I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

This is me: http://www.mitadmissions.org/chrispeterson.shtml

I don't know if anyone still uses this forum, and lord knows I haven't posted on CD in years, but if anyone has any questions, I will try to get to them when I'm not reading cases :)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

My daughter, who is a sophomore and would love to go to MIT wash pushed into taking a third year of French instead of a higher math, although they did work out a compromise. Is a third year of a foreign language really that important to MIT? More generally, what is the best way to know?

And by the way, a few people do use this forum. Some of us too much.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

That's possible? :confused: :eek:

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

When I'm on here after midnight and I need to get up at 5...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

here's a question: I have a 3.2 GPA and an ACT score of 35 without the writing, though I expect to score similarly on the SAT next month, but I'm 124 out of 300 and some students (I had to give my only transcript copy to my engineering teacher), so I'm obviously not that highly ranked in my school. what would you say my chances of acceptance are?

some other information: I'm currently in my second year of calculus, and am taking AP physics and a third year of engineering, as well as a few other AP courses and such, putting me at 8 semesters of math, English, and sciences, 5 semesters of history/social studies, 4 semesters foreign language, 1 semester of microeconomics, and 12 semesters of music classes.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I am worried this thread is going to descend into people worrying a lot about their grades and test scores. There are a lot of things that make you an interesting person to colleges. Among the top is passion.

Be yourself and do what you love.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

My personal, non MIT opinion on what will be the inevitable GPA questions: Do you really want to go to a college that throw you out because of minute differences and numbers and grades that are based on arbitrary scales with no standard that are decided entirely by your teacher's and institution? Be a genuinely interesting person and I bet they won't care that your 3.75 isn't a 4.0.

Here's my question about MIT: One of the big things that was told to me about MIT was their suicide rate. Is this a really big deal? What resources are there on campus for students who find themselves in these situations?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

this hadn't even occurred to me. I'm still in that spot where I'm trying to figure out where I'd like to go and whether I'd be eligible at a school before spending 50 dollars to send in an application, and it'd be good to know whether my academic qualifications would be unacceptable. the way the counselors talk doesn't help this much, either

I'll definitely have to keep this more towards the front of my mind moving forward

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

kstl -

A third year of foreign language is good, but not required, for MIT. We do require bio, chem, physics, and calculus in high school. What math did she not take, and what math is she taking?

If she's on track to complete calculus she's fulfilling the basic requirements. If she can take AP/IB/honors calculus, all the better.


Zholl -

It's impossible for me to give you a chance on your acceptance. See: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...hance-mit.html

Your scores are great, but the grades attending your class rank would likely give us pause. We would want to look at your grades, look at your classes, and look at your teacher recs, and try to see why you're ranked in the middle of the pack though your testing ability is obviously quite high.

If you can tell me a little bit more about your grading situation (either in this thread or via PM) I might be able to help more.

Other than that, your course selection is certainly good.


Greg -

Agreed 100%. Grades and scores are important in our process, but only in a very narrow way. Briefly, we have decades of data about students, comparing how they did in high school on grades and tests to how they performed once admitted to MIT. And because we have these data, we (being MIT) built complex models that demonstrate what sort of academic profiles are good matches for MIT and what sort of profiles are not.

The first thing we do in our admissions process is take a pass through to distinguish the academically qualified from the unqualified as per above. Maybe 50% of the applicants every year are perfectly academically qualified for MIT.

The hard part is going from the ~8,000 kids who are qualified to the ~1,500 we accept. And that's where grades and scores become utterly unimportant and your passion matters.

I couldn't agree with you more, and I certainly hope this thread does not become a grade/score worryfest. It's something that we really try to depressurize in our process.

For more, I recommend this blog entry by our Associate Director of Recruitment, who is MIT '00:

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...bout_402.shtml

Excerpt:


Hi Chris -

We don't throw students out because of minute differences. In fact, we're one of the few highly selective colleges that don't convert all of our incoming applicant's GPA to the 10.0 Exeter/Andover grading system. Many schools will just take whatever you got and convert it to that, find the top students, and go from there.

We don't do that, certainly not with grades - see my post above about our models. Once you're academically qualified for MIT, we look at everything else.

