<p>My acceptance for one insti expires today … although not top-class … its descent enuf … bastards cant send one reject “Email”… so called Media Labs supposed to make best use of technology sends snail paper mails and letting everyone dance @ their anxiety</p>
<p>I can totally understand how you feel.
This was one big scare which even i had.
Now i hope that at least they send our final decisions by email.
I cant understand that when they can create so many websites Scratch, Open Mind Commons. cant they create a simple website to check status!!
Why use snail mail in 21st century???
ppl have got rejection letter on 5,7 April which is nonsense!</p>
<p>I haven’t got the letter…</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>@hiy
I will go and check mailbox today.
But i dont think it will be much different from pdf that was attached with Email.
Also did any of you guys update your portfolio. I did and sent the link to prof, who acknowledged receiving it.
I also heard that this year record people applied to Media Lab. Hopefully we should get a chance after 15th april, In that case.</p>
<p>Best of Luck!!</p>
<p>I got the letter. Same thing as that was emailed.</p>
<p>Hi godhelp, wish u all the best…it seems u have really worked hard on ur application</p>
<p>Thanks dude.
Need all the wishes!
Thanks again.</p>
<p>godhelp, i am planning to apply to software agents group at MIT media lab for fall, 2010.
could u plz guide me in this matter. u have written that you were in touch with ur PI for an year and did a research project on ur own. what will be ur guidance to me in this matter. i wish u all the best 4 ur success…</p>
<p>Sure,
Have a look at this page
[MIT</a> Media Lab: Software Agents](<a href=“http://agents.media.mit.edu/admissions_graduate.html]MIT”>MIT Media Lab: Software Agents)
Also have look at [Commonsense</a> Computing Initiative @ MIT Media Lab](<a href=“http://csc.media.mit.edu%5DCommonsense”>http://csc.media.mit.edu)
I cannot disclose what i did, on this forum, i will get back to you once this years admission process gets over that is by 1st may.</p>
<p>thanks godhelp…i have already seen those pages…and that’s why i am interested in applying to software agents group. many thanks for your assurance…i will wait for 1st may…wish u luck :)</p>
<p>@hiy,lxt
Best of luck its 16th April in the other side of the world, though not in boston.
We should expect reply after 24 hours.
Hope we all get in</p>
<p>@hiy,lxt and everyone who has been waitlisted</p>
<p>You have been on our waitlist, and we are about to confirm and announce our final decisions for the candidates on our waitlist. A letter will be put into the mail later today or early next week, and I will let you know of our decision via email as well. </p>
<p>Best of luck everyone, it was nice discussing with you on this forum</p>
<p>I have a son at the Media Lab (started June 2006; I think there were two MAS students invited to start in June rather than fall that year) and agree that they like people with backgrounds in engineering, CS, and art/music and would add math. Our son’s background was dual degrees in CS and math (Phi Beta Kappa and a bunch of other honors like Outstanding Achievement in Computer Science), a year of experience as an independent consultant with tech company clients in multiple states, a photography fractal art business he started at age 12 to raise money for study abroad programs (he sold over $8000 worth with rather little effort - just attending wine festivals and craft fairs and such), and a hobby of music (he can play recognizable pieces on whatever instrument he picks up and this turned out to come in handy when a fellow MAS student created something called the Drawdio, an instrument he thought kids would just have fun making sounds with while drawing and had no idea actual music could be played on it till our son walked into the lab and picked it up and in a few minutes, was playing something the inventor recognized). He also had experience with public speaking (was on two C-SPAN covered Smithsonian museum science and technology panels at age 8 and demonstrated a tea temperature adjuster he made with Lego Mindstorms parts on one of those, spoke at TED at age 9 about a game he designed, was a guest speaker who gave an hour talk on his invention ideas at Microsoft Research at age 10, gave a talk on international food policy ideas in Germany at age 10, had been a guest lecturer for a 400-level art class several semesters, etc.); the Media Lab was long known as the Demo or Die place, I believe, and it’s a lab where public speaking ability holds more weight than many other labs as students have to pitch what they are working on directly to sponsors. He has also had an innate talent in writing (he was correcting my spelling and giving me more succinct words for my business letters when he was only two, and by age 6, was already winning money in national essay contests and at age 7, won two new computers in a national essay contest). But beyond any of that, what got him in most likely was his having formed a relationship with his now faculty advisor by writing a letter to him the week he turned 8 regarding a book the man wrote (not one for children, but for adults), and also our son meeting an eminent MIT graduate at the Smithsonian event who offered him an internship the next day at a White House reception and our son did summer internships at ages 9-12 for this man, who by the time our son applied to the Media Lab, was on the MIT board of trustees (which they have a different name for) and a strong letter from him likely meant more than anything else in our son’s application.</p>
