<p>Ben,</p>
<p>Thank-you for taking the time to help. I love MyMIT and the numerous blogs. As a parent it is easier to communicate when i can ask, how is the new restaurant? did anyone seranade you at Valentine's day? etc... I thought your wonderful note to the applicants who were deferred was one of the best pieces of advice to give. Thanks for representing MIT in a wonderful manner and helping some extremely bright students realize there is more to life than test scores and grades.</p>
<p>Thanks for your note anonymom7! It's a pleasure to be able to help folks out in the process - I remember from my own applicant days how difficult and nerve-wracking the process can be. :-)</p>
<p>I've noticed that MIT's admissions team seems to be more conspicuous - you're here, another has a blog, there's a blog for financial aid. Is this a new strategy for MIT - trying to be more open about the process? If so, thank you!</p>
<p>Yes, I would have to say that demystifying the admissions process to the greatest degree possible can only be a good marketing move :) and it is very appreciated by onlookers like me with a child who may or may not be applying to MIT at the end of high school studies.</p>
<p>Ben, everything about the open communications at MIT has been first-rate. Everything you've done there to clarify and humanize things for prospective applicants and their families, and for the general curious public, has been fantabulous. (Some of this relies on folks who like to blog, of course, so a different crew might do things differently, but what you've got going now <em>works</em>.) And everything that has arrived for my son and us, in email, snail mail, and via the MyMIT portals, since he got his EA acceptance, has been both clear communication and excellent marketing: you probably hope that it has a positive effect on prospies, but let me assure you that you probably don't even know the half of it. ;) Y'all done good, keep up the great work!
(-- "leftcoast mom" in disguise --)</p>
<p>I just got back a mere nine hours ago from MIT. My son had started an independent math team made up of students from schools which don't do much more than their local math league. I volunteered to drive them up to the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament. They stayed over at an MIT frat on Friday night and got to sample Ben's favorite lunchtime spot, Anna's Taqueria. My son agrees that the food there is the best on campus and he wouldn't mind it for lunch every day too.</p>
<p>I'm amazed by the changes in college admissions in the 40 years since I applied. It used to be that the committee was a group of stodgy old men who kept themselves quite aloof from the applicants. You didn't get to know their names nevermind ask questions. It blows me away that Ben and Matt had lunch with EA admit. </p>
<p>Fortunately and unfortunately, college decisions are being made earlier than years ago. Lessening the time waited is beneficial for both students and their families, but high school guidance offices have problems with this timeframe. In my son's school the quarter grades from teachers are not even submitted to the office until Feb. 4 and midyear reports are usually sent out about Mar. 1. The guidance counselor waits until this report to write about items that have been added to the students file in the previous 4 months. My son talked with guidance and convinced them that the info was needed sooner. Supplemental/midyear info was sent out on Mon., Feb. 14th using an express mail envelope I left at the guidance office. MIT received this the next day and although this was a good 3 weeks ahead of the high school's normal schedule it probably was received too late to be read before the decision committee started meeting. Though it has been stated that the application gives the committee the info needs, many times it is the supplemental comments by others that fully present the applicant to the committee.
Despite the problems with guidance and an interview he felt did not go well due to his having a severe migraine that day, my son is otimistically awaiting his pi day letter from MIT. Thanks for your blogs and cc comments.</p>
<p>Yeah you guys are the greatest...</p>
<p>Thanks guys! For the record, Matt and I will indeed be stodgy old men someday, but hopefully never aloof. :-) Interacting with applicants is without a doubt the best part of the job. I'm surprised that isn't a universal sentiment.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm surprised that isn't a universal sentiment.
[/quote]
Oh a certain presitigious school has automatic emails setup for everything. We send "commands" in the subject line to do things....</p>
<p>(sorry :D it's a bad post, i know)</p>
<p>^ yeah and my favourite one is "withdraw" :D</p>
<p>ie, if I get into MIT :o</p>
<p>Just a quick note - please don't address threads to Ben or other particular members. We don't want our college rep members (or any other member) to feel obliged to respond to particular questions. These folks DO have other priorities in their lives, and we want their CC time to be a relaxing respite from everything else. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi everyone - Roger just explained to me in more detail why the folks at CC don't want threads directed to specific members, and I totally understand. One of the main reasons is to keep this space a vibrant community instead of turning it into a one-on-one Q&A session with an adcom. :-) But I just wanted to say please keep asking your questions! Often other folks in the communuity will be able to answer them, and I'll continue to offer insight as often as I can.</p>
<p>SAT 2 question- You have to take a Math and Science SAT2 and a third in an area of your choosing. Can you submit the second Math as your third SAT? or must you choose a humanity? In the past it was math, science and writing.</p>
<p>Apart from a Math, and a Science, the MIT app has a humanities SAT 2 score, which offers two choices - Writing or History (if I remember correctly). A second math isn't humanities :)</p>
<p>mercurysquad is correct: this year's application did not say "Math, Science, and a third of your choosing". It said "Three SAT II Subject Tests (one from each category below)" and had slots for 3 SAT II Subject Tests as follows:</p>
<p>"Humanities Subject Test (check one)
-- Writing or literature
-- History</p>
<p>Science Subject Test (check one)
-- Chemistry -- Biology e/m -- Physics</p>
<p>Math Subject Test (check one)
-- Level Ic -- Level IIc"</p>
<p>Unclear how or if this might change next year with the changes in the SAT I. It is clear, however, that the third SAT II score this year could not be a second math test.</p>
<p>Right - the "third of your choosing" begins with entry year 2006, and you can take whatever you want, including a second math.</p>
<p>Thank-you, I was wondering for the class of 2006, since writing is now on the SAT and not a SAT2. On the web site it mentions a SAT of your choice and I wondered if they wanted another humanity or could you use two maths...
Thanks again Ben and good luck with this years class.</p>
<p>lol anonymom7, that sounds like we'd make such a rowdy class that he NEEDS good luck to deal with us :p.</p>
<p>lol yeah! :D</p>
<p>Welcome to the board! I came across your blog one day and I can't begin to explain how it brings something like the admissions process of MIT into a much clearer perspective. If I ever start to panic I just read this from one of your past entries and remember that it is all about who you are:</p>
<p>"It's who you are that really matters. It's how you embrace life. It's how you treat other people. It's passion. "</p>
<p>thanks for all the insight...</p>