I spent about 45 minutes on your application. I read your essays. I look up where you're from to get a sense of your community (urban or rural? census data? affluent or poor? what was your world like)? I read your teacher recs, and excerpt them heavily, so that I know what the people who interact with you every day think of you. I look at your interview to see what someone from the MIT community thinks about a conversation with you as a person. I really try my hardest to get a sense of who you are and why you do what you do.

Matt addressed this recently on the website:

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...ult_subj.shtml

You should read the entire blog post. Matt put a lot of thought, numbers, and personal stories - he was President of student government when a highly publicized suicide occurred ten years ago - into it.


Zholl -

The most important thing for your college search process, bar none, should be match. Go visit a bunch of schools and see if you feel like you're home when you're on campus. If you figure that out, everything else - finances, academics, etc - will fall into place.

As for academic qualifications, you can see our data set: http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...cs/index.shtml

For personal qualifications - as much as they can be abstracted on a website, which is not very - you can see this: http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...le/index.shtml

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Does your financial aid office operate the same way ?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

That's refreshing to hear. The point of what I said (poorly communicated, I know) is that if you're worried about number x being juuust a bit low, you should consider schools that consider you for more than that, MIT being included on that list. :D

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but our financial aid office is:

- need blind, meaning we consider applications without positive or negative prejudice associated with your financial need or lack thereof; we won't let you in because you can pay the full ride nor deny you because you can't pay a nickel

- need only, meaning we award financial aid on the basis of need and not merit

- full need, meaning we will meet every single cent of your family's demonstrated financial need


thanks!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

This is what I meant: Many colleges offer grants that are keyed to GPA and ACT/SAT score with a straightforward formula.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Just to be clear, it sounds like your admissions policy is need blind, not your financial aid.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

And on a related topic:
http://www.boston.com/news/education...rom_alumnu s/

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were insinuating that aid was merit based (as in a higher GPA will get you a better amount of money from FAFSA or something). Deleting post...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Not being in the market for admissions, I don't have a question, but I just wanted to take a moment and publicly acknowledge your very generous offer.

While "knowing" Petey might not influence your chance at MIT directly, advice like this is very valuable; anyone should be able to recognize that.

As for your comment that "The most important thing...should be match" is oh-so-true. You do NOT want to spend 4 years somewhere you don't like. Even if it's MIT. There are some exceptions to this 'rule', but in reality nobody cares about where you graduated from for your second job.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

do you think you could elaborate on that a little bit? obviously I haven't entered the professional workforce yet, and given my dad's work history I don't think he's a great example of what you're trying to say here

also, as far as the whole "matching" thing, I'm curious as to the "feel" of the community there. specifically, I'm interested as to how crowded it feels around campus. I'm more used to large town to small city communities, and having spent time in the likes of San Francisco, Atlanta, and even Denver, I definitely prefer a smaller sized community anyway, but I'm not familiar with the Cambridge, MA area

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Correct. Our financial aid is need-only, meaning we key it to your financial need, not merit (GPA/SAT/ACT/whatever).

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Warning: Long post

Well, I can't comment on MIT. I graduated from SUNY Stony Brook, and that was more than half a lifetime ago. Things change in 30 years. I did spend about an hour at MIT once, just walking around. It looks like a college campus, and across the river is downtown Boston. If I recall, it was not easy to park.

On the "matching" thing, I can only relate some personal stories:

Story 1:
When I first went to college for EE, I ended up at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, PA (now a university). I was very impressed by their very modern labs and facilities, rebuilt only 4 years before after a devastating flood. There were about 50 kids in the entire freshman engineering class.

A side note on the flood: Wilkes-Barre went from a vital community of 100,000 residents to less than 35,000 because of the flood. Definitely small urban, but kinda desolate in spots.

Near the end of my second year, I came to realize that the school was too small: You knew everyone too well, and couldn't 'get away'; many of the professors were second-rate; there were so few of them the chances of having the same awful prof in several important classes was high. The conclusion was that "facilities are meaningless, focus on how good the teachers are". (Some of the teachers were outstanding though; I'll never know why someone as good as Dr Bohning chose to teach chemistry at Wilkes, but suffice it to say I got an A)

So, onward to SUNY Stony Brook, a huge suburban campus with 25,000 undergrads, perhaps 1500 engineers in my class. Stony Brook was big enough to attract Nobel Laureates, have it's own Linear Accelerator, and some of the teaching talent was outstanding (Dr. John Truxal comes to mind). Older but decent facilities, better profs. Was great for me, and I saw much better grades and was having a good time, too.