<p>On the topic of international students, I’ve met plenty at the Media Lab, and I know one got his doctorate last June when our son got his master’s (I’m trying to recall what country he was from, but am drawing a blank, sorry). I met another at a party who I believe is from Iceland (he brought his girlfriend with him and went over the issue of the two being allowed to live in the family housing dorm when they were not married). I’m thinking there are quite a few from other countries. I know over the years one guy had been a valedictorian with an EE degree from a school in Germany, one gal had an undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering from the National Technical Institute of Athens. One who was on a panel with our son back in 2000 earned his undergraduate degree in engineering physics from Queens College in Canada. I’m pretty sure some student had their training at whatever the number one school (or perhaps tech school) in France is (starts with an E, but again, I am going blank). And for those who didn’t do their college training outside the USA, many did their schooling prior to college in other countries (Romania, Jamaica, etc.).</p>
<p>“If you don’t have a master’s degree, they generally make you start in the master’s program, and if you do well you can continue to the doctoral program.”</p>
<p>Actually, even if you DO have a master’s degree, you will most likely have to start in the master’s program to earn another master’s in MAS. A guy from our son’s group already had a bachelor’s degree and <em>two</em> master’s degrees from MIT (one in engineering, can’t recall what the other was in) and still had to earn a master’s through MAS before being accepted into the doctoral program.</p>
<p>“But they’ll fully fund you while you’re a master’s student.”</p>
<p>True, and this is even if you are a <em>terminal</em> master’s student (something that isn’t usually the case for most programs, even at MIT).</p>
<p>"I’m surprised applicants even contact profs before getting admitted. It’s not a good thing. "</p>
<p>That very much depends on the prof and relationship between the prof and applicant. Our son knew his PI for 6 years before he ever applied, so having communication during the application process would not have been bad, though I also don’t think our son had much other than to discuss where he would stay when he interviewed (due to his only being 14 at the time, we felt it might be odd for him to share a room with another graduate student, and the professor invited our son to stay with his family for the visit, which I have since learned is actually not unusual even for regular aged applicants at universities across the nation).</p>
<p>If someone hasn’t even had much of a relationship with the professor before the application process began, though, it could be considered pestering or something - not sure. I know with our son’s PI, he seems to almost always if not always have known who he accepts and have done some sort of work with the person before the person even applied (often in person, like he invited our son to spend time at his lab from age 8 on, and our son did go to the lab to work on some very small projects a few times before applying there). I do believe in life, and especially at the Media Lab, it might be a case of “It’s not just what you know, but who you know” or rather, who knows you - are you a <em>known</em> entity who can create things on the spot and think fast on your feet or such? Have you Demoed or Died right in front of the face of the professor you want to work with?</p>
<p>“The other reason is that in media lab the professors determine whom to admit or not to their group. there is no such admission committee to best of my knowledge.”</p>
<p>Yes and no. There is no “admission committee” as far as the same people at the Media Lab determining all who get in or not, but it’s also not just one professor’s decision alone as I believe <em>two</em> other professors have to sign off on an applicant as being the back-up PI in case something happens to the initial PI, so at least three professors have to be willing to have the applicant as a research assistant. The applicant might not even know who the other two are, and it won’t necessarily be who the applicant put down as the top three choices (I am pretty sure our son only put down ONE professor, and so the other two had to be ones chosen from within on their own).</p>
