<p>I did not get selected in MIT for my bachelors. MIT is a great school and I want to ask that " Is there anything in MIT that I wont be able to learn/experience and develop through it, for the rest of my life just because that is exclusive to MIT and I did not get in ?</p>
<p>I have the same concern. Yes there are a few things specific to MIT. But this is life. Move on! Good Luck!:)</p>
<p>Well, yes. Definitely. You’ll miss out on “MIT-specific” things by not being there. I’m not going to sugarcoat that. But at the same time, you would have missed out on all the things specific to the college you’re actually going to end up at by going to MIT. 
MIT is a great school but you’ll end up at the place right for you.</p>
<p>Okay I’m sick and tired of these threads. MIT is a great school, yes but so is Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Cornell and CMU. Why do you think they are closely ranked to MIT? Because as MIT is rejecting great applicants as you are, you guys are making other schools great. You would obviously miss out on things specific to MIT but I’m pretty sure you can get as good an academic program as the schools mentioned above plus some other schools not specifically STEM. P.S. there’s MIT grad school which isn’t as selective.</p>
<p>Your biggest mistake will be obsessing on what you are missing at MIT instead of embracing and relishing in what your eventual UG college has to offer you.</p>
<p>No–if you work hard at the place you go, and maintain your academic interests, you will do fine. (Even if you are one of the people who has scored points on the USAMO as a junior–I have been arguing elsewhere that those students really “ought” to be admitted to MIT.)</p>
<p>I disagree that MIT grad school isn’t as selective as MIT undergrad. The selection criteria are different–easier for some and much harder for others. MIT grad school selects mainly on research accomplishments and potential (+ undergrad course work as it is related to those qualities). Non-academic extra-curricular activities tend not to be viewed as a plus in graduate admissions.</p>
<p>It’s just a school, with pluses and minuses to attending, like any other school. Embrace the experience at the school you do attend. Let go of the regrets.</p>
<p>Yes - MIT. That was a little joke 
but in all seriousness, the “MIT experience” so many of you are mourning is not as unique as you might imagine. Joining a wide variety of clubs, learning about engineering/STEM, and taking really hard classes are options at LOTS of schools. Sure, MIT is amazing, but not going there doesn’t mean you can’t have a challenging, exciting, wonderful, unique, and irreplaceable four years elsewhere. You aren’t missing out on anything that you can’t find on your own.</p>
<p>I absolutely understand what all you want to say. And I do look forward to my future college experience. What made me feel bad is things that MIT quotes like “We create leaders, Here we have people who are passionate about changing the world, We admit humans-not test scores, Our students make a difference to the world etc. etc.” </p>
<p>And I keep on wondering what enables MIT to ‘manufacture’ such people ?</p>
<p>And then this "We teach you How To Think… What do they mean ? Can’t this be learnt at other places? Moreover, Do they teach or the tough curriculum forcefully injects this automatically in students? </p>
<p>I am sure taking hard classes does not create leaders/revolutionaries/change agents neither one can change the world by being able to solve tougher set of maths problems. Environment, Clubs, research etc. are also not an answer. (Moreover, one can create the fire hose for himself even in other colleges) But if not this, then what?</p>
<p>I don’t know, honestly. I think that the “MIT experience” is really just a hard, intense, involved college life that you could get for yourself many places, but at MIT, it’s forced upon you because you HAVE to meet those high standards. And some things are more easy to do at MIT (research, internships, etc) because everyone does them. That’s one thing, but if you’re at a “lesser” school and still doing research, internships, and hard classes, it shows you took the initiative to do those things whereas all MIT students HAVE to do them.</p>
<p>One last thing…MIT does have everything it claims to have (leaders, people who want to change the world, etc), but that doesn’t mean that other schools don’t!</p>
<p>If it does have what it claims to, Does it create or just gets it by virtue of its highly selective admissions ?
The question is: what enables MIT to ‘manufacture’ such people (leaders, change makers)? I ask this so that i can fetch it in the college I go. </p>
<p>And the other question is: "We teach you How To Think… What do they mean ? Can’t this be learnt at other places? Moreover, Do they teach or the tough curriculum forcefully injects this automatically in students?</p>
<p>As others have said, yes, you are deprived of starting your freshman year at MIT. But you know, DH was accepted to Sloan (MIT’s business school) after he graduated. As was another friend who went there, who was not accepted to MIT as a freshman. Neighbor’s daughter is there doing some PHD work. She went to CU Boulder for undergrad. So, you are not even definitely deprived of an MIT experience even—oh, and I have a former classmate who is a professor there who was rejected as undergrad. </p>
<p>Look at the courses you would have picked at MIT and take ones at the school you end up attending, that are as close as possible. Do the absolute best you can and stretch yourself. And enjoy where ever you go. MIT is not exactly a paradise in terms of a college experience. You most likely can have a heck of a better time at many other schools.</p>
<p>A lot of it is from its admissions. They try to select people who are leaders, etc. before they get to MIT.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that they really manufacture leaders and change makers…they just select a high-achieving, leadership-oriented group of kids and give them high expectations and LOTS of opportunities. You can find those same opportunities elsewhere, it just takes more effort.</p>
<p>I think that the “we teach you how to think” thing is mostly about the hard curriculum, as well as the engineering focus (problem solving, etc.) and they give problem sets (psets) as homework rather than exercises. The psets are often really difficult and require lots of thinking/collaboration – they’re not something you could copy from the back of the book. That part could definitely teach you how to think, but I do think you can learn all that elsewhere by challenging yourself.</p>
<p>I went there. It was hard. I learned a lot. I graduated. I worked with people from a variety of backgrounds. Many were brilliant. The ones from MIT were not unique.</p>
<p>sent from my smartphone with my fat fingers</p>
<p>I went to MIT ~20 years ago and had an incredible experience. I would recommend MIT to anyone fortunate enough to gain acceptance. BUT going there will have little bearing on your ultimate success and happiness in life. That will depend on you finding your passion and then finding opportunities to pursue it. MIT is by no means the only way for this to happen. Sure there are things that can only be experienced at MIT, but the same can be said of any fine instituituon. Don’t for a second think your future is somehow limited because of this. Your future is up to you, not the adcom at MIT.</p>
<p>MIT is like a cone of vanilla ice cream.</p>
<p>They ran out and you had to get chocolate ice cream.</p>
<p>^Bad example, I hate chocolate ice cream.</p>
<p>I know for sure something I won’t get in any other college : a pirate certification :O</p>
<p>OP I say no. MIT is a group of individuals formed in to an institution. You will be exposed to all of their traits but in a different package wherever you go and whatever you do.</p>
<p>ps really good question</p>
<p>MIT is a unique school. But then, so is every college. </p>
<p>MIT does not “manufacture” leaders, etc. It does admit a lot of students that will become leaders but that is who they are before they went to MIT. But again, MIT didn’t corner the market on leaders. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes and go to all kinds of schools.</p>
<p>“We teach you to think” could be said of most engineering schools. I went to MIT many moons ago and recently retired. In your professional career you will be asked to learn many new things. You will draw upon the skills you learned in college to master new material. If you don’t keep learning in your career, you will just stall out and not go any further.</p>
<p>If you were good enough to apply to MIT, you should do well in college and in your professional career where ever you go to college.</p>