<p>Is it true that you can't get into MIT as an international student unless you have at least one medal in International Olympiads? What about other national competitions, SATs, school grades and essays?</p>
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Is it true that you can't get into MIT as an international student unless you have at least one medal in International Olympiads?
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<p>No.</p>
<p>It is, however, more competitive for international applicants than for domestic.</p>
<p>Thank you jessiehl.</p>
<p>There is a quota for international applicants, and as Jessie says, admission is extremely competitive. Last year there were 2745 international applicants, and only 119 (4.3%) were admitted.</p>
<p>Matt McGann says here:</a>
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Several of you have pointed out this quote from the MIT Admissions site:
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Almost all international students admitted to MIT have earned some form of regional, national or international distinction in areas from leadership, music and art, to scientific research, academic competition and athletics.
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This is a true statement. Because we can only admit 5% of the international applicants, students must be extraordinary in some way. In addition to the above listing, I might also add service, academics, entrepreneurship and creativity, among others. International admissions at MIT are very, very competitive. I can tell you from experience that making the decisions on international students is very, very difficult. I can also tell you, however, that we will treat your applications with the attention and consideration that they deserve.
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<p>The admissions process for internationals is not appreciably different than it is for anywhere else. The standard is higher. Not only is the admit rate 4%, but the pool is much more self-selective. </p>
<p>It is not uncommon for MIT to be the only American university applied to, or one of possibly 2, and given that the student is signing up to take SAT's in an inconvenient location purely for an MIT application, there are far fewer students applying to MIT on a "What the heck?" basis as a reach school than there are in the US.</p>
<p>I write this as an international EC. Every year I interview talented international students as well as a small crop of American expatriates, so to some degree I get to see both sides. It is true that every year I meet brilliant, talented international applicants that will not get in. That being said, of my applicants who have gotten in, it is definitely not true that they had all achieved astonishing things.</p>
<p>One had achieved only modest things, but came from a very poor background in a school with no resources, and to achieve what they had done with what they had to work with was extremely impressive. They got in. </p>
<p>Don't misunderstand me. Applying, having won the international olympiad as a sophomore, with three patents to your name, and having started a multi-billion dollar company from your bedroom all helps. And these are the students that we hear about. But they make up much, much, much less than 4% of the applicant pool, and worrying about competing against them is fundamentally a waste of time and energy.</p>
<p>So you mean that an international with about 1900 on SAT is not necessarily screwed up if (s)he has an international medal (let's say even sophomore year) and excellent stats otherwise?</p>