Some Concerns from a Junior

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Application time is almost here for the college class of 2015, and I'm kind of scared!</p>

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<li>Do at least some of the seats each year go to those who didn't have the opportunities most CCers have?</li>
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<p>I had written MIT off of my list until I got my PSAT score back: 207. I know this is just above the 25th percentile, but I feel like most CCers are from top high schools and colleges understand that background. I'm from a low-income family in a smallish town. </p>

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<li>I read on the MIT site that failure is part of life, is this really true, or is "failure" a "B"?</li>
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<p>My school doesn't offer APs, so I've taken several online. I had a terrible sophomore year in online math and science courses because of the lack of learning material in the classes and outside support, compounded with family problems I probably shouldn't mention on my application. I'm taking courses at community colleges, and the face-to-face math/science instruction has allowed me to excel...we use MIT OCW in class too. I'll have almost 90 semester hours of credit, including advanced courses in every science field. I even solved my first Putnam problem last week!</p>

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<li>I know MIT accepts transfer credit, but does this work well and occur often in practice?</li>
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<p>My intended major is chemistry (analytical and physical are my favorite sub-disciplines). Even in the unlikely event I am accepted to MIT it would be difficult, especially as a low-income student, to justify going to MIT over accepting Junior standing at the top Analytical Chemistry school in the nation, probably the world, if I'm not going to get much transfer credit. </p>

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<li>What do I do about my school trying to get back at me in the application?</li>
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<p>I've constantly had to butt heads with my school administration. I looked into transferring to a different school, but they had strict rules against doing anything out-of-the-ordinary. I've been active in my state government in terms of education, and have been forced to report my school for institutional ineffectiveness and inability to complete basic functions, in my official capacity. Our one counselor may be moving at the end of the year, and thus replaced, but it's up in the air at this point.</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Yes, I think so. You can see there are just 195 replies in the Result thread of '2013, while there were 1,675 applicants admitted last year. Remember that there are those who are accepted, or rejected, or wait-listed in that 195 number.</p></li>
<li><p>From everything I’ve heard, yes. They will approach your application in the most holistic way. MIT loves people who strive for the better regardless of where they come from.</p></li>
<li><p>idk</p></li>
<li><p>No idea. You have to deal with it yourself.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>

Absolutely. MIT as a whole is a more working-class environment than most of its peer schools. There are a lot of kids who went to high schools with crazy opportunities, but there are a lot more kids who went to normal high schools and made their own opportunities. Speaking for myself, it can be tough to adjust to MIT from a not-great high school background, but that’s why first semester is pass-no record.</p>

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In my years on CC, I have seen people with significant spots on their records get into MIT. But they had other things going for them, and they were able to convince the admissions officers that the spots on their records were not representative of their work ethic and ability. The admissions officers really do believe that failure is a part of life, but at the same time, they’re selecting from among the most talented and qualified students in the country and in the world. For the admissions perspective on this, check out Ben Jones’ blog entry (based on a post he made on the CC Parents’ Forum) [Many</a> Ways to Define the Best](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_school_preparation/many_ways_to_define_the_best.shtml]Many”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_school_preparation/many_ways_to_define_the_best.shtml).</p>

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It depends on the department. The chemistry department has a webpage with their transfer credit procedures [url=<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/academic/transfer.html]here[/url”>http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/academic/transfer.html]here[/url</a>].</p>

<p>Keep in mind that one advantage of MIT is that virtually the entire MIT course catalogue is open to you as an undergraduate, an option not available everywhere. If you’re thinking of going to graduate school in chemistry, you’ll want to think about the depth and breadth of classes easily available to you – MIT has an advantage here, because graduate courses are open to undergraduates, and because only a very small number of courses are enrollment-restricted or difficult to register for. It’s unlikely that you’d actually want to accept junior standing and graduate from college in two years if you’re interested in graduate school – you’ll need more time than that to get great research experience.</p>

4

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<p>Reviewing the article, it occurs to me that advanced college classes or multiple college classes in general must have a slight benefit. Admissions officer must see APs all day long, and after awhile you think they’d get blas</p>

