Official MIT Class of 2012 Regular Action Decisions Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
241

<p>Yeah, I think mammall's daughter may feel uncomfortable at a tech school. However, it does seem somehow wrong to penalize someone for having an abundance of ability in the humanities.</p>

<p>CalAlum: "No one on this board can judge is someone truly "should have been admitted" without knowing anything about an individual except for a list of test scores and extracurriculars. And the only reason I'm taking the trouble to make this point is to help some high-school junior who might be reading this. Every piece of your application is critical. Every piece."</p>

<p>True. However, if you talk to guidance counselors they often say that admissions to top schools is unpredictable. The type of candidate they take one year may be different than the next year. And they don't always agree with who was taken vs. who was rejected--and they know everybody's ECs and record.</p>

242

<p>@molliebat</p>

<p>I've actually been posting here for years as "terveloc". For some reason, I'm having a hard time recoving/remembering my exact login/pass combination. I'm trying to get it resolved, but it's the weekend and CC probably won't get back to me until tomorrow.</p>

243

<p>mollieb:"But it's similar to being an underrepresented minority -- sure, the kid from North Dakota isn't there because he or she is from North Dakota, but that circumstance was certainly taken into account. How many science fair/research/math contest kids from New York and New Jersey were overlooked to take the kid from North Dakota? But is it right to overlook the kids who aren't clued in to the admissions game and take kids from super-competitive regions exclusively?"</p>

<p>Well, that isn't really what most ivies do. And it was pretty clear that Vest was trying to draw a distinction between MIT and the ivies with his statement. One of the big reasons that there aren't many good candidates from North Dakota is because there are about 5 people in North Dakota. Most ivies don't care what the reason--they just want people from every state. That's different from making a judgement that a less accomplished candidate stat-wise will eventually outperform those with better scores once they are on an even playing field.</p>

244

<p>
[quote]
Most ivies don't care--they just want people from every state.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I imagine it's in the best interest of their mission to have that stance. I'm not sure I disagree. I've harped on this a few times now, but I get the sense that people cannot separate the notion of fairness to individual applicants and the notion of a university's broader dedication to mission. It's not a university's mission to be fair to individual applicants.</p>

245

<p>
[quote]
And it was pretty clear that Vest was trying to draw a distinction between MIT and the ivies with his statement. One of the big reasons that there aren't many good candidates from North Dakota is because there are about 5 people in North Dakota. Most ivies don't care what the reason--they just want people from every state. That's different from making a judgement that a less accomplished candidate stat-wise will eventually outperform those with better scores once they are on an even playing field.

[/quote]

And I think the latter -- making a judgment that the less-accomplished candidate will excel on a level playing field -- is what MIT's doing with geographic admissions. I also think it's what they're doing with URM admissions. And it think it's valid, so long as they're doing it thoughtfully and with internal follow-up data to back them up, which they are.</p>

<p>This is at odds with the views of some people in this thread.</p>

246

<p>It occurs to me that one of the explanations for incongruous rejections or waitlists for very strong students is that, if you have a very strong, well-rounded student from a sophisticated high school applying at the RD stage, one could infer -- rightly or wrongly, but probably rightly -- that the student had another school as his or her first choice. I can definitely see an admissions committee deciding that it would rather give a chance to a promising, but flawed applicant who was really committed to MIT vs. a "perfect" applicant who is likely to be able to pick among great comprehensive universities and who has effectively expressed a preference for that kind of experience over a great tech school.</p>

247

<p>^^JHS,</p>

<p>Yes, it has seemed to me also that there might be an element of preference for those for whom MIT is quite clearly the first choice.</p>

<p>I think this explanation is much more probable than comments about applicants' personalities, when no one knows them.</p>

248

<p>Ugh...I really wish I could have been waitlisted...I would have had a strong case for being admitted off of it in May.</p>

249

<p>Probably not JHS.
S with stats to match anybody here, was deferred EA and then rejected.</p>

<p>By the way he is URM and was rejected in favor of other URMs with lower stats (and I'm sure other URMs with even better stats).</p>