Story 2: My daughter decided to go to an urban Pennsylvania university (and got a decent scholarship), but learned that urban environments are scary for small females at night. Transfer after a year to a suburban school.

Story 3: After 15 years in After-sales Engineering (basically service and tech support) for an import car company, I decided to switch to spare parts documentation, where I made a huge impact over several years. All was well, but during that time, I did a lot of introspection, and learned some things about myself. Most important was that I really enjoyed writing, especially explaining technical topics to non-technical people. I did it for fun, after work - on forums like CD, and for some Ham Radio magazines.

So, long story short, I pursued a job in the company writing technical training, a job known as an Instructional Designer. Now I get paid to do what I really love doing, and because I love it so much, my passion and drive for excellence really shows - they like my work. And the students seem to like what I write, too, so we have a Win-Win-Win.

Does that help clarify?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

very much so. thank you Don. it's always nice to hear from those that have so much more experience than I do.

I've done a bit of research and some thinking, and I've decided that MIT's probably not the best fit for me, and I'll probably end up staying more local. it looks like Cambridge and the surrounding area is a lot more densely populated than it is out here, and to be honest being around lots of people really stresses me, and I think part of me really only wanted to go to MIT because it's MIT, and well, you know...

I'm currently looking at CSU in Fort Collins instead as a primary choice, where I'll probably study mechanical engineering and then master in biomechanics, which is about what I would have done elsewhere. also, I grew up in the area and the town's a pretty good fit for me, and the engineering program is still quite good. both of my parents received engineering degrees from CSU, and I know they do a lot of alternative energy research and such there as well, plus this way I get to stay closer to family

it occurs to me that the original purpose of this thread wasn't exactly what it ended up accomplishing for me, but I would like to thank the lot of you for actually making think about a bit more than the school, and maybe this will help someone else who's in the same boat

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Very wise. Having a support structure can be important for some students (others create new ones wherever they go).

Petey is dispensing advice that isn't only specific to MIT; in fact, it's quite portable to many other schools.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Yes, especially w/r/t match!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I'm a Junior in HS, just starting to think about college, and I'm guessing that I have NO chance of making it into MIT, but I'll ask my questions anyways.

First (haha, get it? It's not funny), I attend a fairly large high school (We have 2000+ students) and my GPA is lower then I'd like to admit. (I have somewhere around a 3.0. I'd check for exactness, but the site is down)

So, my question is, how heavily does MIT weigh GPA?

Next, ACT Scores. How heavily are those weighted? I took the ACT in 8th grade and got a 28. My projected score for this year is a 34-36. Assuming I got a 34-36, how would that influence acceptance, based on the fact that my GPA is poor?

Finally, because I'm always curious, how many scholarships do you have for FIRST Students specifically, if any?

Thanks!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Hi Keaton -

We don't have GPA/ACT minimums. What I can tell you is that your projected ACT score of 34-36 would be a good range, but your GPA is on the lower end. It would depend on precisely the classes and situations - we care less about the numbers than the context, a lot less - but it is low for us. Just want to be realistic.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Not sure whether this post is unbiased or not (I'm a huge fan of MIT and am (supposed to be) working on my essays right now), but I feel like Zholl's question "Does it feel crowded?" was never actually answered.

I don't go to MIT, although like I stated, I'm applying now, but I've been there several times for summer/weekend programs. It's probably a bit more active during the week, but what I got was a sense of, oddly, calm. The people in the area were really friendly, albeit a little too quick to think I was a student there, and the campus is very nice-I especially enjoy Killian Court, it's great for pictures! The area felt warm and inviting, which was really funny because you can drive a block or two and the buildings are completely different. There's something thrilling about standing below the Green Building, before running down its stairs (it hurts afterwards, though), and everywhere you look there's something interesting. Remember, though, that I was only there on weekends, so what I say may or may not be accurate. Considering that there's supposed to be circa 6,000 students there, plus staff, it's reasonably sized, and feels close, especially compared to some colleges I've seen. (University of Illinois comes to mind...)
Overall, I'd say it's a friendly place, not too crowded, and different from a lot of Boston and Cambridge.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

@ demosthenes2k8 - We have about 4000 undergrads, and 6000 grad students, which is a bit over 10000 students total.

