<p>25% of the class of 2007 is considered URM. I would say that’s a pretty typical percentage.</p>
<p>Note that I’m only going by the numbers of Hispanic, African-American, and Native American students. Some ethnic groups in the Asian category are also considered URMs, notably the Hmong.</p>
<p>Thank you MITChris! I have the stats(Valedictorian, 97% gpa, 33+ACT), and I am a first gen student. Hopefully, my passion will carry me to acceptance.
Thanks!
Thanks also, to everyone who took the time to post!!</p>
<p>MIT Chris: I have one more(actually few more) question, if you don’t mind?
Do Adm. officers compare one applicant to another? I mean, what if the two applicants come from different backgrounds. If one went to a top high school and won international awards while the other went to an o.k. school that never sent anyone to high level competitions, how could they be compared? I see applicants from California who obliterated these crazy math and science competitions I’ve never heard of?
Shouldn’t decisions be based on the applicants acomplishments with respect to his environment? Would it be possible for both of the aforementioned applicants to get accepted(if they seized all oppurtunities given to them)?
If not, does it mean that an applicant from a top school hs a higher acceptance chance than an applicant from an o.k. school?</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant (his/her) environment!</p>
<p>Cruise around the MIT undergrad admissions website and the blogs. You’ll find that they’re pretty clear about how they view applications. That is, they look at applicants within their context. If you went to a podunk high school in a small mining town in South Dakota, they would not hold you to the same standard that they would a Stuyvesant student.</p>
<p>Does everyone here really have no extra-vehicular activities??? I’ve been on the lunar surface at least 15 times.</p>
<p>FRC Lunacy-cough cough</p>
<p>It is harder to get into MIT from Stuyesvant or Thomas Jefferson, unless you happen to be a top student there (top 10-15 or so). These “top high schools” have a higher proportion of math olympiad winners primarily because they recruit them. They also have a lot of other people who are MIT-level but cannot get into MIT because they are not at the top of their high school class.</p>
<p>^I’d bet that Stuy and TJ have higher acceptance rates at MIT than random middling HS does.</p>
<p>That’s probably true. I would have killed twenty puppies to have been able to go to Stuyvesant.</p>
<p>Maybe even thirty. And a baby.</p>
<p>Two babies.</p>
<p>@neongreen: FRC!!! 
(+10)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’re right, but what’s your point?</p>
<p>The U.S. basketball team has a higher qualification rate for the olympics than the French team. Does that mean if you played basketball and wanted to play in the olympics that it would be easier if you were born in France or America?</p>
<p>Let me give another analogy:</p>
<p>Let’s say the 5 people are admitted to Harvard Medical School each year from the University of North Dakota. 10 people are admitted to Harvard Medical School from MIT. (These are hypothetical numbers–don’t freak out.)</p>
<p>Does that mean it is easier to get into Harvard Medical School from MIT, since it has a higher acceptance rate than the U. of North Dakota?</p>
<p>When you’re given a statistic or mathematical equation, you have to think about what it really means.</p>
<p>^^ True</p>
<p>That’s the major thing I’ve learned in AP Stats this year: don’t fall into assuming relationships are as simple as they appear.</p>
<p>Statistics: (noun) A class whose AP version is STILL common sense :D</p>
<p>I see what you mean, collegealum, but I still think that part of evaluating a student within the context of his/her HS would mean MIT still looks positively on students who did really, really well but did so in a place where everyone did well. I’ve never looked at a list of where everyone in a certain senior class from Stuy or TJ goes to college, but I have looked at lists from top boarding and day schools, and when I saw that nearly everyone went to top schools, including students who must have been in the middle and near the bottom of their class, it seemed to me that it was easier to get in from, say, a Harvard-Westlake than it was from, say, my public, urban school in Ohio.
But, if the situation is different at top public schools than it is at the top private HS at which I’ve looked more closely and mid-ranked students aren’t going to MIT-caliber schools (or if I’ve misunderstood that at which I’ve looked), then color me wrong :).</p>
<p>There’s no point in worrying about people who have won major national awards. Think about it, guys. MIT has 1000 spots, and accepts something like 1500 people to account for yield. There are probably aren’t more than 200 people per year applying with major national awards. That leaves a lot of spots for people who merely have strong high school records.</p>
<p>Well, some of those East coast private schools have special relationships with the ivies. Then there’s the fact that there may be a lot of legacies, rowing recruits, stuff like that. </p>
<p>MIT has traditionally been more egalitarian and doesn’t automatically take a ton of people from private schools.</p>
<p>aeafeafefae</p>
<p>Now I wonder what standards MIT uses for internationals 
Damn my passport…</p>
<p>What about the valedictorian of an o.k. school?
Wouldn’t he/she have great chances even if he/she has the stats and EC’s and Passion?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>MIT is looking for exactly the same things in internationals that it is looking for in domestic applicants (although there is a tighter numbers game). The way to interpret a lot of this stuff is to consider that MIT (as with most top schools) wants to consider the choices that you have made regarding your education to date. For example, did you take the most challenging program available in your high school? </p>
<p>A lot of what is being discussed in this thread however, does not relate to choices that the applicant has made. Usually you do not have a choice as to whether your local high school is great, mediocre or poor. Similarly I sometimes get asked whether MIT prefers A-levels or the IB. Again, most candidates do not have any choice in the matter, therefore it is hard for one or the other to be preferred. </p>
<p>BTW, for those few with a choice, my entirely personal, non-official in any way opinion is that the IB offers better preparation for MIT or almost any American university education than A-Levels, but if you are looking to Oxbridge for your undergraduate education, then A-levels are probably better preparation.</p>