250

<p>Well, I wouldn't suggest it's a universal explanation for everything!</p>

<p>My sympathies go out to your son, J'adoube. I know it's especially hard to be in a category where everyone assumes you have it made, and then you don't. I'll bet it hurts a lot. I hope he has enough good news, already or over the next few weeks, so that the hurt doesn't linger.</p>

251

<p>^^J'adoube,
Sorry to hear about the decision in your son's case--seems inexplicable, and it must be rough. I wish him well! (and I agree again with JHS's response).</p>

252

<p>After reading this thread, I think MIT should add a question to the application form asking students when they've been gracious while winning (to balance the question about handling set-backs or failure).</p>

253

<p>Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: didn't take it
[</em>]SAT II: 760 Bio M, 780 Math II
[<em>]ACT: 35 composite (35 math, english, reading, 36 science)
[</em>]GPA: 5.33 / 5.0 weighted, 3.66 / 4.0 unweighted
[<em>]Rank: high school doesn't rank, top 10%
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP US History 4, AP Psych and AP Bio, 5. Took the AMC 12 last year and reported the score, but I don't remember what it was - somewhere around 84.</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I absolutely love one of my essays, and the other one makes me cringe a little bit. I thought that my required essay was gimicky and my optional essay was perfect.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: By two teachers that know me well in several different contexts. I haven't read either one, but both told me that they were very, very favorable.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Excellent, my counselor and I are good friends :)
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Sent in a letter after EA deferral with pictures of my FIRST robot. Also sent word of nomination as a Presidential Scholars candidate.
[<em>]Interview: I liked my interviewer a lot, but I couldn't get a read on whether or not she really liked me until she called me last night to tell me that she was really, really excited that I got in and that she was worrying about me :)
[</em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): None that I'm aware of</p>

<p>[/ul]Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: Illinois - north suburbs
[</em>]High School Type: Public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Caucasian
[</em>]Gender: Female</p>

<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars:
FIRST Robotics, 2 years - director of PR and co-head of electronics
Congressional debate, 4 years - assistant captain, 2007 All-State team
Mathletes, 4 years - team captain
Quiz Bowl, 3 years - science girl :)
Horseback riding, 7 years - quit junior year
Model UN, 2 years - honorable mention sophomore year, quit junior year
WYSE, 2 years - team MVP, qualified for state competition in chem and bio
Mentor FIRST Lego League teams through Robotics
[</em>]Awards: All were mentioned above
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul] I still have no clue how I got in :) I suspect the high interest that I showed in MIT helped me along - I applied EA and was deferred, but I sent a letter expressing my continuted interest, posted on the admissions blogs, and generally kept in touch. I'm hoping that they don't wise up and kick me out before CPW!</p>

254

<p>
[quote]
You know, there was a day when 2100 on the SAT's and a 3.96 UW GPA was considered excellent.

[/quote]

For HYPMS (MIT) that day is long over.. unless you're minority.</p>

255

<p>Decision: Wait-Listed</p>

<ul>
<li>Major Applied To: Cognitive Sciences (Course9)</li>
<li>Fee Waiver Used?: No</li>
<li>SAT I (by section): 550 CR, 650 M, 600 W = 1800 total</li>
<li>SAT IIs: 580 Math 2, 600 Math 1, 680 US History, 630 BioM</li>
<li>GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.7 UW, 4.7 W</li>
<li>Rank: 20/390</li>
<li>ACT: 30super</li>
<li>APs (including this year's): 6 Taken total, 4-AP Bio, 4-AP US, 4-AP Microecon, BC Calc, Chem, Physics</li>
<li>Senior Yr Courseload: Hard</li>
<li>Number of Apps from Your School: 3 to MIT</li>
<li>Other stats (Awards, etc.): Intel STS semifinalist, Bausch & Lomb Science Award</li>
</ul>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<ul>
<li>ECs listed on app: Debate, Research, Tennis</li>
<li>Job/Work Experience: Head of IT/Marketing, Lab work</li>
<li>Essays (subject and responses): ew...arite i presume</li>
<li>Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Intel STS, nobel laureate rec, research for 4 years</li>
</ul>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<ul>
<li>State or Country: MA</li>
<li>School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): </li>
<li>Ethnicity: Indian (Asia)</li>
<li>Gender: M</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Intel STS?</li>
<li>Strengths: Research experience, interview</li>
<li>Weaknesses: Test scores</li>
<li>Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: I am very surprised I was not rejected as my scores are soooo low. But perhaps I was wait listed due to an awesome interview and research experience.</li>
</ul>

