@compSciLover The RD decisions thread is this one, along with discussions.
Not that it’s any consolation, but the acceptance letter says all 50 states are represented in pool of accepted applicants.
Just some food for thought, but as an engineer myself, I can say that within 2-3 years into your career, no employer cares where your degree is from. They care about your experience, work ethic, personal and communication skills - all of which can be developed at many other universities that are A LOT cheaper and have many more options to well round your education. I’ve never understood why someone would want to pay the crazy tuition of MIT and live in such an expensive city, when most of the students applying to MIT could easily be awarded full merit scholarships to any one of the hundreds of other great universities (which can feel more rewarding to a student than having to seek something need based). Calculus is Calculus, Biochemistry is Biochemistry, Java is Java, etc., etc. no matter where you go to school. To have an accredited engineering degree, you have to learn the same material no matter which college you attend. And what you do with your degree and how successful and happy you are in your career and life have nothing to do with where you went to college. Some of the most successful and innovative people in the world never even went to or dropped out of college. I personally believe the smart decision is to go elsewhere.
My close friend applied ED to MIT. He was deferred to regular decision and subsequently rejected. He is co-captain of the math team, ranked 1 out of 335, and has a 1560 SAT score. Furthermore, he place 2nd in a national SkillsUSA electronics competition.
We are definitely thinking MIT is overrated esp compared to salaries upon graduation w other schools, and what notable alums have come out of MIT save for the academia track? Still questioning the pass/no pass system 1st semester w such highly selected students…they clearly want to assure their admit decisions are sound. This was a great experience in seeing through a smokescreen or I should say not seeing through it.
@margaret06 Im in agreement that students create their own outcomes, however, in all transparency and fact, she’s got increased odds as a minority female.
To each their own. MIt has had pass/no record for first semester for at least 65 years as my MIL remembers this policy from her days at MIT. As I understand it the reasoning for it is quite different from what you’ve explained. But that doesn’t matter. If you don’t like it, this may be an indication that this isn’t the right place for you.
Among other notable alumni - the current governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló, Ben Bernanke, Kofi Annan, Buzz Aldren, Salman Khan creator of Khan Academy, Architect IM Pei, the co-founder and CEO of Buzzfeed and Huff Post, the co-founder of Drop Box, Amar Bose (founder and creator of Bose Corp). And what’s wrong with being a university that produces the academia of the future?
I don’t understand the need to bash a school in the thread where kids and parents are posting their own admissions decisions. Is the point to make the kids who didn’t get accepted feel better? Isn’t there a better way? Be the person that shows MIT that they made the wrong decision when they said “no” to you/your kid, instead of proving why they made the right one.
And just for the record, look hard at that list, what’s missing? The women. There are a few notable female alumni, but not many with name recognition.
65 years ago my MIl was one of 7 female graduates at MIT. That was for the entire graduating class. The numbers of women on campus were so small that they did not have on campus housing for them. MIT has come a long way in a relatively short time (as has this country when it comes to equity for women in higher ed), and I can’t wait to see what the men and women attending MIT accomplish in the future. I hope the list of notable alumni gets flooded with the incredible women who are certain to influence our future.
@derivativeslover College admission is really a gamble. You cannot find a reason why this person was accepted and the other was rejected. I don’t even know how MIT reviews applications. Some parents just put their kid’s name on their research paper and MIT appears to believe it’s the student’s work. Some parents work so hard to help their kids to get in!
@janyon DS similar stats. its like what more did they have to do to go there? its hard. many more options to come though 
congrats on an amazing kid.
It is never easy to get a rejection from your favourite university especially when the kids have such great achievements. Students of such caliber will do extremely well wherever they go! At the end of the day, a good or even a great university is only a means in the pursuit of knowledge and happiness. It is not a conclusion by itself - therefore you should not let the outcome define you or your kids.
MIT was No.1 preference of DD. She liked it so much that she didn’t even apply to Oxbridge lest the teachers dilute the recommendations. She took the rejection very well though. We high fived on the effort :).
All the best to you and your youngsters!
@opyf64 MIT gets its ranks for many reasons. Small size is amazing for the right fit and students can work on start ups with world class help , both the MIT Tech Transfer people are best in class and professors also help undergraduate students. See video of the class 2.009, which is a class that helps students learn how to design a new product and pitch it to actual venture capitalists in Boston. I believe that class is totally unique to MIT, for instance, GaTech offers nothing like that at all. Not sure on Stanford or Berkeley. Its not always about starting salary. There is a reason MIT is now a very rich school— rich and generous alumni, and they are not all from MIT’s Sloan Business School. Remember MIT is 200 YEARS YOUNGER than Harvard, and does not offer a law school or medical school, but still so rich that internationals can get a full ride as can any student who is lower income to middle income.
MIT is not an Ivy school. Its a school much more like Caltech with a SCIENCE CORE. Its not a general purpose school,but in fact it has some of the most amazing humanities and social sciences teachers too. It really deserves the rank it holds,in my opinion.
