<p>For those of you who MIT was your dream school, what 'backup' colleges did you apply to.
And if you didn't get in, did you end up being happy with your 'backup'.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I was going to do Chemical Engineering if I ended up at MIT, but that was the only school. My backups were all for business. I can’t say I’m disappointed.</p>
<p>I applied to UC San Diego and UC Davis as back-ups. I also applied to UC Berkeley and UCLA, but I don’t know if you would consider those back-ups. I’m from Berkeley, so it seems like a lot of people from my school with decent (not necessarily superb and top of the class) stats get in, but for others Berkeley and LA are their dream schools.</p>
<p>My true safety was Purdue; my second safety was Rose-Hulman. (I’m from the Midwest, so those made the most sense.)</p>
<p>Of the other colleges I applied to, some people would have classified Northwestern, USC, and Notre Dame as “back-ups”…but that’s not really how I thought about the application process. That is, I would have been just happy going to Notre Dame if I hadn’t gotten in to MIT or any other of the “reach” schools I applied to.</p>
<p>My true, total safety was UMich. I’m instate, applied in September, and I probably could have committed a felony and still been accepted.</p>
<p>Other schools that became safeties by virtue of how my applications turned out: Notre Dame and UChicago. I pretty much knew I was into ND early, being a 4th generation legacy (my grandfather called the dean of admissions to get my dad in back in the day, even though my dad could have been accepted with his own merit). And based on how well I felt about my essay, I figured I had a good shot at UChicago.</p>
<p>Total reaches: Princeton and MIT. And I’m still not sure how I got into either.</p>
<p>Your back up schools will vary depending on the type of environment you want and what major you’re looking at. I’m not doing any type of engineering (I think…) so UChicago’s lack of engineering school wasn’t an issue for me. If you’re hard core Course 2, it would be.</p>
<p>While Carnegie Mellon isn’t exactly the easiest school to get into (especially if you’re going into CS), it seems to be a popular school for MIT hopefuls.</p>
<p>I second the UChicago suggestion.</p>
<p>I also remember that on the MIT admission blogs’ rejection threads last year, several people mentioned that they would be going to GA Tech. It would seem very reasonable for someone with competitive stats for MIT to get in there, even if he/she was OOS.</p>
<p>case western was my safety. i’m from cleveland, which made it even safer.</p>
<p>georgia tech was mine… only because my dad was an alumnus :]</p>
<p>A lot of people use other institutes of tech as back ups- Stevens, RIT, their state tech school.</p>
<p>^
Except for Caltech.</p>
<p>Being from NJ, good old Rutgers was my true safety. I applied really early in the application cycle because it was rolling admissions and got in before hearing back from MIT. If MIT is your dream school, I’d suggest applying early because if you get in, it takes a huge weight off your shoulders second semester senior year. I had planned on applying to a few more safeties like U Michigan, but after I got the good news, I had several less applications to worry about. Applying to good state schools is usually a good route to go too :)</p>
<p>
No, including! :D</p>
<p>My only safety was Univ of Texas Austin simply because of our oh-so-lovely in-state 10% rule that guaranteed me auto-admission. I had also gotten crosslisted into their Turing Scholar’s and Dean Scholar’s (CS and Natural Sciences honors, respectfully), so I wouldn’t have been miserable if MIT hadn’t admitted me, but damn am I glad they did =D</p>
<p>The other schools I applied to were Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and Stanford. Accept to all except Stanford (IMO they’re brutal with their rejections, haha).</p>
<p>
Oh of course, what was I thinking? This is CC. ;)</p>
<p>I absolutely refused to apply to Caltech.</p>
<p>^ same here. </p>
<p>… and no, it was not because I felt that my 650 SAT II Math 2 score would be shameful to show them. Not at all.</p>
<p>I got the envelopes from MIT and Caltech the same day. My parents handed me MIT’s first, and I was jumping up and down with excitement. Then they handed me the one from Caltech, and I sort of looked it at sideways.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the envelope completely blew my mind because I never imagined I’d get in. On the other, I really didn’t care, because I was already in to MIT. :)</p>
<p>Considering Caltech is only slightly larger than my high school, there was no way I could see myself going there. It was a good size for a high school to be because you knew everyone, but a bad size for a college to be because, well, you knew everyone.</p>
<p>If that’s your thing, though, go for it. Also, Caltech is in Pasadena, which is (and I’m sure Piper can correct me if I’m off on this) something like 45 minutes from LA. Not too appealing. But MIT is a bridge away from Boston.</p>
<p>Clearly, we win again.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This, and the fact that it was close to home drove me away from Caltech. MIT’s personality (quirkiness, hacking->exploring, etc) drove me towards MIT =D.</p>
<p>
Caltech is in Pasadena, very close to LA - but Pasadena is actually a really pretty and fun city. But nowhere near Boston status =D.</p>
<p>
Y yo tambi</p>