I applied to MIT RD and have not received an offer to have an interview. Will I be told if my interview is waved? Also, does this indicate that I am out of the running or have a lower chance of acceptance?
Dude I didn’t get one too yet. I haven’t heard of anybody from RD who has though 
From what I know by contacting Admissions Officers and Interview Officers, they are assigned on random based on availability of the EC at that given time and place. It doesnt mean you wont get in due to that or anything, nor that the chances of you getting in are less (due to not getting an interview of course). An interview, if rejected by the student, counts negatively. Not getting one, or getting one and interacting with an EC are held at the same pedestal in terms of admissions evaluation, based on my knowledge and my interactions with the above stated people.
Note: Nor does not getting an interview mean anything if the residency is in India or China, where people believe applicants are ‘selected’ for interviews. The AdCom and Interview Committee said thats just not true, and they want to interview everyone who applies. Randomly assigning an EC to an applicant is the reason if you didnt get an interview and someone else in close geographical proximity to you did. Nothing Else.
So hope for the best, and relax!
I applied RD and did my interview in mid Jan
@2018HSStudent MIT Skype interviews are happening right now. Remember 21,700 students apply per year, and about 12,000 or more of those are RA. Continue to politely ask once a week for an interview from MIT. MIT will not ding you for not getting an interview, as they cannot cover 100% but its getting closer this year with the new system. In past years, about 10-20% of applicants did not receive an interview due to shortage of ECs in CA, India, China, and parts of the east coast. MIT hopes to cover more students with the new system of organized Skype interviews in February.
@UniquePeanut The majority of MIT RA interviews were completed in January. There are still some Skype interviews happening in February. You can continue to ask MIT for an interview, and they will try to match you to a Skype interviewer. PI day is creeping up! Good luck.
I have emailed them about 3 times now and their reply has been the same—“we don’t confirm EC availability for individual students. After you submit your application, you may be contacted by an Educational Counselor if there’s one available.”
They changed the interview procedure this year. One of the changes decreased the timeframe for conducting interviews. As an EC, I wasn’t thrilled with the new system but continued to do interviews for the students I was assigned. From what I heard (and it wasn’t from an official source), there were a number of ECs who opted out of interviewing this year. I don’t know if it was more or less than usual, but I suspect more given what I heard.
In my region (and I don’t know if this is universal of not) ECs are assigned to specific high schools. The EC would then interview all the students that apply from those high schools. If an EC opted out at the last moment, then there could quite easily be a problem getting someone else to fill in as we were already busy.
Interview reports were supposed to be filled in by January 27 by the EC. Skype interviews may happen after that as the skype interview is trying to fill in those gaps in school coverages.
Keep checking your email and be sure to check your spam folder as well. Lack of an interview is not supposed to hurt your chances as long as the fault is on the EC side. You still have your other recommendations which are people that know you well.
Hey do you know whether interview in China is selective or not? I haven’t heard from MIT yet but there are only 14 days left to decision release day
@HPuck35 Hey do you know whether interview in China is selective or not? I haven’t heard from MIT yet but there are only 14 days left to decision release day
I’d say they arent based on talking to another famous AdmRep on CC from MIT. They do say they try their best and want to interview all apps, but its only randomly assigned without any ‘selection’. Not getting one means lack of EC’s in the vicinity.
But I read somewhere that candidates in some countries are shortlisted for interviews.
@UniquePeanut Where exactly?
I’m glad you trust the word of an article you read ‘somewhere’ over the MIT AdCom, the MIT InterCom, and 2 MIT EC’s whom I’ve personally engaged with. They cannot lie. They’re academic institutions.
If you want to live in negativity and denial, be my guest.
@UniquePeanut I think there is some outreach to various countries with known top Math Olympiads such as Turkey.
But it’s not very clear which countries do this and how. I expect that maybe alumni in China and India might do some additional services for MIT Admissions office to sort but it’s not something that is discussed
There is a person on the MIT ad committee that outreaches to US Math Olympiads and an alumni volunteer that helps him. In countries other than the US, and in the US, MIT alumni move around a lot for their careers. So that means when volunteers move, the amount of help offered MIT Admissions on the ground may chant year to year.