@UseTheForceHarry Which colleges did you get in? What is your intended major?
Thanks!
@baller5 You mentioned some kids at your school who were admitted to MITES last year. Do you know how good their stats and income were/are?
I know for sure that the kid at my son’s school who went to MITES last year is low income/first generation. The
mother doesn’t even speak English. My son introduced me to him and his mother during Open House. I know for a fact that his stats were nowhere near my son’s. I don’t doubt his story is way more compelling, though.
Congrats everyone!
I do have to admit that I opened an account today (after closely watching this thread along with many others for several months now).
I got into MOSTEC! Adopted Asian, middle income, good grades, decent tests scores, etc.
(On a side note: For future applicants who decide to read old threads, I just wanted to say please don’t be discouraged if you are Asian. Apply anyway!!)
Agreed with fellow asian above ^^
@AoPSer @Bilal98 Congratulations on your acceptance to MOSTEC! I was also accepted into MOSTEC 2015. I was kind of concerned about the second half of MOSTEC being during senior year, when I’m trying to get scholarships/taking AP (time demanding) classes. Race: Native American (Cherokee) gender: female GPA: 4.4 PSAT: 155 ACT: 26 Both were taken early sophomore year. Wish I could’ve sent in newer scores, but I’m happy I got in to MOSTEC. Leadership positions in Color Guard and Chorus. Won awards at science fairs as well as debate tournaments and I’m in a lot of ECS. My essays were pretty decent and I have good relationships with my recommenders (except my counselor).
Hispanic (Columbian), 2300+, 4.0 unweighted, 12 APs (8 junior year), national math science and debate awards, good essays, good recs, 1000+ hrs of community service, varsity athlete, state piano award. Rejected from all 3, :(. I must note for full disclosure i go to a private school and my parents make $150k+
@Kittymom1102, I also have a son, Hispanic from DC area, 4.36 GPA, SAT 2360, amazing recommendations and essays, and high family income and professional parents. He was rejected from all three programs.
This text I copy below is from and article from issue 123 of The Tech, published on February 11, 2003. Maybe this can put some context and background to the selection process.
“MIT will open two minority targeted
programs to students of
all races following a complaint
against MIT filed with the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office
for Civil Rights, the Institute announced
yesterday.
The programs, Project Interphase
and the Minority Introduction
to Engineering, Entrepreneurship,
and Science, known as
MITES, will now accept applications
from students regardless of
their race, though race will still factor
into admission decisions, MIT
said in a statement.
President Charles M. Vest said
that MIT will “alter the programs
in a provisional way” and work in
the next year to find a permanent
solution.
“I’ve always been very proud”
of the programs, Vest said. “It
was very painful to think this all
through.”The change comes as universities
across the country nervously
review their affirmative action
policies in light of a Supreme Court
lawsuit challenging the admissions
policy at the University of Michigan
as illegally discriminatory”.
@Newdle @britt43 @Luisfer12 @lilmonet1 Congratulations to all of you and everyone else who applied! I was hoping for MITES but I am excited about MOSTEC. Acquiring more experience with the application process is going to benefit everyone- even those who weren’t accepted. If I wasn’t accepted to MOSTEC I would be looking for a job/internship/shadowing for work experience this summer. Something to think about. Thankfully this wasn’t the only summer program I applied to. I was also accepted into OSAI in June. Congratulations to everyone who went through the application process. Sometimes acceptance is like auditioning for a play… if you don’t perform successfully or you aren’t what the director is looking for, you won’t get the part. Don’t give up. Letting rejection diminish your hope for your future may only limit the true potential of your life. The only person holding you back, is you.
@kittymom1102
I only got into 2 (Rose-Hulman and Georgia Tech) of the 11 schools I applied to. I plan on majoring in mechanical engineering.
That being said, participating in the program neither guarantees nor prevents students from getting into good colleges. It ultimately depends on what the schools are looking for in their prospective students, and how your son presents himself to the admissions committees. I, for one, wasn’t what 9 of my schools were looking for.
So, full disclaimer: there’s really no point in relating the OEOP programs to college admissions.
Made an account today. Got into MITES.
Hispanic Male
SAT: 1750
PSAT: 171
GPA: 3.8 (weighted)
AP World History: 4
Income: ~90k
It is evident from my terrible test scores that the essays REALLY matter.
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone that made it into one of the three summer programs. The people that got rejected: I just want to tell you that you are worth it! You will be very successful in life and this rejection doesn’t define who you are and what you are capable of. 
Congrats to all who got in!
Please do not drop from the threads like the overwhelming majority of past admitted students.
The college journey is just starting 
@UseTheForceHarry How selective were the schools that you applied to? Excuse the question, but what went wrong, in your opinion? Don’t you think MITES help you somehow?
Thanks for sharing
@kittymom1102
I got rejected from Stanford, Olin, MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell.
I’m currently waitlisted by Carnegie Mellon and Harvey Mudd.
If I were to guess, it would have been my essays, or a relative lack of diversity in my extracurriculars. I invested most of my time in Science Olympiad and Robotics (while doing debate), which doesn’t exactly separate myself from the STEM crowd.
It’s definitely impressive to see that someone participated in the OEOP summer programs, but clearly my participation in MOSTEC wasn’t enough to convince them otherwise (hence the disclaimer from my previous comment).
Of course, I was initially disappointed, but I got over it. The programs are extremely helpful outside of the context of college admissions, and I got a lot out of the program.
But don’t essay strength often correlate with academic strength?
Not necessarily.
I’m actually glad I got into E2 rather than MITES or MOSTEC, the other 2 conflict with IMO, and I’m trying to make my country’s team this year
@ReminiscingDad It appears to me that the MITES program is geared towards financially-disadvantaged/first generation students.
That being said, truth be told, I think that having a better economic, family, and educational background counts against the student during college admission, regardless of race/ethnicity.
My son, as much as your son, will have to face the same hurdles that non-minority kids face in college admissions. That doesn’t bug me as much. In a way, my son’s experience will educate some people. For example, in my office, there are people who still believe that minorities have it easy in college admissions. I have warned them that that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In my case, all my co-workers saw my kid’s SAT scores. Needless to say they were very impressed, especially by the 800M. They know how qualified a student he is. So, next year, when he gets rejected from different colleges, like most students do, his competency will not be called into question. He will just be another qualified reject.
The misconception of “minority = easy pass” comes from the past when minority equaled poor/uneducated. Fortunately, minorities have come a long way. Now, we have families with different economic, educational, and social backgrounds. We are as diverse as whites. There are some minorities who happen to be poor/uneducated and there are minorities who happen to be middle income/educated. Same group, different backgrounds, and different expectations.
It’s gonna be very interesting
@UseTheForceHarry Good for you. A kid at my son’s school attended MITES last summer. He did not get into MIT, Caltech, Cornell and the likes. He got into Carnegie Mellon. I guess, like everything in life, different people get different results.
Again, Congrats
Congrats guys who made any of the programs! I was rejected from all of them 
I’m a little sad but they had reasons for their decisions and I probably wasn’t a great candidate for the program. My essays were very weak and they showed that I tried to hard to be the student that they wanted. Good luck guys!
If you are rejected don’t lose hope! The acceptance letter said ". Please notify us as soon as possible if you are not able to accept our offer so that we can give the position to another candidate before the program begins. "