Any MIT Alumni on Here?

As the name suggests, are there any previous students of MIT browsing the forums? I've been working on my application to different colleges and just had my MIt Educational Counselor interview yesterday.

Do you guys have any stories about going to school there or advice about the admission process? Living in Texas I probably won't get the chance to visit unless I get accepted. If you guys have anything to say I'd live to hear it!

I have just started the second week of my freshman year. I love it so far, and it has only barely started. The only admissions advice that I have is to do all of the portfolios that you can. I obviously have no idea what got me in, but I am sure that the research portfolio and the maker portfolio (show off rockets!) definitely helped. Good luck!

eggplant said:

I have just started the second week of my freshman year. I love it so far, and it has only barely started. The only admissions advice that I have is to do all of the portfolios that you can. I obviously have no idea what got me in, but I am sure that the research portfolio and the maker portfolio (show off rockets!) definitely helped. Good luck!

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Thanks! Out of curiosity, what type of stuff did you present in your research portfolio? I went to an admission seminar and they really didn't describe it very much.

eggplant said:

I have just started the second week of my freshman year. I love it so far, and it has only barely started. The only admissions advice that I have is to do all of the portfolios that you can. I obviously have no idea what got me in, but I am sure that the research portfolio and the maker portfolio (show off rockets!) definitely helped. Good luck!

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Good advice, I did a similar thing for my application but ended up getting waitlisted - which was pretty good considering I knew 8 or so people from a couple schools around me all with similar grades/scores/etc who didn't do that kind of thing, and they didn't even make it to the waitlist.... anyways I was accepted into Princeton so I didn't stay on the waitlist, and I'm a week into my freshmen year and it's been awesome so far.

Overall my only advice would be to apply to as many colleges as you possibly can - getting into the top top schools is just so hard and unpredictable, so the more you apply to the better your chances are of getting into atleast one IMHO.

RAHagen said:

As the name suggests, are there any previous students of MIT browsing the forums? I've been working on my application to different colleges and just had my MIt Educational Counselor interview yesterday.

Do you guys have any stories about going to school there or advice about the admission process? Living in Texas I probably won't get the chance to visit unless I get accepted. If you guys have anything to say I'd live to hear it!

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...I'm guessing there's no Texas Institute of Technology. They would have a most unfortunate acronym....

dave carver said:

...I'm guessing there's no Texas Institute of Technology. They would have a most unfortunate acronym....

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Unfortunate? Some people like myself are huge fans.

dave carver said:

...I'm guessing there's no Texas Institute of Technology. They would have a most unfortunate acronym....

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For that very reason they just call it Texas Tech.

But there IS a Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Congrats, eggplant!

I would agree, do/add as many extra curricular things as possible to broaden your scope so you're not just another "me too" book-smart kid: rocketry, music, sports, programming, gaming, leadership activities, anything! MIT has an n-dimensional space with different axes representing different criteria; if you fall within that space, you have a chance. The rest comes from distinguishing yourself from the pack.

This won't help but another factor might be the relative population from your state & the number of applicants; the higher the population and the lower number of applicants help, so if you're the sole applicant from, say Alaska, you might have better chances. I think Texas trails behind CA & NY. Unfortunately, there're only ~1000-1100 spots per incoming class.

I'm guessing you've perused their admissions website too? https://mitadmissions.org They talk about the process and what they look for under Apply -> Process & Statistics.

Good luck & Go Beavers!

RocketHunter said:

Good advice, I did a similar thing for my application but ended up getting waitlisted - which was pretty good considering I knew 8 or so people from a couple schools around me all with similar grades/scores/etc who didn't do that kind of thing, and they didn't even make it to the waitlist.... anyways I was accepted into Princeton so I didn't stay on the waitlist, and I'm a week into my freshmen year and it's been awesome so far.

Overall my only advice would be to apply to as many colleges as you possibly can - getting into the top top schools is just so hard and unpredictable, so the more you apply to the better your chances are of getting into atleast one IMHO.

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Thanks! Yeah I've been to applying to quite a few different schools. I just got a letter from my second choice today saying I was accepted so that's good! I think in the end I'll be applying to around five or six schools though.

timbucktoo said:

For that very reason they just call it Texas Tech.

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...ah-yup, didn't thunk of that one...

MIT '80

Course XVI

MIT alumni have done a lot for TARC and the NAR, like Trip Barber, John Langford, Bob Parks, Jay Apt, etc.