MIT housing is a bit over-crowded, but we have a new dorm on track to open in fall 2011, which will help alleviate that problem. Otherwise, I think it's a friendly place with enough people that you'll always be able to meet new people, but not so many people that you feel like you're lost in a sea of people. At least MIT is the right size school for me - other people have mentioned the "fit" of a college, and size is one of the factors that plays into whether a university works for you or not.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

thank you for answering that. this has turned in to an important consideration for me personally, so it helps to find out, since I get pretty stressed around crowds (at least outside of a classroom)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

No problem. Feel free to ask me if you have any other questions about student life - you can PM me if you want.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Ooh, I got a question: hows the food at MIT? Does the cafe serve good food (as in healthy and tasty). Also how are the steaks? Do they serve steak at all? Also any restrictions like curfew or something? (Late night snacking)

Another question: how is the gym? Is it big? Is it crowded most of the time?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Ooh, now I've got a question. In the "Self Reported Course Work" section of the application, do you list classes you're currently taking?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the interview? What should we expect?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

This one's been bugging me all day. I've tried to comment twice, and decided not to twice. Third time's the charm, I guess.

I can't speak for MIT, but at my college, asking the admissions officers that question would get at best a non-committal answer (or something made up on the spot or off the campus literature or something of that nature). Pretty much nothing you'd really want to know, other than hours and how much a meal plan would cost. Other than the facilities crew, the kitchen crew and one faculty/staff member (the electronics specialist), I can't think of a single member of the faculty, staff, or administration that eats meals in the dining hall on a regular basis other than once-or-twice-a-year.

I'm less sure about the gym, as I don't use it that often, but I'm 90% certain that with a slightly different staff grouping, the same thing applies.

That sort of thing is something you want to ask a student about. The students will tell it like it is better than an admissions officer would be able to. (Same for dorms, rec rooms, and which profs are the best.)

Also, the odds of steaks on non-special occasions are probably close to zero if it's a cafeteria...I can't think of a single dining hall steak dinner except on special occasions. (Student-organization sponsored activities, on the other hand, are another story.)

Again, this is something I've noticed at my school, which is in South Dakota. Things may be completely different at MIT.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Thanks for the response. One of my mentors once said that to see if the college or work place is good, always try the cafeteria first. The gym is a personal preference for me. I guess experiencing it first hand would be the best judge of that. So in other words: "College cafeterias are not much of a step up from highschool cafeterias"? I never eat at my Cafe, I always eat out for lunch. That shows how much I hate school food

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Depends on the school. Over here at SDSM&T, the cafeteria is pretty good. If you can't find anything you like (burgers, pizza of various types, sandwich and salad bars, and a couple of other stations that vary from meal to meal), it's a really really really, emphasis on really, bad day for them--and it's all you can eat. (I've yet to not find something I like to eat, in 4 years of eating there.) The coffee joint I haven't been to, but the snack bar is pretty good as well (wraps, pizza, fast-food, snacks).

The actual point of my last post was, "you're probably not asking the right person". For anything (or anyone) the students would be interacting with on a daily basis, or close to it, you go to the students for their take. Probably the admissions officers know...but it's likely they don't know the whole story, like the one school I know of that had moldy bread in sandwiches on visitor's day. (School name will not be released to protect said school, but it's not the one I go to. I found out later from alumni that the food was normally pretty bad when they went there.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

While the food you'll be eating for two to four years is important to know, it's probably the least important factor possible when deciding where to go to school. You will grow tired of any college's food quickly.

