Absolutely this.
And also, getting into MIT is not a reward for really, really wanting to do so. I would encourage @Alaier and @uclabound1 (and everybody else who feels this way; past years tell us that it’s a lot of you!) not to feel guilty, and to move forward to thinking seriously about where you want to make your home for the next four years. I think CPW really does help most attendees to figure out whether MIT is where they want to be or not, and I’d really encourage going, if possible.
Rejected. Completely shattered. MIT was on of the schools that I was aspiring to study in since I entered high school. I continue to log into the MIT Online system, thinking there’s some mistake. But, nope. I’ll just wait out my days as I get 8 other rejections from every one of my top choice schools. But, congratulations to those who did get admitted. You guys deserve it.
After being deferred I thought I had no chance. Although my top choice is Caltech (rejected), I am still extremely happy to be able to attend MIT. It was only this year that MIT lost its place as top choice and the whole time I’ve dreamed about the college that both motivated me to reach further during my high school career in following my interests despite always feeling out of reach. Being admitted, despite giving up on the chance after being deferred, has made me extremely happy and I cannot wait to attend.
Also for earlier people talking about the person with the 32, I got a 31. And, on a different note, SAT (I) correlates with IQ better than the ACT does (not that IQ fully predicts success in college anyways).
well well, the cool 9.26 thing failed
My son was accepted last year. I don’t remember the entire breakdown, but I do know that his SAT’s were not as high as many others who got rejected. There are a lot of factors at play here:Grades, Interview, Essays, and ultimately, the gut feeling of the selection committee. Just remember, with the grades these kids have, they will easily get into many schools. It’s not the end of the world if MIT passes on them.
We are actually relieved as we would’ve gotten no financial aid and I don’t care how much money you have over a quarter of a million dollars for four years of education is still steep? I found it interesting that MIT flew out my son all expenses paid for their WISE program where alumnae told the kids 50% of them would be accepted. Guess my son was in the other 50%! He’s happy though that a solid state school honors college will not cost him a penny and no debt and he will be part of the elite there and not run of the mill. Friends who attended MIT were the most shocked by that. Realizing they are nothing special after being wunderkinder their whole life up to that point.
Still getting in is quite an accomplishment and a big feather in your cap so congrats to those who did!
Our minds play tricks on us. Here is the usual scenario. Something that is very hard to get but we want very badly seems greater than anything else we can have. Then when we find we are able to attain it (or buy it, get into, have, join) , our appraisals drop. Maybe it was not as great as I thought it was if I can have it/be admitted/join. It’s the old “I would never belong to a club whose standards are so low it would accept me”. If you want to know how great MIT is, you can ask someone who intends to apply next year! Or you can ask someone who is already attending or graduated.
Then some other QuestBridge schools: Emory, USC and Vanderbilt
And an instate school, Tulane.
So seem like I counted wrong, it is actually 7.
There are some reactions here that surprise me.
One is that, despite the constant drumbeat from MIT on holistic admissions, people are shocked - shocked! - to find someone with an 1840 SAT got in over people with higher test scores. That’s what holistic admissions means! Besides that, the person in question had a higher ACT (one well within the range of admitted MIT students) and good SAT-2’s. The 1840 is the outlier. Don’t we want MIT admissions using their heads when considering test scores? The reaction that something untoward must be going on when MIT is doing exactly what they said they would do is something I find surprising.
Another surprising reaction is that there is something wrong with diversity, and furthermore, diversity is a code word for “social engineering”. MIT, perhaps more than any other school, promotes collaboration. If you were collaborating, would you want your team to be filled with identical people, or would you rather have it filled with people with different backgrounds, perspectives and viewpoints? Diversity means more than just skin color and gender.
Another is the thought that MIT should offer admission to the people who want it most. It’s more like the opposite - MIT wants people who will make the most of their opportunities wherever they end up. It’s OK for MIT to be your top choice - but to be the only place in the universe for you - that’s not realistic.
Those are some interesting points, @MITPhysicsAlum. I don’t think we can begrudge anyone who has MIT as a “dream” school, but that was not our world, so it’s hard for me to relate.
I think I had honestly not really heard of MIT until my son was a sophomore. It wasn’t even on his list of colleges (he thought he didn’t want a STEM school) until October of his senior year after he had visited for the WISE program.
After he was admitted, he didn’t make his decision until late April after he’d visited Princeton.
It was only on his flight home from Princeton that he realized what he wanted was exactly that- a STEM school, and one with the location and energy that MIT had. (And I guess it helped that there were about 7 other friends from his math circle there!)
My son stresses over and over to me that the collaborative nature of MIT is everything in terms of academic survival and just plain old relationship building.
@Rdtsmith At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, I share some of your sentiments. My son has gotten into 2 fantastic universities within a 5 hour drive of our home. One is actually ranked ahead of MIT and the other, in the Top 15, has offered him a full scholarship and $6000 stipend for research, He also is in the running for a full scholarship at my alma mater, which is also a Top 25 National University. I was hoping my son would get into MIT because that is what he wanted. But, selfishly, I really didn’t want that to happen. He can go to a world class school, be closer to home, and go there for free. Alternately, if he goes to my alma mater, the Trustee Scholars are treated like gold there. How could I not want one of those outcomes? An hour before the results were supposed to come in for MIT, my husband was in shock over the amount of debt we have accumulated, in interest alone, on the Parent Plus Loans for our other 2 sons. We, frankly, would not have been able to afford MIT even if he got in. I am not going to pretend wasn’t sad for my son. I was for about a half hour or so…but that was just for him. I was, honestly, relieved. I have looked over the stats and, while there were a few acceptances to kids I thought had weaker applications than my son’s, he was also in good company with great “reject” kids, some of whom had stronger applications than my son. I feel for some of these kids because they were wait-listed at schools my son and his friends got into and I cannot understand why. If feel so blessed with the options he has. All the best to your son and to all the students on this forum – whether they go to MIT or elsewhere.
Knew it was a reach… But applied any way… Happy to be waitlisted…
I don't think we can begrudge anyone who has MIT as a "dream" school, but that was not our world, so it's hard for me to relate.
[/QUOTE]
No problem with dreams. But if the only place you think you can be happy is one school - a highly competitive one at that - I think that’s a problem.
I don’t know if he was trying to make me feel better or to put things in perspective but, I was talking to an MIT graduate today who told me prestige is more important for business and law schools and not engineering. What’s more important is your degree. Where you want to eventually work should have a bigger bearing as most engineering jobs are regional, so most engineers that graduate from a certain school end up working in that region. That was something I never thought about but truly we are such frugal people it all works out our son wasn’t accepted. He told me over the weekend, mom that now my decision has been made for me and ruled out MIT, I don’t have to make the agonizing decision on whether to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on an education vs a free one. Proud of him for thinking beyond the rejection and not crying into his Cheerios.
Agreeing wholeheartedly with Rdtsmith. Can’t believe the number of students who haven’t bothered to research these basic facts. I’ve known a number who are definitely interested in working only in their home regions, yet somehow assume that an MIT degree is a “must-have,” including for CS. This is just stupid.
We are very pleased with the FA package. It is such a relief kid can afford to attend.
Anyone going to CPW?