5

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<p>And there’s the in-between people like me, who went to what was considered the best high school in a state that is synonymous in many people’s minds with “uneducated and backward”. :)</p>

<p>MIT gets the whole spectrum. I actually know someone who was homeless at the time that she got her acceptance letter - the address that she had correspondence sent to was a friend’s, if I remember the story correctly. Also, her high school was a relatively poor high school in a poor area - she was one of the 5% of entering MIT students each year who had never taken physics before.</p>

<p>Some slightly less anecdotal commentary: There’s another thread in one of the main forums that has MIT tied for 4th, among schools with an average SAT math score of at least 700, for percentage of students receiving federal grants of any sort (which doesn’t overlap perfectly with need-based grants, but the overlap is pretty large). And, as of the 2005-2006 school year, roughly 15% of MIT undergrads received Pell Grants, which are “typically awarded by the federal government to students whose family incomes are less than $40,000 per year.” That is higher than most of its peer schools. I’ve seen claims that the number has gone up since then, though I don’t know what the number currently is.</p>

6

<ol>
<li><p>Definitely not something to worry about. People at MIT come from all walks of life. To add my own experience to the mix, I went to a very, very good public high school and had excellent opportunities in that sense. At the same time, I’m definitely middle class and neither of my parents completed more than 3 weeks of college.</p></li>
<li><p>Are you looking to enter MIT as a transfer student? It varies a lot from department to department, but it’s usually pretty hard to get credits transferred as a freshman. As for the money issue, you might be surprised by your financial aid package. People have different experiences and some people really disagree with me on this, but I was very lucky and got an incredible finaid package. In fact, the official policy is that if your family makes less than $75,000 a year, you go to MIT basically for free (minus a few thousand dollars a year in “self-help,” namely student employment or loans.)</p></li>
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7

<p>aigiqinf–</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Are the courses you did poorly in online now included on your hs transcript? Maybe you should include the comm college ones you are now exceling in, and leave these others out, in your app materials.</p></li>
<li><p>If you apply to MIT, are accepted, and have low income you will recv finanical aid. MIT can afford to offer aid to the students it wants, and does. </p></li>
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<p>If you receive fin aid that makes it possible to attend MIT, do so and go for all 4 years! They will be some of the greatest years of your life - I mean in terms o flearning things you never dreamed you’d be exposed to, not just fun or social stuff. </p>

<p>Since MIT will be in essence giving you tuition write-downs, why wd it matter that you went all 4 yr instead of only 2? Besides, you do not want to try to cheat yourself of 2 years at MIT. </p>

<ol>
<li>Do you really think the school will try to kill your chances at admission there? If so, find someone else to write your letters! What abt the profs at the comm college where you are doing so well? </li>
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<p>Also, get someone you know from your state gov’t activities to write on your behalf. Like your superior in that function. You want people from “the other side” to be saying stellar things about you, so that if something nasty comes in from the only guidance counselor, it is that one that looks out of place amid all the other glowing accounts. </p>

<p>Has MIT ever received any apps from your school before? If so, they already know about your school & whether they fall down in this or that area.</p>

8

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<p>They must go on my high school transcript. I really want to be able to explain what happened without sounding like I’m whining. In short, we got 5 days to drop the year-long course, none of my teachers could help me, we got poorly-written textbook and no other instructional materials of any kind…it was just WebAssign and tests for Physics and Tests, tests, and more tests for Calc…we didn’t even have the lab equipment for physics. The only people who did well in AP Physics online had an extremely strong Honors Physics class–which I hadn’t taken and was told by the instructor that I didn’t need it–and they spent hours and hours a week on it, often meeting with a teacher with a PhD in physics several times a week. The only people who did well in AP Calculus BC had already taken AB, and since they were seniors they got by with an A first semester, got accepted, and ended with C’s. </p>

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<p>At my school other students pretty much regard me as a quasi-faculty member, and teachers respect and talk to me like an adult. My concern is with my counselor’s recommendation.</p>

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<p>We’re on the campus of a different school, and we’re separate, but our name contains theirs. They had one student accepted several years ago, but it’s an inner-city school and the student was a URM. I’ll be part of my school’s first graduating class, actually.</p>