MITx, Edx and Coursera Certificates

<p>Hi. I'm a younger adult looking to get into a good college. I don't however have a good academic record. Would certificates with good grades be viewed as a way to make up for this? would MIT look at a degree from MITx with a grade of an A and look past my previous gpa? I'm asking because they don't allow more than two years of previous college and I would need more than that to bring up my academics from a while ago.</p>

<p>MOOCs are too new for anyone to give you an informed answer.</p>

<p>MIT admissions said that a substantial portion of accepted students this year had participated in MITx. I don’t see how it could hurt.</p>

<p>Thank you, that helps. Do you know where they said that by any chance?</p>

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<p>“I don’t see how it could hurt.” = taking a course will not hurt your chances of admission at a college</p>

<p>Thank you, Captain Obvious! How might it benefit one, then?</p>

<p>No need for snark, tomatox. Taking an MIT online course could demonstrate both interest in MIT and passion for a particular subject, especially if the student in question commits to the course enough to do very well, and otherwise demonstrates passion in their subject of choice in other, complementary ways.</p>

<p>Thank you. I think I’m going to take a few of their online classes alongside some more traditional classes. Hopefully I’ll get straight A’s and they will notice that on an application.</p>

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<p>Oh get off your high horse. Who died and made you king of this thread?</p>

<p>To the OP: here is the source for my comment. Clearly this is anecdotal information. [Colleges</a> announce 2013 acceptance rates - Washington Post](<a href=“http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-01/local/38179814_1_students-harvard-university-columbia-college]Colleges”>http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-01/local/38179814_1_students-harvard-university-columbia-college)</p>

<p>"MIT received 18,989 applications this year and accepted 1,548 students through its early action and regular admissions processes, according to The Tech. The final decisions were nerdily announced on Pi Day at 6:28 p.m. The acceptance rate of 8.2 percent is down from last year’s 8.9 percent and 9.6 percent in 2011, according to The Tech.</p>

<p>Of those admitted, 48 percent are women, 16 percent are first-generation college students, 24 percent are underrepresented minorities, and 8 percent are international students. The Tech also notes that ‘a number of the admitted students noted that they had explored classes on edX, an online system of free courses from MIT, Harvard, and Berkeley.’”</p>

<p>Thank You. I like to bookmark those kinds of articles for future reference, both for motivation and to help me remember that I do have a chance. That and I like seeing things with my own eyes. Thanks again.</p>

<p>AllenSmith94 - I stand by my comment that nobody here can give you an informed answer. I had seen the WaPo article previously and it is interesting that MIT noted that “a number of the admitted students…”, but do not construe this to mean that those students were admitted because of this. I would bet my 401k that these students had the same profile of excellent grades and test scores of the rest of the admitted class. </p>

<p>Do not fixate on MIT. Admission for highly qualified students is not a good bet and it is nearly impossible for someone who doesn’t “have a good academic record”. There are many, many other colleges that can provide a good undergraduate education in engineering or science (or whatever your objective is) that are more practical targets for you. Start doing some research on this and you will see. Good luck.</p>