school."</p>
<p>"Only qualified students that represent a perfect match will be admitted."</p>
<p>"Majority of the application pool is qualified to be in MIT."</p>
<p>"Due to limited no.of available seats, we can only admit a handful of candidates."</p>
<p>"International students are grouped to better understand their achievements."</p>
<p>Well it seems I might be lost somewhere, but here is my question.</p>
<p>MIT gets about 18K applications, when do they make their decision on a particular application ?
After reviewing the entire lot & picking only the best match for the class ? Or directly on a single app when that app shows significant achievements compared to the background ?</p>
<p>How does the wait-list works ?</p>
<p>I mean say for e.g MIT has only 1 single seat left & there are like 2 apps to choose from.
The first one they go through is remarkable & an easy fit for the class. According to what is being said that app should be in immediately, while the 2nd app finds its way on the reject list or on the wait-list. What if the 2nd app is much better than the 1st ? Do you actually make space for that app or what or do they revoke the 1st app ?</p>
<p>I know its quite a weird question, but think when the app count is not two but 18,000 fighting for those 1500+ hot seats.</p>
<p>^ So how does the first statement stating that “You’re NOT compared to anyone else” stands true ?</p>
<p>So, if a rural candidate has tremendous achievements with respect to his background, but doesn’t stand out in the entire pool, then he literally has no chance at all, until & unless you want some rural app to balance out the class.
Is this correct ?</p>
<p>No, it’s not correct, because by having extraordinary achievements with respect to one’s background, one does stand out in the entire pool.</p>
<p>You can understand more about the actual process MIT goes through by reading the admissions website carefully – there are many places and blog entries where the admissions staff describes the reading and selection process.</p>
<p>In short, once applications start coming in and are fully completed, each reader gets a fat stack of applications. Each application given to that reader is read and summarized, then the reader returns the applications and gets another stack. The applications that have already been read go out to other readers. This process goes on for about a month or so, until all the applications have been read several times.</p>
<p>Then the readers come together for a week or two of committee meetings, where they sit in groups and discuss each application. From that in-person discussion, the final class is selected.</p>
<p>So the applications are not grouped (except that international students and domestic students are read separately), and no one is directly compared with anyone else. Each application stands or falls on its own.</p>
<p>It means that they are trying to build the perfect class. Perfection in building a class in not a quantitative piece of data, it is a quality and an ethereal one at that. The admissions committee does its best to find creative, intelligent people who will make a difference at MIT and add to the environment there in some way. There is no way to define what this is for any particular application except that that particular application fits, or more precisely, seems to fit the needs of MIT.</p>
<p>^I’m not looking for a definition here.
Which element gains more weight is what am asking for here.</p>
<p>Are the domestic applicants compared with the international apps ?
And do the int’l apps have to carry more substance to get in ?</p>
<p>In many threads, its been said that the essay can be the turning point in your app. Even 2400 SAT scores are booted if their essays weren’t good enough. So how much does the essay really play a roll in this, apart from background, academics etc ?</p>
<p>There’s a limit on the number of international applicants MIT can accept, so I would assume (please correct me if I’m wrong) that international and domestic are considered separately.</p>
<p>Limit is 100 for internationals, mainly due to financial aid considerations since most will be given aid if admitted.</p>
<p>I would suspect Internationals are selected from a pool to identify the best candidates.</p>
<p>One that impressed me most last year was a blind kid from India who is opening computer institutes in his home town during the first year summer.</p>
International students are read and selected during a separate session. This is because of the limit on the number of international students MIT is able to accept. This limit is imposed on the admissions committee externally by higher forces in the MIT administration.</p>
<p>Mollie, does the web site really say that “Only qualified students that represent a perfect match will be admitted”? </p>
<p>If so, I’d be inclined to say that the people in the admissions office believe that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to them, or to the people they admit. </p>
<p>To put it another way: In the words of Spock, “Nemah bwilla buffek, Saavika,” in response to Saavik’s complaint that Captain Kirk is “so human.” (Apologies for the imperfect phonetic transcription of the Vulcan–corrections are welcome.) </p>
<p>Also, I am not living in my parents’ basement–I’m am of the cultural era where this sort of reference makes sense, for a scientist.</p>
<p>Oh, incidentally, Mollie, you might find it interesting to read Rita Levi-Montalcini’s autobiography “In Praise of Imperfection.” 1986 Nobel Laureate. I do not endorse her viewpoint with respect to family/children, though. The book leads off with a quotation from Yeats to the effect that one must seek “perfection of the life, or of the work.” I have found much to “chew on” in this book.</p>
<p>LionHeart365: Admittedly, it’s a rather rough analogy, but the Second Law of Thermodynamics could be interpreted as saying that perfection is attainable only at absolute zero. According to the Third Law of Thermodynamics, absolute zero is unattainable.</p>
<p>The interface of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics continues to be interesting as a field. Feynman included some comments on “Maxwell’s Demon” in the “Feynman Lectures on Physics.” Ron Kosloff has done some outstanding research in this general area, in the last decade or so. (I have no connection to Ron Kosloff, have just heard him speak.)</p>
I am hoping that this is a paraphrase and/or a quote from CC. Perhaps LionHeart365 can provide us with a citation.</p>
<p>It’s certainly not my opinion that everyone admitted represents a perfect match to MIT, or that everyone who is admitted is a more perfect match than everyone who is not admitted, or that every (any) admit is perfect, or that the overall admitted class is perfect. </p>
<p>And I’d love to read Levi-Montalcini’s autobiography. I see that it’s commonly purchased on Amazon with Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s Advice to a Young Investigator, which I own and love.</p>
<p>Have you won Physics/chemistry/Biology Olympiad?</p>
<p>Have you discovered a cure for cancer?</p>
<p>Any of these - you are a stand out and you are probably in.</p>
<p>Everything else is subjective (Valedictorian of school, scored a hundred in IB/AP/O level etc, won local science fair competition, perfect SAT/ACT/subject test scores etc).</p>
<p>Was re-reading the ‘Applying Sideways’ blog,</p>
<p>Do well in school
Again the monotonous question, how ?
A standard GPA of say 3.33 (which I have :D) and SAT 2 of 1400+ shows academic preparedness, please don’t say its not possible to say.
I know MIT gets so many brilliant apps that they will always choose the ones with better scores, but are these stats enough to state that I am academically prepared ?</p>
<p>Be nice
Having good rec letters (I’ll have, no worries :))</p>
<p>Pursue your passion
I know its always depth>breadth, but say I have interest in ‘X’ and have been doing that for ‘Y’ no.of years, but haven’t achieved anything significant & write quite a compelling essay, then does that shows any passion ?</p>