<p>^Are you stupid, or just plain slow? If MIT cannot offer you an interview, it is NOT your fault. They won’t hold it against you. They have WAIVED it, and it has ceased to become part of the application process for YOU. Furthermore, like I said, the interview is a negligible, and in my opinion, completely worthless part of the application process. They hardly take it into account, especially for international students.</p>
<p>And what are you going to even do at this point to get an interview, eh? You cannot contact any interviewer in any other city (if they are even available) without MIT’s permission. And I will BET that if you waste the money and call them, they will tell you that you don’t have to do the interview.</p>
<p>And yes, I did apply, and I was rejected. Did I have a bad experience? No. Not when I found out the exact statistics–that 300 people apply, and they take 6-10 (I think it was to the lower end of that range last year). Out of those, I know that at least 4-5 were International Olympiad winners. Let me put it to you straight. When you have a non-English-speaking country which is highly competitive, and pretty much EVERYONE is getting 800s in their SAT subject tests and >2000s on their SATs, and 5s on the hardest APs, how are you going to differentiate between candidates? You have to take the selection process to the next level, and then to the next, and so on, until you can drain out everyone apart from the 6-10 people you can take. And they can’t take more, because pretty much all of these top colleges are limited in taking internationals in some way or another by funding arrangements with the American government. I will tell you right now–although I don’t know if you’re Indian or Pakistani–that it is almost impossible for you to get in without that medal. Do not buy MIT rhetoric. What they all say about “appreciating diversity”, and the rest of the BS they use to justify their affirmative action program, is exactly that–BS–at least for the international pool. So, step outside your little box for an instant, and think about the admissions process macroscopically.</p>
<p>Oh, and another thing. Learn to read and INTERPRET language. If you don’t, not only do you not stand a chance in hell for getting into MIT, but you’ll have a very tough time just staying alive on your own, wherever you go to college. If I need to quantify for you, then here it is: if you are not an intl. olympiad winner, and a South Asian applicant, you already have <1% chance of getting in. Taking that into consideration, the interview does NOT matter. END OF STORY.</p>