What that misses is that the few sports teams bringing in big bucks are often also spending big bucks. The fact is that the vast majority of sports teams at the vast majority of schools do not turn a profit and the handful of teams that do, they are paying for teams at the same school that do not. The idea that sports are profitable at most, or even many, schools is a myth.
Application fees at high endowment schools (like the Ivy+ category) are a tiny drop in the bucket of their budget. MIT’s endowment is $27.4 billion. Several of these schools waive fees for anyone applying for financial aid or in some cases anyone who simply checks a box. MIT’s fee waiver process is a little more strict than that, in that you do need to show financial need. But overall, on the whole, the admissions process costs these colleges a lot more than it brings in for fees. Even before we consider marketing, imagine all the paid staff that process, review, and discuss each application, design and maintain the portals, assist applicants with questions. Visit high schools. Coordinate alumni volunteers for interviews.
Can I just say how much I value the insight of @MITChris ?!? MIT does a far better job, IMO, of pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the admissions process than most. It’s much appreciated.
(Actually, we no longer require a student to demonstrate financial need in order to request a fee waiver, just attest to the need; this is one benefit of us not being funded by application fees, but centrally from MIT, since our application fees could not adequately fund our office operations. In principle, we could e.g. rescind someone if they lied about their need, but in practice, application fee fraud seems rare, the costs of demonstrating need are high especially for international students with different economic situations, and the theoretical risk of being rescinded over a $75 fee you could have paid seems like an adequate deterrant, at least so far)
because they arent looking at just stats anymore. my son is also valedictorian, with similar stats as your son, and he didnt bother applying. he felt he didnt have the research or extra curriculars to compare to the other applicants. his cousin, a recent MIT grad, was deferred and then got in when she was published for creating a fire-resistent, breathable polymer. he understood the game better than us, I guess…your son will get into a school where his talent and intelligence will allow him to thrive
my son is at Princeton, among Olympic atheles, world ranked chess players, 18 year olds who sold their app for millions of $$, etc etc. orientation they went around the room doing ice breakers. each time a kid spoke, his mouth dropped open even further. his turn “I make a mean grilled cheese.” Laughter all around. Sometimes you just have to self-depricate to deal
I understand your frustrations with the result. Many applicants were denied including USAMO or even RSI kids. Maybe we can look at it from AO’s angle, then it all comes down to “what you can bring to us”. MIT doesn’t have separate pool for recruits so the football player has to meet certain academic standards. Who knows, perhaps it is the perfect timing for the player that his position is exactly what the team looking for. You may be puzzled by comparing your son’s profile with that player’s, but to be honest, this kind of side-by-side comparison likely never happened during the actual selection process. Hope you let it go. Your son has excellent profile and he for sure will shine somewhere.
Rejected from MIT yesterday
But I did get into Caltech for Biology
Hoping for other postive results going forward into the end of march
Congrats to everyone who got in !!!
Caltech and MIT are in the same caliber.
Caltech tghs year was super super hatd to get in rregular decosion round due to its small class size. A Big congrats!!!
Please shate your stats for other kids whose dream school is the beautful southern California- giant caltech.
I interviewed 30 MIT candidates this past admissions cycle (EA + RA). So far, three have been offered admission, all young women. I say ‘so far’ because, believe it or not, two candidates have not looked at their decision and therefore I can’t see it. Still, I can say that the three young women who were admitted were certainly among the strongest applicants I met with. The same has been true year after year—the admitted candidates come from the pool of students I feel are among the strongest. And most of the applicants are indeed very strong options for MIT.
That said, over the years I have stayed in touch with some of my interviewees who did NOT get in. They went on to attend great schools and loved them as well as their experience there. Yes, it’s been said before, NOT getting into MIT is not the end of the world. It’s actually the beginning of another wonderful world. Thought that should be said, again. Congratulations to all those who aspired to MIT, whether or not they were offered admission.
I love that you still keep in touch with her I had forgotten she blogged for you guys! I think she was dissapointed when my younger son didnt apply this year, actually it was a big “WHY NOT?!” but our family definitely has a soft spot in our hearts for MIT!
Im sure you and your student dont want to hear this NOW, but waitlist at MIT? Thats a huge accomplishment. Unfortunately little can be done with a 4% acceptance. Your son IS one of the “elite”. I say congratulations!
and we are so, so proud of her 
I had forgotten she blogged for you guys! I think she was dissapointed when my younger son didnt apply this year, actually it was a big “WHY NOT?!” 