Similar comments for a gym. Do you really want to look back on your life in 15 or 20 years and definitively say "I picked one academic institution over another where I got the most important education of my life because they had an extra bench press"? Seriously? I mean, student life is important and it's worth asking "hey can non athletes use the weight room" (which you will hear a "yes" regardless of whether or not that is actually true), but you're not going to college to eat food or to work out.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Your question about the dining plan is actually difficult to answer right now - we're in the process of creating a new dining plan to be implemented starting in fall 2011. We haven't selected a vendor yet, but since it may be different than our current vendor it's hard to say exactly how it will turn out. Currently there is an emphasis on providing healthy options, which is something that will be continued and expanded in the new plan. I'm a vegetarian, so I can't really give you feedback on the steak - since I don't look for it I can honestly say I don't know if it's served (but again, that's subject to change anyway based on the new vendors we work with next fall). And to the question about late-night dining - dorm dining halls are not open at night, however there is a campus convenience/grocery store open 24/7, and every dorm has at least some kitchen facilities so people tend to cook things at all hours as well. Overall, our dining system is very different than what you find at most universities, so if you want more details feel free to ask.

Also, our housemasters and their children do eat in dining several times a week - probably more than I make it home for dinner actually!

I think the question about our gym is much simpler to answer - it's fantastic! We have really great facilities in terms of variety and quality. I've never found it to be excessively crowded there. (Fyi - I'm not an athlete but I use the gym for personal use. I have athlete friends who are happy with the facilities as well.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

w/r/t the gym: the MIT gym is awesome, far surpassing what I've seen in 90% of college gyms. http://mitrecsports.com

w/r/t dining: it's in flux, but as a general rule, MIT is more about a) cooking for yourself b) eating out at the (cheap, plentiful) places around here. There are dining plans but they are not integrated into large dining halls like most dorms. But you'll also find that many MIT students love cooking for themselves. See: http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...r_dinner.shtml

You list ALL coursework from high school.

You're just going to have a conversation with them about MIT. Low pressure. Don't stress.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Yes that may be true, but MIT is already so prestigious about the academics is that if I asked "How are the classes at MIT?", it would be pretty redundant wouldn't you think? So I ask about the less known aspects of the school.


I also found something interesting... Both MIT and Caltech have the beaver as the mascot...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Yet that's a question that you'd want to know a lot more about. How big are the classes, do you ever get taught by TAs, how much of it is curved, is the courseload that bad, how flexible can you be with electives, etc. are all great "How are the classes" questions that differ from place to place.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Or, how do you apply the classwork to real applications? Any engineering school worth its salt will have some form of engineering competition team, and probably more than one, to provide some form of practical application. Theory without practice is just about useless--but then again, practice without theory is even worse.

(BTW, "Is the courseload that bad?" will vary depending on whether you ask a freshman, a senior, or a sophomore/junior--or even a professor.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

- class size depends. intro to physics is usually the biggest with a couple hundred kids (standard, or small, when compared to most colleges). most upper level classes are between 10-15.

- no TAs teach classes. all full professors.

- courseload is heavy, definitely. MIT is like drinking from a firehose.

MIT's motto is 'mens et manus', meaning 'mind and hand', because of the real applications. 80% of MIT students will do a UROP research program in one of our graduate labs. many will travel abroad on a MISTI internship.

as for competition teams, here are a few:

http://solar-cars.scripts.mit.edu/
http://web.mit.edu/evt/
http://aerobatics.mit.edu/

with many more

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Are there any special programs that MIT has with international study abroad or studying at nearby colleges like Caltech? Caltech allows studying at Occidental to get some credit and has programs with UCSD, UCLA and USC and probably more that they don't tell on their website, and they have some international studies programs. I am personally interested in studying abroad in Asia, preferably Singapore, Korea or Japan. The one in Caltech is only in Europe.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

international: yes -

http://web.mit.edu/MISTI/
http://web.mit.edu/cmi/ue/

we have full cross-reg with harvard, wellesley, and mass fine art.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

*bump*

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Would dropping Football my senior year affect my chances at all? I have played 3 years and dropping at the last year is not really what I wanted. Seems like a necessity for me However is it true that colleges do not look at senior year as much since the students are submitting their applications during the senior year, so they already don't have a real clear picture of the senior year. My counsellor said it was fine to drop football and focus on academics. Taking tons of APs senior year won't do much will it?


I am just confused right now...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Well,

* honestly, if you're in a position to drop football, then it probably wouldn't really "help" you that much in your application to us or any school. If you were a star player being recruited to play, then it helps; if not, it's just another thing that you do.

* that said, you don't need to overload on APs either.

do what you want to do.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

How much does participating in FIRST boost your chances of admissions?

How do you determine if an applicant is "academically qualified"? Do you look at courses the students has taken, SAT scores, ACT scores, GPAs, etc?

