<p>About the valedictorian thing, many competitive schools no longer have class rank or valedictorian status in order to discourage competition. This may have skewed the statistics somewhat.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with whomever said the MIT admissions process was pretty transparent. </p>
<p>As for what I wish I would have known pre-application is the deadline for requesting an interview. It was probably just me not being pro-active, but once I got around to reading the interview portion, the deadline was the next day. I don’t think an interview is significant enough to have made a difference in my application, but…</p>
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Why so?</p>
<p>Actually, it might just be very important. :)</p>
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<p>Actually, that may be true in my case. When I applied, I viewed myself as a truly borderline applicant. I was upset about not being able to get an interview, just because I’ve been told that my personality is pretty distinct and definitely shines through in an interview. But I figured I had the slightest possibility of getting in on a good day.</p>
<p>After hearing back and seeing how the more-qualified (“better stats”) people from my school also got rejected, I realized I probably was boosting my own ego by saying I was a border-line applicant. True, my interview could have helped, but hindsight is always 20/20. :)</p>
<p>Crossposting re: scores @ MIT - </p>
<p>Here is what Matt McGann, MIT '00 and Associate Director of Admissions, has to say. It’s a bit dated - back from the 1600 days - but still accurate: </p>
<p>[MIT</a> Admissions | Blog Entry: “What’s the big deal about 40^2?”](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml)</p>
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<p>I think essays killed me … so stress the importance of the essays more.</p>
<p>(Gotta have the right personality/be the right type of person for MIT)</p>
<p>Maybe how important SAT IIs are? Before Dec 16th (or whenever it was), I was sure my Chem SAT II results would make me an auto reject. Since then, I’ve been wondering about how much/little they’re important.</p>
<p>This is probably on a common data set somewhere though.</p>
<p>^ I’m being a little persnickety on wording, but it’s important. You need to be <em>a</em> right type of person for MIT. There’s no one personality that works for MIT - lots do. Of course, you’re right, there are certainly personalities that aren’t compatible with MIT, and some people would be very unhappy here :)</p>
<p>In the coming months before decisions, I truly did believe that I was a rather great fit for MIT. The rejection, regardless of how common it was, came to me as a rather large surprise, especially since I focused on not test scores, but rather ECs and character traits (something MIT claims is rather important). My interviewer agreed, claiming that I was an excellent candidate for MIT who really knew what he was doing. I was led to believe that I was a good match for MIT, but it never really showed. I wish there were clear cut criteria (as abstract as they might be) that really shows how great MIT students differ from other applicants. Perhaps if I knew what areas of interest the adcoms valued, I could shed a little more light into what adcoms figured were relevent and show them that (The essay questions are completely vague here).</p>
<p>While I expect that this doesn’t hold true for every single comparison, I expected that I would get in over a girl at my school (who has a quiet/lack of personality or social life). The opposite resulted; She got in, I was rejected. She was an Intel Semi-Finalist for her research (well deserved from what I hear); I interned at a think tank, designing and orchestrating everything by myself without aids of any kind. Unfortunately, the release of this research/product was restricted by the government, but that shouldn’t belittle the value of it (MIT Adcoms should be proficient at that). My question is, would I have been better off doing visible grunt work for a professor and an Intel award rather than creating original and useful restricted information?</p>
<p>@invgamma,</p>
<p>No, of course not. From what you’ve said here, I’m sure you will have offers from some great universities. </p>
<p>Rejection stings, especially when we don’t really see it coming. And it’s even worse when the one who’s accepted is right there in the community. The same thing can happen during the course of job interviews. Sometimes it comes down to bad luck, especially when there are more qualified applicants than spots to fill.</p>
<p>When you’re ready, move on. Don’t hang around here, pressing your nose to the glass, trying to second-guess what happened. </p>
<p>The friends you will find in college, the lovers you’ll meet, and the interesting discoveries you’ll make, lie on another path. Maybe MIT is also on that path, several years in the future. In the meantime, when you’re ready to let go of all this, enjoy what’s ahead.</p>
<p>I can tell you that it amazes me to talk to students who - when filling out their applications and essays - focus on only math and science related activities because they believe that is what the Institute wants. Hmm. My sister, at one point, was enrolled in both engineering and art at MIT. She eventually settled on math. I double majored with Civil Engineering and Art&Design and received both simo when I graduated. Once inside those walls there are a lot of cool things to do and a lot of various ways to do them on your way to a degree. </p>
<p>So be yourself. But let MIT see your “complete” self. Especially during the alumni interview. Not all interviewers do their interviews the same way - there is no template - but I do know that interviewers want to see the part of the person MIT wouldn’t see on the application. The theater, the travel, the passion for something that makes you a whole and well-rounded person. Those things you do because you can’t NOT do them (as opposed to those things you do because a teacher or librarian or “coach” lead you to them.)</p>
<p>I hate HATE that people emphasize SAT/ACT as a litmus because it’s clear many of the more affluent students I’ve been seeing have often been coached and “prepped.” But let’s face it - MIT is tough, and there is not “prep” course once you are there. So I’d rather focus on who the man or woman behind the numbers is.</p>
<p>Give interviewers and the admissions officers something to grab on to when they’re sorting through piles and piles of aspiring students. There is no one factor that will make a difference - there is only YOU - and that, my friends - is the part of the process you can control. When writing my report I can’t know what you fail to tell me. And I can’t add things you haven’t done. So be truthful but be passionate - about something beyond “the usual stuff.”</p>
<p>I still don’t know if I could have listed stuff like Linear Algebra lecture at PROMYS or OCW self-studied subjects on the self-reported coursework page. I didn’t see anything while filling out the application, but one of the blogs regarding the midyear report gave advice on how to format them.</p>