MIT is.. too picky?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Well, its a given that MIT will be picky considering it is the leading school in science and math. However, I have heard people say that fellow classmates who have done countless EC's, taken numerous AP's, have had outstanding scores on the SAT's and ACT's, and have won national science fairs, competitions, and the sort have been rejected.</p>

<p>Does this mean that if I want to get into MIT, I need to do better than winning National Awards? I'm doing lots of EC's, AP's and I'm expecting good SAT and ACT scores, but I don't have any National Awards.</p>

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<p>It means that you need to have a balanced list of colleges that you apply to, including admissions and financial safety, match & reach schools. And that you should not have your heart set on some specific ‘dream’ school.</p>

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<p>I don’t have my heart set on a “dream” school, I just want to have my question answered: Do I need to do better than winning national awards? Other people have told me that they’ve gotten in with good grades, test scores, and that’s it; no national level recognition.</p>

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<p>You need to be what MIT thinks is a good fit for their school. That may mean national awards, or it may mean sports, or it may mean personality. It’s up to them. They don’t want a school filled with only award-winners. Where’s the diversity there? Just apply and don’t worry about it. There is not a lot you can do to improve holistic chances by much.</p>

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<p>I didn’t have any national awards and got in. You’re right, it just means that MIT is picky and are truly looking holistically at the applicants. It means that in no way should MIT be a sure fire thing for you and as entomom has stated that you should have a balanced list. And even if you don’t get in, you shouldn’t think down upon yourself. When I visited last weekend, I talked to an admissions officer who used the analogy of an ice cream shop. There are a lot of flavors and you can’t try them all, so among the ones that you don’t get to try there are probably I bunch that you would’ve ended up liking, you just couldn’t have them all. </p>

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<p>So muftogun, I really hope you actually did get into MIT and that you aren’t just some kid telling me you did. Can you please tell me your “stats”? I do have a list but right now I’m just really focusing on MIT because it is at the top of my list. Can you tell me your GPA, SAT & ACT scores, Classes taken, Awards, EC’s, and the sort? thank you!</p>

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<p>^How about taking a few minutes and perusing the various Results threads at the top of this forum? That’s what they’re there for.</p>

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<p>If you click on the member’s name, there’s link that let’s you see their entire posting history. muftogun previously posted on the MIT Resutlts thread that they were accepted. Although since this is the internet, anything is possible, so you need to do your homework on determining who are reliable members. And you will likely get better results on this forum if you don’t start out on your first thread by accusing a member of possibly ■■■■■■■■ when they are trying to give you valuable input.</p>

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<p>Yeah, sure
SAT: 2000 (740M 630CR 630W)
GPA: 4.0UW 4.75W
SAT2: 600 Physics 690 Math 2
Rank: 1/323
Awards: Honor Roll, John Hopkins CTY, AP Scholar with distinction (I guess that’s a national award)
EC: Colorguard for 4 years (Capt. for 2), NHS (webmaster for a year), Spanish NHS, Treasurer for Class Board for 4 years, Teacher assistant
APs: Calc AB (5) Computer Science (5) Gov. and Politics (4) English Lit. and Lang (4) World History (3)
Senior Course load: Calc BC AP, Spanish AP, English Lit and Comp AP, Computer Science 4, Adv. Object Oriented Design, Anatomy and Physiology, Math Lab Assistant</p>

<p>Yeah, my test scores were definitely my weakness which is why I was extremely surprised I got in at all. I’m pretty sure my interview and essays really helped. My essays were just very honest and showed my diversity and passions.</p>

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<p>I may have left stuff off, but my full profile is somewhere on the RD Decision discussion for 2014</p>

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<p>Congrats, muftogun!</p>

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<p>Wait WHAT you got a PERFECT GPA? Holy smokes dude. And FIRST IN YOUR SCHOOL? Talking to my guidance councillor she said I have the potential to be valedictorian but I really don’t think so. Oh and by the way, would you recommend taking world language all 4 years? I’m taking French but I’m thinking of dropping out after my 3rd year since I simply detest the class and it will most likely bring down my GPA.</p>

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<p>@entomom I’m not accusing muftogun of anything; I realize that he is there but I’m a bit sceptical of everything on the internet. I’ve seen people carry lies for years before they admit it.</p>