Ive taken rigorous courses that are available at my school( AP Calc AB & BC, AP Physics C, AP Econ(macro+micro), AP Comp Sci, etc), but my SAT and GPA arnt the best in the school. Would I still be considered "academically qualified"?

I really want to go to MIT, but im not sure my grades are super enough to get me in.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Somewhat related to the above question. I know about 15% of each incoming class are former FIRSTers (or so I've heard; true or false?). I was wondering what percentage of the applicants are FIRSTers. More out of curiosity than anything.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

It doesn't "boost" your admissions, in the sense of "oh, hey, FIRST kid, 10 points there!"

We like to see that you're motivated. We like to see you work well in teams. We like to see that you are interested in sci/tech.

FIRST is a great way to abstract out all of those characteristics of you and represent them in an activity.
all of the above.
depends on your scores. they don't need to be the best in the school. they just need to be good enough where they predict success at MIT. if you're scoring in the 700s on each section you're fine. if you're in the 600s, we'll look at everything real closely to get a good sense with our statistical models. if you're in the 500s, data suggest that MIT is not the best match for you.
you don't need to be the valedictorian, but you should have more vowels than consonants. look at it this way: the only way to definitely not get into MIT is to definitely not apply!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

How do students at MIT get involved in FIRST?

I want to continue my participation in FIRST after I go to college, but I don't know how that would work. I asked my interviewer, and he replied that he isn't sure about FIRST itself, but I could sign up for the research opportunities available that would be similar to being involved in FIRST.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

MIT students mentor 3 (4?) FIRST teams.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I believe 11% of my class at MIT (class of 2012) was involved in FIRST. (I think I heard this number directly from Woodie at a regional last year - either Boston, Connecticut, or WPI, don't remember which.)

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

How do you manage to always sound so happy (chipper) in your posts? Even you of all people must have bad days.

And, in the event of being deferred to Regular Decision from Early Action, or accepted, or whatever happens shy of a dragon appearing from a vortex over the city and incinerating all of Boston/Cambridge, is it only possible to update your application with new information through the mid-year report?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

What personalities and/or qualities do accepted students have? What made them stand out from the thousands of other academically capable students?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Have you ever observed cases, and if so, a guess at how many please, where an applicant has asked so many questions of various natures that you feel like they may be obsessing over getting into MIT and maybe, just maybe, need someone to slap them back to sanity?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Sure I do! But the truth is I really like working with applicants. And if I'm actually super-pissed, I'm generally solving the problem that's making me pissed, not posting simultaneously on CD ;)
No, you can update your application at any time by faxing it to us. It just won't be evaluated until Regular Action.

eh, I don't know if I'd put it that way. There are definitely students who, let's say, let their excitement about MIT get in the way of the rest of their application. We love students who are excited about MIT. But if you're letting your excitement shroud the rest of your application like a cloud of bees, it's probably not going to help!

I addressed this somewhat in a blog post - http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/...sideways.shtml

excerpt:

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I seem to be quite eligible for MIT in terms of scores, 4.0 unweighted GPA, EC's, AP's, rank 1 in class, etc., but I was curious on how strict your two foreign language classes in high school "recommendation" is. Will it significantly harm my chances? Are other colleges (ex: Wash. U. St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Rice) "requirements" typically unyielding, or can they be waived if the rest of the app. seems appropriate. I'm not trying to ask for an estimation of my chances; I would just like to explain my particular case and I am curious as to how it will be viewed by the people who review my app. I would think that it would be acceptable given the circumstances, but I wouldn't know if the circumstances would be able to be expressed in a typical app.

I took one year of Latin and my district built a new high school that I was forced to attend. This new high school doesn't offer and doesn't plan to offer Latin in any form and now I'm left with two options.

I can join a program with my current school that is associated with the main engineering firm in Kansas City where I would work on projects in the biomed. engineering field; this entails group work and offers the opportunity to "shadow" engineers at the firm and doctors at the nearest hospital. The program is already accepted as credit at numerous colleges throughout the nation - just as an example to reflect what sort of work and rigor is part of the program. In addition to being able to be a part of this program my current school offers Calc. III which I would be taking next year.

The other option is to take "underwater basket weaving" and other classes of the type and attend the next nearest school next year to get my second year of Latin - sacrificing the program and Calc III.

