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I was an undergraduate at MIT. Although it had been my first choice (I hesitate to say "dream school"), I was miserable during my years there. Huge workloads, chronic sleep deprivation, and a depressing social environment. (Perhaps, with more female undergraduates, the social environment is better now than it was back then.) When I went to cross-country and track meets, I'd see students from other schools, and think how much more fun they must be having.</p>
<p>MIT is probably a great place for some people, and a miserable place for others.</p>
<p>Even now, with plenty of years to look back and reflect, I have no idea whether I would have been better off at some other school. Believe it or not, most things in life are like that. We pursue dream schools, dream jobs, dream houses, and dream dates, but we really don't know whether any of those will make us happy or miserable.</p>
<p>I know another young man who was crushed when he was rejected by MIT a couple of years ago. He ended up at UCLA, where he is having the time of his life. I'm envious.
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<p>This was on a running message board I frequent. It's also frequented by a lot of college runners and this was the response I got about MIT.</p>
<p>MIT has changed a lot since this guy went there. In the two years I've gone to MIT I've never pulled an all nighter. As a matter of fact I've never worked past 1 AM while I've been here. Maybe I'm doing things right, but I think the soul-crushing MIT people fondly loved to hate of decades back has managed to lighten up, MIT hasn't even had a undergrad suicide (their big problem in the 90s) since the highly publicized ones back in the early part of this decade.</p>
<p>In addition to this MIT has developed a rather healthy social scene even, ever since BU started to crack down on alcohol and MITs frats happen to be smack dab in the middle of their campus, parties with a wide variety a lady-friends (ranging from BU to Simmons to Wellesly) to get to know have become increasingly available.</p>
<p>MIT is not for everyone its true, I know two people who are taking semesters off because their GPA was taking too much of a beating, and one who was asked to leave due to perrentially horrible grades, but overall almost everyone I know manages to get along with the institute if they don't straight up love it here. But that's just my perspective.</p>
<p>MIT has always been a school that is great to be * from , but not necessarily to be * at *, if you catch my drift. It's like military bootcamp. I am quite sure that no soldiers actually * enjoy bootcamp, instead they just exhibit different levels of tolerance for it.</p>
<p>The real question is whether you can put up with a certain sense of delayed gratification, along with whether you think you can make it at all. If the answer is 'no' to either, then maybe you are better off elsewhere.</p>
<p>Two comments about MIT- A co-worker's son is at MIT and she said she wished they hadn't let him go there. He has struggled and now feels that he isn't smart- although obviously anyone who gets in is smart. His gpa is still good- low 3.0- but according to my friend, the profs are not supportive at all.</p>
<p>The other thing is I don't know how on earth they pick their class. Just found out that a friend of my son was rejected. Now this kids has a 4.2 at TJ (where all classes are at least honors- with no extra gpa for honors, and an A starts at 94), 2400 on his SATs, 4 year athlete- president of one of the major clubs (don't want to say which one as that obviously points him out to those who know TJ), has won national awards- and is a great kid all around. I can't imagine who they are taking if they turned this kid down!</p>
<p>Tjmom, about 90% of MIT's applicants are just as impreswsive as the one you mentioned. MIT has self-selecting applicants and the vast majority of them are qualified and could do the work there. They have to narrow the field down, and I personally think they have much more transparent than other schools in explaning what they look for in applicants. By reading the blogs at <a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml</a> you can get a good idea of the type students they admit.</p>
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His gpa is still good- low 3.0- but according to my friend, the profs are not supportive at all.
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<p>Well, if it makes you feel better, molliebatmit graduated with a 3.4/4 GPA and she still ran the table, getting into every single top bio PhD program, and opted for Harvard. I know other MIT grads with quite mediocre GPA's who nevertheless managed to land plum jobs. The truth of the matter is, with the exception of law and medical school, you don't really need to have a high GPA coming out of MIT to do very well for yourself. </p>
<p>Contrast that with what happens at other programs. Take a gander at the 'Graduate School' section of CC, and you will notice people at other schools with excellent grades who nonetheless get rejected from a multitude of the graduate schools that they want.</p>
<p>There are no "honors" for graduating with a high GPA at MIT, such a magna cum laude, summa cum laude, etc. Every MIT graduate is considered the same.</p>
<p>Also, MIT has never granted an honorary degree. Everyone who holds one, had to earn it from the institute.</p>
<p>MIT is a different place. Pretty cool, I think.</p>
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Turns out, there is no formula. There is only what we refer to as "the match." Admissions is really always about the match ...<br>
above all else, character matters. How you live your life, the fact that you live your <em>own</em> life and not the life of your parents or friends, the fact that you are awake and thinking and fully involved in your life - that is what matters to us.
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<p>The "match" is described in Marilee Jones' recent letter. Definitely worth reading.</p>