256

<p>Thanks for the sympathies, but I think it hurt the parents more than him.</p>

257

<p>[ size=+1][ color=red][ b]Rejected[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *]SAT: CR: 740 M: 780 W: 800
[ *]SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math II, 760 US History
[ *]ACT: 35 (all 35s, except Science which was 36)
[ *]GPA: 96.247
[ *]Rank: 9/345
[ *]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AMC12 (100.5), AIME Qualifier (Unknown), 6APs taken all 5s</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective[ /b][ list]
[ *]Essays: Alright, wrote about making up school work and recovering from an ulcer that resulted in internal bleeding, dehydration, anemia, and sudden weight loss
[ *]Teacher Recs: Excellent
[ *]Counselor Rec: Good
[ *]Supplementary Material: Uh...
[ *]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Not sure??
[ /list][ b]Personal[ /b][ list]
[ *]Location: Upstate NY
[ *]High School Type: Public
[ *]Ethnicity: Very White
[ *]Gender: Male
[ *]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes
[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *]Extracurriculars: Gay-Straight Alliance Founder/President, Model UN (several awards), Math league, Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate (League Champion, have gone to states and nationals)
[ *]Awards: S+D awards, Model UN awards, school awards, National Merit Finalist, Presidential Scholars Candidate, Kodak Young Leaders Award, Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award, AP Scholar w/ Distinction
[ *]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: This was extremely disappointing and I regret not getting involved in Science Olympiad until senior year, because I've done very well but the competitions were too late for the admissions officers to know. I also wish I had more research opportunities because the only one I found near by and applied to made me a finalist but did not accept me. Also, I should have talked more about my efforts in electronic music composition, photography, and sculpture but I never entered these for awards or anything and considered them just hobbies and didn't get involved significantly until recently. Whatever. Such is life, right? :)
Congratulations to those who made it!![ /list]</p>

258

<p>Rainynightstarz,
I think the reason you were admitted was right there in your post: 1) teaching kids robotics and 2) setting up those competitions and math events -- with the common theme of making the opportunities you've had available for others. I can only hope you talked about that in one of your essays, or one of your recommenders went to town with that. Besides, while your SAT score was decent, everything else score-wise was more than competitive. You earned your way to MIT. Don't let these nay-sayers convince you otherwise.</p>

<p>My S was accepted EA -- it was his super-reach and it was a big surprise. He went very deep in a couple of ECs, did what turned out to be great research, had great scores, essays and recs -- but I can tell some of you would freak out over his less-than-perfect GPA. However, he was totally honest and consistent in the way he presented himself, foibles and all. Maybe MIT saw that he wasn't afraid of tackling difficult material on his own. I think his ECs and the awards that came from them demonstrated his passion for learning far more than his grades.</p>

<p>And let's show the love (or at least respect) for MIT acceptees who also love the humanities, eh? For some students, this is a very tough balancing act.</p>

259

<p>What makes this hard is for those of us who did what a lot of the admits (even EA) did (in terms of strategies and execution in compiling our applications) yet still got denied once or twice. It's just a bit disheartening, that's all.</p>

260

<p>Reporting back on my daughter. She's totally fine about beging rejected by MIT. Said she didn't expect to get in at all. She just despised the application. I got it out and read it and have to agree that her usually wonderful writing sounded really uninspired. Also, there were a lot of accomplishments that she couldn't seem to fit into the boxes. And finally, she's really more of a life and social sciences type than an engineer/math type. She never did math competitions or science olympiad. She did other things. So the admissions folks probably deduced (correctly) that she didn't have a passion for attending MIT. Oddly, she loved the Caltech application and even though that school is supposedly more one-dimensionally engineering in orientation, she seems drawn to the curriculum, small size, location. I do think the MIT admissions department is sort of strange in some of their decision-making, if we can really take posts on CC as any sort of valid sample. But if they are wrong about who they admit, the school will ultimately suffer. Maybe their strategy is just too subtle for some of us to parse.</p>