I plan to get a BS biomed. engineering or something quite similar.

Thanks for your time!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

There's no question that you should attend the former option rather than the latter given its rigor and your interests. And there is certainly a place to express the circumstances for this decision on your form.

However, I would caution you on your tone. It definitely sounds like one school offers more opportunities to you than the other. But disparaging and dismissing classes (presumably humanities classes) as "underwater basket weaving" isn't going to win you any fans in any admissions office. I've heard the euphemism used myself, and realize it may not be meant with any particular negative connotation - but it can come across otherwise. Remember, at MIT you will still have to take a year's worth of humanities classes and effectively minor in a humanities field...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Do you speak for only undergrad admissions or also Grad school admissions?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Undergrad.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I didn't mean for what I said to be interpreted as such. I wasn't referring to Latin as useless. I probably should have elaborated: if I go to the other school I will have taken nearly every high-end class available, leaving me with taking "textile manufacturing", "fashion", "weight-lifting", office/teacher aid, etc. which would be absolutely useless classes just being used to fill up my schedule aside from Latin, AP English, and AP Physics.

Thanks again for such lightning-quick responses. I wasn't expecting anything for a few days.

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Hi, I don't know if you can do this, but I would like to get an opinion on how likely I am to get accepted. I am in 10th grade, I have a 4.0 GPA, I have not taken the ACT but I am predicted to get in the low to mid 30's. I am tied for class rank of 1. I enjoy learning a lot. I am in the top percent in math (according to tests and competitions). I will be taking Calc A+B next year along with AP Psych, Chemistry, programming and the other standards. I have a physical disability which is why I am not taking higher level classes (I do not have the stamina to take a full day of school). I would prefer to be taking Do you treat people with disabilities any differently? Is two years of a foreign language required? I am looking at electrical engineering if that matters.

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I haven't been able to get a straight answer out of the internet so I'll ask it here. When will regular decision admission decisions be available? All I have seen off of MIT's website is "mid-march". Can some one elaborate a more specific date please?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

It has been on Pi Day recently, so I think 3/14 is a good guess.

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How and when will MIT let us know when they release the decisions before hand? or will they just dump it on us the day of?

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

They let us know a little over a week ahead of time for early decision IIRC, so it will probably be something along those lines. Historically though (last 3 years, if not more), it has been Pi Day, so that's a pretty good guess.

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As a junior, I need to decide what to do next summer.

I am planning on majoring in Mathematics, and have been taking classes at our local university (Oregon State University) for a few years now. I also have a slight interest in aviation, and have done some work on a flight simulator (autopilot design).

Last summer, I did a programming internship at an OSU lab that does research into running robots (I worked on the control system and a simulation for a robotic leg they are building).

At this point, I see 3 possible activities for summer:

1) Do mathematical research and write a paper in a lab at OSU (this is what I would prefer, but it's not likely I will get the chance to do this).

2) Create an autopilot in this simulator, and write a paper (or two) about it. This would be done alone.

3) Work in a lab (possibly the same one again), without the chance to publish a paper.

Although I am aiming for #1, I need to weigh my options between #2 and #3. Is it more beneficial for me to work in a lab again, where I would probably get a strong reference, or would it be more beneficial for me to work alone on this autopilot, and write a paper about it?

Thank you for your time.

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You know what, I will tell you this: do what your heart desires. You should not be doing these internships to have that extra ec on your application. You should be doing it because you feel like it. Your heart must have a passion for it, if not, don't even bother wasting your and the professors' time.

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So how did everyone who applied fare?

I'm pretty disappointed, I got rejected from MIT and waitlisted at CalTech, so it wasn't too great a weekend for me. Good thing this week is the Sacramento Regional to relieve some of the disappointment (hopefully)...

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

I was also rejected, as was my friend, teammate and fellow drive team members. I never expected to get in but if I didn't apply I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.

Through College Confidential I know of more successful FIRST members, although I'm not sure they are on CD.

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Any recent Regular Action admits on CD? If so, you should come to CPW!