If anyone is interested…
Decision: Waitlisted
Objective:
- []SAT I (breakdown): 1550 (790 M, 760 R) All in one sitting
[]ACT (breakdown): 34 but didn’t send
[]SAT II: 800 Math II, 700 USH, 700 Chem
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[]Weighted GPA: We have a 6.0 system and my weighted GPA is 6.86 so probably like 4.6ish
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7/1001 (stupid school policies, lose GPA point for fine arts and sports. Would be number 1 if I wasn’t in band)
[]AP (place score in parenthesis): Ap Human (5), WHAP(4), CS A (5), Spanish Lang (4), APES (3 and self study), *English Lang (5), APUSH (5), Phys I (4), Psych (4 and self study), Chem (3)
[]IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[]Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP MacroEcon, AP USGovt, AP Calc BC, Varsity Band, AP Stats, AP Biology, AP Music Theory
[]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Not sure if these count: Played at Carnegie Hall with Honors Performance Series, First chair TMEA All State concert Band (but couldn’t send this bc it was in January), National Wind Band Honors Outstanding Soloist, Red Cross Presidential Award for Excellence, 2 time gold presidential service award, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, National AP Scholar, National Merit Commended (missed scholar by 1 pt lol Tx)
Subjective:
- []Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Band (Jr Saxophone Leader, Sr Head Woodwind Leader, 10-12 Oboe Section Leader/First Chair)
Red Cross (Club President and Founder, Regional Executive Board President (two other positions in past years), National Field Ambassador)
Model UN (Club Representative officer)
Key Club
JSA (Club treasurer)
Computer Science UIL
NHS- General, Spanish, Social Studies, Math, Science, English
[]Job/Work Experience: Code Ninjas Sensei (look it up this is literally the job title lmao)
[]Volunteer/Community service: ~200 Red Cross Hours, ~100 Key Club, ~100 misc organizations
[]Summer Activities:
Oxbridge Academic Program at Barnard
Bluebonnet Girls State Delegate
Lots of band practice - Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: IDK she writes good letters but she always got me confused with another brown kid despite me talking a lot more than her in that class
so if she wrote it about me it’s good but could be not good if she wrote it for the wrong person.
Teacher Rec #2: 8, he’s kinda crazy so I’m not sure could’ve been real good or real bad
[li]Counselor Rec: 3?, my counselor quit at the end of my junior year and I met the new counselor I got assigned to ONCE before she wrote the letter[/li]Music teacher rec for supplement: 11 he asked me if he could write it I didn’t even ask him.
Other
[ul]
[]Applied for Financial Aid?: Nope
[]Intended Major: Mathematical Economics
[]State (if domestic applicant): TX
[]Country (if international applicant):
[]School Type: Public
[]Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
[]Gender: XX
[]Income Bracket: 2 high 4 aid
[li]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Lol no I’m asian that’s an antihook[/li][/ul]
Reflection
Strengths: ECs and awards
Weaknesses: Not sure what happened with counselor and interview so I guess these could’ve been weak.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: IDK, maybe it’s because they already took someone from my school EA (athletic recruit) and my stats are a bit stronger? Not bashing her tho she’s great
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to UT Austin auto admit, Waitlisted at Johns Hopkins
General Comments: Just waiting…
Hey y’all, you guys in this group are amazing individuals and some of the best minds and characters across the country, so I wanted to ask for your advice.
I was admitted into MIT, and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity. The issue, however, is with financial aid. Currently my financial aid leaves me paying $26,000, $21,000 which is to be the parents contribution. I do not want to be a financial burden to my parents since they paid for college classes and other things while I’m in high school, so I will be assuming all of the parent contribution. My parents have a gross income of $83,500; my dad is a minister and mother an elementary school teacher.
Would turning down MIT based simply on the fact that I can not afford it be a bad decision?
I feel so ashamed for letting my financial situation impact my college aspirations. I’m planning on attending graduate school for public policy, which I know will accrue more debt. I am expecting my financial aid to decrease after first year, since my sister will be out of her college. I am looking at over $100,000 for 4 years at MIT, which I have serious concerns about.
Any advice on what I should do?
Thank you everyone; your input is greatly appreciated.
Recheck your parent’s inputs to financial aid. 21K parent contribution on a 83K gross income sounds high to me. Do they have a bunch of money saved?
It has been a while since I had to go thru the financial aid rules but check regular savings verses retirement savings plans. I believe that they don’t include retirement savings in financial aid calculations (If I remember correctly).
Call the financial aid office and ask them to explain their calculations to you and your parents.
^I agree, that FA for that income doesn’t sound right. MIT is very generous.
It would not be a bad decision - save your money and go elsewhere if they don’t up your aid.
Whether paying $26,000 per year for MIT makes sense or not depends quite a bit on your major. My kid earns $20,000 a year from interning and tutoring on campus so if you did something similar, you’d graduate with very little debt.
@David5700044, After you recheck the figures, contact the MIT financial aid office. MIT is generous with aid and the school wants you to attend if possible. Don’t turn down the offer without engaging the financial aid people in conversation to see if they can help resolve your predicament (assuming, of course, that you want to attend the school if money was not a barrier). It’s not uncommon for aid packages to be recalculated based on additional info from the student. Congrats on your admission and good luck!
@brassratter I’m wanting to study economics and political science and do something in public policy, so I don’t think there will be very many well-paying jobs for me.