<p>Anyway, muftogun:
I’m in my freshman year in highschool and could you give me some advice on what to do? I’m interested in the STEM field but I simply don’t know what will appeal to MIT other than good grades and test scores.</p>

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<p>Oh, lol. Thanks! Um, I don’t think it will hurt you if you decide to not take french your senior year. I took spanish all four years because I actually like the language, but it shouldn’t hurt you if you only take it 3 years instead of 4</p>

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<p>I’m actually a she. Lol. But my advice is going to sound really lame, but besides good grades and test scores, just really be yourself. Worry less about trying to appeal to MIT, and just show them who you are. I mean get involved in things at school, that will definitely help. But honestly, you want them to accept you for who you are and not who you tried to be. Also, if you’re interested in STEM, start now in getting involved in that field. I knew I wanted to study computer science, so I’ve been taking somputer science courses since I started high school and I think that probably also helped.</p>

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<p>1st, there are also people who have not really achieved national awards etc etc, but have made it</p>

<p>2nd, if you can do more than achieve national awards, why not? If you do, even if you are rejected from MIT chances are you will be accepted to an equally ‘picky’ school</p>

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<p>@SuperPoofi‌ </p>

<p>I had a 3.86 unweighted GPA when I graduated high school, ranking at 12 out of about 500.
My SATs were in the mid 2100s.
No national awards, science fairs, or whatnot. Most of my awards in math and science were at the city level, with a few at the state level.
I did quite a few ECs… student government, Key Club, yearbook, environmental club…
Held some EC officerships… president of my school’s National Honor Society, newspaper editor, captain of a few of our school’s academic teams and our chess team…
I did tennis, golf, figure skating and horseback riding. (again, no awards beyond local level)</p>

<p>Our valedictorian went to Brown. A couple of my other classmates that ranked ahead of me went to Northwestern and UNC CH. The rest in the 3.5+ GPA group went to schools in-state or in neighboring states that generally don’t rank in the top 50 of USN&WR. </p>

<p>I will admit, at MIT I met quite a few classmates who did compete at the national or even international level. But, that was more the exception rather than the rule.</p>

<p>I think I got into MIT due to their holistic selection process. My math skills were decent, but not competitive at the national level. (Fun fact: I was an MIT math major, and just looking at what the Putnam questions were like made me wonder if I was at the wrong school)
My humanities were weaker… but that is sort of typical for many MIT students.
I had a fair number of ECs… but I imagine that is also typical of many who apply to schools like MIT, Caltech and the Ivy League.
I had some sports… which I think is sometimes a little less common for some MIT applicants. Maybe that is what got me in?</p>

<p>Is MIT picky? Probably. I imagine all the top schools are.
Is MIT too picky? Fun fact… if fewer people applied to MIT, perhaps the accepted percentage would go up. But alas, there just is not enough room to accept everyone. And that means having to reject tons of very worthy, very accomplished applicants.</p>

<p>Being rejected does not mean that you are not an outstanding student. Being rejected does not mean that you are not capable of handling MIT. Being rejected does not mean that you are a failure. It really boils down to too many applicants, not enough openings.</p>

<p>I applied to a dozen schools. With the low odds of being accepted by any particular school, you have to apply to many places if you want to get into any of them. I was <em>lucky</em> enough to be rejected by 3 schools… Harvard, Rice and Duke. And I will forever hate them… but I understand that the odds were against me… against all of us, due to there being so much competition. </p>

<p>In the end, I was glad I went to MIT. My mom would have preferred Harvard, but oh well. I disappointed my mom’s academic expectations… what else is new?</p>

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<p>Doesn’t this answer your own question?</p>

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<p>I can’t tell you how to get into MIT. However, take a look at this link. Maybe it can help you:<br>
<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If you comb thru the results thread you will see national awards are not required. If anything can be gleaned from those admits with non-spectacular resumes, I’d say the sideways post has it right; MIT likes students with slightly quirky passions a lot. They like students who love science and are really good athletes, artists, and musicians, or may be are interested in MIT’s less popular majors. I particularly loved reading on the blog about the student who was into limnology. </p>

<p>I really recommend taking four years of language in HS. MIT only asks for two, but several of the top schools require four, and you want to keep your options open. Can’t count on anything with single digit admittance rates.</p>

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<p>We need to have a sticky post on whether people need national awards to get in to MIT.</p>