<p>As MIT is reading applications for admission, do they consider the specific high school a student attends at all? If it isn't mentioned anywhere in the application or interview, would they look and see if the school has sent anyone to MIT before or if this student is the first (and general reputation of the high school)?</p>
<p>I'm not sure they explicitly check to see if anybody's been admitted from your school before. If it's a typical high school, I'm not really sure how it's relevant.</p>
<p>Of course, they are quite familiar with a large number of US high schools, so they'll have some sense of the general caliber of the school.</p>
<p>They claim to analyze applicants on an individual basis, but I'm sure that high school profile is a factor. Some schools they seem to feed off of, while other schools are avoided--this is pretty obvious in admissions and seems to be common practice of all top colleges.</p>
<p>Definitely a factor. They know that some schools give a better preparation then others; it give them a contexts. The percentage of Private Boarding School matriculants is not all that high, so its not a private/public split. </p>
<p>Take a look at several years worth of DA, Milton and NMH data. DA and Milton have two admits each; NMH has one. </p>
<p>If you are doing wonderful things outside a miserable public, plus great scores you could beat out a straight AP Private. They look at you within the context of your schooling. </p>
<p>There is a reason MY.MIT.COM asks for your school.</p>
<p>
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They claim to analyze applicants on an individual basis, but I'm sure that high school profile is a factor. Some schools they seem to feed off of, while other schools are avoided--this is pretty obvious in admissions and seems to be common practice of all top colleges.
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You would see this effect, though, even if admissions were totally random with respect to school. It's certainly true that some schools send a lot more students to MIT than others, but I don't think there's much of an effect of a particular school outside a handful of really top high schools.</p>
<p>Well, I'm not sure about the admissions officers, but some guys I know from different schools commented that their interviewer noticed how few or how many <em>apply</em> from their schools. I do notice some schools sending more students to MIT than others, I think, but my sample is over a very small group of good schools in California. Maybe they will actually gauge how many students from different strong high schools actually sent students to MIT who've been successful. </p>
<p>If this isn't a small factor, I'll be a little surprised -- it certainly seems to be a factor for grad school admissions in some senses [i.e., your courses + letters of rec coming from certain schools will be regarded more favorably]. I don't, however, consider this "unfair" -- the college has to make a fair assessment of what going to a certain school really means, and it's up to a student at a school sending fewer to MIT to become a star and show his/her talents by going beyond the school, I imagine.</p>
<p>Perhaps I'm being unclear here.</p>
<p>Of course your high school's environment matters in terms of undergraduate admissions, because knowing about your high school is essential for understanding the context of your high school academic record and achievements. I do not think it's a critical factor, unless you go to one of a handful of really exceptional high schools (TJ, Bronx Science, etc.). And I don't believe the admissions officers search through their records to see if anyone has been admitted to MIT from your school before and/or their academic records if they matriculated. (I am reasonably sure the admissions office doesn't have access to the academic records of individual current students -- that information is between you and the registrar.)</p>
<p>They are familiar with a very large number of US high schools, because part of their job is to understand the context of the largest number of applicants possible. So it's reasonable that a reader might see your high school and think, "Oh! That's where so-and-so last year was from!" (you'd be surprised how much they remember about individual admits), but I don't believe this is done in a systematic way.</p>
<p>And again, the fact that some schools send more students to MIT than others is due to many factors: more students at particular schools knowing about and applying to MIT, students at particular schools being genuinely more outstanding than students at other schools, and chance. Even if MIT selected students from the applicant pool in a totally random fashion, there would be clusters of students from the same schools admitted.</p>
<p>Not at all, your message was very clear, and I think I was only expressing a bit of surprise that the name of the high school matters less on a subtle scale [i.e. unless we're talking about the "best" vs. "worst" high schools]. I mean, depending on at what point we're splitting hairs and can no longer distinguish two schools.</p>
<p>I think probably the reason for the clustering I was seeing is plainly that more students from these schools were into the idea of a technical type school (hence the fact that interviewers noticed how many were applying!).</p>
<p>I think my surprise came across as a bit more doubtful sounding than intended, actually, but for what it's worth, I think I understand now.</p>
<p>To moliiebatmit, did you go to bronx sci since out of all nyc public schools, you mentioned that one?</p>
<p>Ha, I wish! I went to a mediocre public school in the Midwest. :)</p>
<p>I just knew a few people at MIT from Bronx Science.</p>