<p>Also, in “different” cases such as our son’s (he was a minor when he applied, and younger than anyone in their undergraduate program let alone graduate program), lots of other people can be brought in for opinions. I know the lab administrator was involved heavily with our son’s admission process (she emailed him and asked if he knew how to handle finances, laundry, cooking, etc. and I sort of laughed as while our son did, I bet a lot of graduate students there did NOT when they arrived and many might graduate without ever really getting those skills based on what I’ve seen in the graduate dorm laundry room and in graduate dorm kitchens during our housing tour!), and it went all the way to the dean of graduate students as he asked the lab administrator, “Have you seen what he looks like? Does he look older such that he might blend in?” and despite being short, our son did look older and blended in (at age 16, he was a TA for a graduate class where the students in their mid-20’s had no idea he wasn’t older than they were and it blew minds when they found out after the semester ended). Housing people and the head of the lab also met with us to discuss housing options (and they were very kind to allow him to live in family, graduate, or undergraduate housing - whichever he would feel more comfortable living - but insisted he couldn’t rent a room outside of MIT housing due to his being under age, so my son’s first choice of living arrangement was ruled out).</p>
<p>But <em>key</em> without question is having at least one professor who wants the applicant, as without that person, the application is going nowhere fast.</p>
<p>godhelp, as to whether to continue your work on your own or with others, how have you been doing it the past year? Do you prefer to work alone and leave open the door to profit without sharing (other than perhaps with financial backers if they are needed)? Or do you prefer to work with others as it’s more fun for you? I think the “how do you prefer to work?” issue is key.</p>
<p>And good luck to you and the others here!</p>
<p>Archlight, not sure if you have heard a final word yet, but if you didn’t get in this round, I am going to recommend you use <em>different</em> referrals for next year as I believe they keep former files and so having more people recommending you and saying different things about you might help, plus you won’t have to put out anyone whose already done a letter for you (though some people don’t mind writing a bunch of letters for the same person, and perhaps you know people like that). I know they keep the MS/Ph.D. applicant files as all master’s students who want to continue on for the Ph.D. have to apply again for the Ph.D. (though it’s pretty easy as you can still use the information online from the first application for the most part), and our son was told he didn’t <em>have</em> to have new letters of recommendation, but that it would be nice if he went to the trouble to get at least one new one, or something like that (and I think he did, though I’m not positive). Again, good luck to you and the others here!</p>
<p>Here’s another tidbit that may or may not be of help to future applicants.</p>
<p>When our son applied (not sure if it’s the same way today), the application specified that letters should come from either all professors or two professors and someone the applicant was <em>currently</em> working for. Our son didn’t follow those instructions (something I suspected would get his application put in the trash, but as usual, he was right and I was wrong). He felt his transcript spoke quite well to his ability in CS and math (there aren’t even that many math majors who take a mix of 5 undergraduate and graduate level courses in one semester and get a 4.0, especially when having a paid job and those courses not being their only courses that semester) and so instead of using CS or math professors for referrals, he had the Honors College director (whom he knew quite well and was a professor of his, but for upper level honors history courses and not for his math/science work; our son had been invited to his place to use the pool and had traveled with to two countries on study abroad programs and also to NYC and such on Honors College trips to museums and Broadway musicals and such) and the president of the university (who met our son the first week our son was in college and also had our son to his home for a party and exchanged emails with math problems and such over the years as the president was someone who started college at 14 and got his math degree on the early side and felt a connection with our son, it seemed) and then the eminent MIT graduate (now best selling author and CEO of a bunch of tech companies) he worked several summers for (someone whom he <em>could</em> have been working for at the time he applied, but that CEO insisted he be an employee and our son no longer wished to be an employee, so turned the man’s offer down, and I was shocked that the man <em>still</em> wrote our son a fantastic letter of recommendation).</p>
<p>So long story short, perhaps it is helpful to even stray a bit and mix up the recommendation letters rather than to only have them come from your own primary area of study/interest? Not sure, but I know our son diverging here didn’t cost him like I thought it would.</p>