Yeah so I get that there is a limit on the number of applicants that can be interviewed, but my question is how that limited,specific selection of 5-6 applicants is made. Is it lottery?
1 Like
Tagging @HPuck35 who may be able to answer your question.
I can’t speak to how MIT does this, but I’ve been doing alum interviews for Penn for years. I try to take 10-12 applicants per year. I just don’t have time to do more. We’re assigned applicants based on geography although that has become more flexible with Covid and the acceptance of Zoom interviews. They also try to assign us students with intended majors similar to what we studied (though not always). The interviewer does have some discretion as to which applicants s/he agrees to interview, for example, in case there is a conflict of interest. We do not know anything about the applicant other than the contact info we’re given.
As stated by many on this forum, Penn tells us there is no pre-screening of candidates before the interview assignment. Many students with no interview are admitted.
5 Likes
I don’t know if this how it is done in all regions, but where I am high schools are assigned to a specific EC. Any student that applies from that school gets that EC. I have 5 high schools assigned to me. Some larger high schools may have more than one EC assigned. This system makes sense when you are doing in person interviews in that it minimizes travel.
Each EC is asked the max number of interviews they can handle. Once the number of applicants from the assigned high schools exceeds that number, the next applicant that comes along goes on the overflow list. That is why it makes a difference to get one’s application in as soon as one can.
With Covid and virtual interviews, it has allowed geography to not play a role in getting interviews for the overflow applicants. Some ECs will take on applicants outside their region, some don’t. It is the option of the EC. I generally do up to 10 interviews for both the EA and RD time frames.
2 Likes
It uses Cirrus Identity to authenticate and pass through, which may have been down earlier. I can get in ok now.
S22 is having his MIT alumni interview (online) tomorrow (Feb 26). He was contacted this week by the interviewer.
Seems very very late in the process, as admissions are normally notified on 3/14 (two weeks from now).
So probably interview will have no impact? MIT probably won’t even have time to read the interview report? Any thoughts?
From what read online, In case of Harvard late interview means that the application is considered seriously and they want to have interview report on file. Probably, MIT too.
3 Likes
With an interview scheduled this late, I can only imagine your application is waiting on interview’s report, so it is generally a good sign.
1 Like
I just looked and there are still 527 applicants in the overflow pool. MIT does like to see every applicant get an interview, so they have now said they will accept interview reports until " early March". If they are still accepting reports, I would assume they have time to read them.
There is no designation or prioritizing to identify the strength or weakness of any the the applicants on the overflow list. I wouldn’t read anything into getting an interview or not as to one’s chances of admission.
3 Likes
Does “527 applicants in the overflow pool” mean that like 30,000 other students who applied did get interview?
Yes, all the rest of the applicants were offered an interview. The ECs work hard at getting as many applicants as possible to have an interview.
I did 10 in the EA round and another 10 in the RD round. That is as many as I feel comfortable doing.
2 Likes
Wow. I suppose those 527 applicants are from some countries maybe in middle eastern area?
I heard that all the extracurricular opportunities and competitions are extremely limited in those area, so I think it’s gonna be hard for those applicants to get interviews either.
Group_forbetter, whoever is giving you “information” is smoking something. You should try to get facts and just not go off with the stories you hear.
I just checked the actual overflow list and there are applicants from many different countries. The dominant country on that list, by far, is the United States.
1 Like
Okay thanks!
Just wondering - if a student is applying to study humanities (no STEM subjects) at MIT, do they still have to submit 1 recommendation from a science/math teacher?
Yes, because a humanity major at MIT would still have to study math and sciences.
2 Likes
No interview from Taiwan. Means I should not expect good news from MIT？
USAMO+ USACO gold GPA 3.9 toefl 114
Also, how can I make an update to MIT
NO. MIT interviewed the vast majority of the applicants, meaning that interviews are not indicative of admissions decisions. The acceptance rate is 4% according to last year’s result.