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Hello Chris and Ellen,

If either one of you could answer my questions it would be greatly appreciated.
(fairly long post incoming)

First of all I would like to say that the 18.01 and 8.01, 8.02 video lectures posted online by MIT have been a great aid in my self-study of the AP Calculus and Physics C exams and without those videos I would not have scored 5's on said exams and subsequently would not have had a decent shot at my application to Oxford, Imperial and University College over in the UK.


From the statements made earlier in this thread, there appears not to be as large an emphasis as one might suspect on the quantifiable aspects of the college application(ACT,SAT,GPA). It appears that these qualifications merely serve as a minimum barrier to entry. After all at the higher score ranges(I'm talking the level of SAT scores north of 700) missing a single question on a section or getting a B in a singular class could mean the difference in an entire percentile point. Is the trend towards the de-emphasis of academic test scores at the top schools like MIT a result of the lack of accuracy of these tests?(every tom dick and harry applying has a 4.0 GPA, 2340 SAT and 36 ACT) Or is it simply because MIT value student motivation and "fit" over purely academics?

Which leads me to my next question, because of the increased encouragement to pursue individual interests students are joining more and more clubs and activities in the hopes of bolstering their admissions chances. Many of which have no desire or interest whatsoever to actively participate in clubs and activities but to do so anyway, vying to gain positions of leadership for the sole purpose of college admissions. These students can without a doubt write brilliant, flowery essays describing their experiences and fake enthusiasm in an entrance essay. Is is possible to spot said people straight away from their application forms? How does MIT separate genuine motivation and desire from passion that is feigned?

Last question (I PROMISE!:D ). MIT does not make as large an effort to academically screen their applicants as say Oxford or Cambridge which pass their students through rigorous internal, academic interviews and tests such as the notorious Cambridge STEP exam for math majors seen here. http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/admissions/step/
Have you personally met or admitted a student at MIT whom has not been able to handle the MIT course load because he or she was not screened well enough academically?

I do not mean these questions in any way shape or form to be a knock on MIT or any other US institution's admissions processes in case it has come across that way, I have not had anybody of noteworthy legitimacy answer these questions for me and reading college confidential did nothing but exacerbate the problem,ultimately leading me away from applying to schools in the US. Thank you so much for taking the time out of the day to read and answer these questions.

-Sebastian

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Hi Sebastian,

Since I'm just a student and not a member of the admissions committee, I can't really answer your first two questions from the perspective that you're looking for. From what I'm aware of, your guess is pretty accurate. I also believe that MIT is able to determine which students are genuinely passionate about the things they do even from their applications, but again, I don't know what process exactly is used for this.

Regarding your third question, I have never met an MIT student who was unable to handle the course load because they were academically unqualified. I know that MIT strongly believes that each and every admitted student is qualified and deserves to be there, and from what I've seen, they're absolutely correct. (The few students who I've seen struggling with the course load usually have another reason for that, like that they've overloaded themselves or are having personal issues.)

Good luck with your decisions!

Ellen

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

Got rejected, same with Caltech. Still waiting to hear back from some others though, so I'm still hoping. Congratulations to any who got in.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

So, I just got waitlisted at a couple of colleges. What have other people done in the past, that have boosted them to the top/allowed them to be eventually accepted? I think I'll send an updated list of my activities, grades, and maybe another letter recommendation or two. What else have you seen/heard that someone else has done that has worked? Also, what is too much? I don't want to overload the admissions office with possibly useless information, especially after they've had to read a couple thousand applications.

Re: I'm an MIT Admissions Officer. Ask me Questions!
 

First of all, thank you so much for offering yourself like this, I just found and read this thread and it has taught me a lot about MIT and the admissions process in general. That being said I still have two questions, one about admissions and the other about MIT in general.

First, I have seen that what MIT really cares about is the character and passions of the applicant, which makes sense. But what I was wondering is how to convey in an application that you are passionate about something. For example, I'm passionate about robotics and science (i.e. FIRST) and music (especially in choirs). However, other than listed every choir and musical thing I've ever done, and listing my leadership on my FIRST team. How do I demonstrate that I go above and beyond an average choir member or how do I show that I'm not just a "leader to impress colleges", but that I really do care and do everything I can do better those programs.

Second, I am interested in many different forms of engineering, and I'm sure many others have this problem. I was wondering what MIT does with the students that can't decide what major they wish to pursue.

Thank you for all the help so far and for any further answers you can give me. :D