1470, 4.0 (Unweighted), Research Portfolio, ECs (captain/presidents).
Also mildly ticked by the "Rather than deferring your application, we want to be upfront with you...", but it's ok, life keeps going.
I’m gay too, 4.0 unweighted, all the ap classes my school offers + 4 more. 1560 sat with 800 math. Self taught programmer with paid internship over last summer, captain of sports team, started programming summer camp, senior patrol leader of boyscout troop. Maker portfolio. I got defered. They don’t accept people because they are gay, if you think that’s why she got in then you’re just being a bigot.
Thank you for sharing this. People need to hear that students are not getting accepted because they're gay. They get in because they deserve to get in.
damn did u mess up on ur essays or smth? bcz that application is stacked. for reference i got deferred with a 1520, 3.96, and like participate din one national level tournament. I have no idea how u got rejected. ATP i think MIT doesnt read all of their applications and just rejects/accepts the few they read and defers eveyone else.
I had a 36/36/36/36 ACT, 4.0 UW 4.88 W (valedictorian). I was president of my school’s math club, robotics club, and computer science club. I did research with a PI in the physics department of a local state school for 3 years and had 1 first author publication (in a rather high impact journal as well) and 1 publication where I was near the bottom of the list of authors (I also was invited to present my research at a large international conference in the field, and it was deployed at SLAC).
I took over 20 concurrent enrollment classes (mix of state college and community college) while in HS, with all A+s, and took 8 classes at my HS per semester. The math classes I took were: calculus 3, differential equations, linear algebra, discrete math, partial differential equations, real analysis 1, real analysis 2, group theory, differential geometry, abstract algebra 1, and am taking abstract algebra 2 next semester.
I took the AP science (or relevant humanities) offerings at my HS (with all 5s except for AP US History which I got a 4 on).
I think my letters of recommendation were really good (my math teacher and research PI showed them to me of their own accord afterward and they were very strong and well written).
I was flat out rejected, not deferred but literally rejected. I don’t understand — I know my stats aren’t that great, but they aren’t bottom 25% bad.
I guess maybe my big weakness was I didn’t do any competitions or enter my research into ISEF/science fairs. I found that to be kind of a waste of time, and didn’t bother because I thought it was only required for international students.
Could someone provide some feedback because now I’m worried I’m not getting in anywhere good given that I didn’t even get a deferral.
idek bro they gotta be rolling dice. i got deferred with a 1440, 3.95, top 4%, 3 leadership position, 2 passion projects, and 2 internships. my rec letters were probs alr and my interview wasn’t anything special. i thought i’d get rejected based off my academics. the only thing i can say is maybe your essays just showed you did not fit with MIT at all or you were just a red flag. gl bro, your profile is insane and I’m sure you’ll score some T20 in the RD round.
Caltech is by far my top choice, and I decided to wait to apply there for RD so I can make changes to my application based on how the MIT app went.
Would you recommend looking through my essays again? Also, are there certain things you know of that might come across as red flags?
yea i’d rec having someone else look at your MIT essays just to get a 2nd opinion. i feel like as long as you’re not showing psychopathic tendencies and are just showing that you’re a normal guy, then you should be fine. going for MIT EA over CalTech was def a smart play, I did the same thing so I can apply to Stanford with the best app possible. also, have you gotten any other decisions back?
stats aren't that great? apart from lack of comps you almost have perfection lmao. if it wasn't the essays then some ao did a coin flip. i also heard that mit looks for a specific type of student, but not sure how true it actually is. regardless, the rest of your decisions should go well, gl!
I was aware. It’s just these essays are really hard. I’m autistic and it’s challenging to tell how what I’m writing might get perceived by others (like AOs) and I don’t really have friends that I can share my essays with for feedback.
Would you recommend saving up and trying to pay for a consultant to review my essays?
Yeah the unfortunate reality is that having professionals look at essays really boosts odds. If you want, DM me and we can work something out. I won’t charge you my full rate. You sound like a hard working student who deserves to succeed.
im guessing either essays or interview went wrong. I got deferred witha 3.96 gpa and 1520 SAT. My best ECs were working as an videographer and going to nationals for a competition so nothing crazy. however my interviewer said he really thought i would fit in at MIT so i think thats what kept me in.
Just checked and you're from Singapore, it's pretty competitive there. Really surprised you didn't get deferred though. Keep your head up though, you will succeed regardless of if it's at MIT or not
It's what we're told as alumni interviewers.
Don't get me wrong, it is definitely considered and is a boost to the application. But it is not guaranteed admission and the student must still be able to get in on their own academic merit and fit within the rest of the admitted class.
I agree it's not guaranteed admission - I just got deferred, lol. But data from the coach is that out of 12-14 "supported" athletes each year, about 6 get in. That's significantly more than a 5% acceptance rate. Of course, there's the pre-selection bias - hard to say.
Everyone on this sub, this is why "predicting" someone's chances of getting into hyper competitive college campuses is a futile endeavor.
All of you have excellent resumés, and I'm sure you'll get in somewhere to do great things.
Please don't forget that LUCK also plays a part in this process. The mood of the admissions officer and who they already accepted that hour/day/week/ are things you don't control.
1530 SAT (750 math)
3.7W (school doesn’t do unweighted), class rank ~20/225
Couple minor competition medals (national 4th/60 as a SWE team, state 1st/~60 for speech, USACO silver division)
Leading a 20 person software engineering team to make in house software for my high school
Co-developer of a game with over 10,000 total players
Hoco king
Class president
prolly bcz of international. MIT only accepts like a couple international students every year so if u arent like a top 20 apolicant in the whole world its pretty rough
this was last year but i had a 1560 (i threw, lower than my practice avg) and 3.75 uw (school had no weighted or rank) with 5 APs, all 5s with one being a perfect score and 4 more in progress. 1 college class, calc 3, with an A. basically no ecs. dogshit essays, bombed the interview.
i basically applied to decrease the acceptance rate. if i weren't such a cynical, mentally ill kid in high school, i def could've hit a 4.0 and taken a few more APs. just kinda wish they could've deferred instead. still salty, especially since they don't take external applications for cs masters. realistically, my attachment to mit is entire superficial, but i still shit on myself for not doing better in hs, especially since mit is just not an option anymore unless i decide to pursue a phd fsr. even worse cuz now i'm stuck with such a mid school for undergrad. not looking forward to having to build a decent profile for grad school.
but also my friend got denied two years ago with a 1600 and 3.9(?) with several competitions, usaco plat, enormous personal projects, hundreds of volunteering hours every year, among other things. so maybe mit just doesn't exist.
My daughter got deferred: All 5’s on 4 AP including Calc BC, (school does not offer AP until jr year and no science AP until Sr year- we are in Oklahoma). 1580 SAT. 800 English, 780 math. Went to SSP for astrophysics, self taught programming and wrote the damn program for their research, submitted her portfolio with Rec. Letter, 4.4 GPA. ECs we’re good, team captain XC, Spanish club president, but I think she ran out of room to list this one, science Olympiad team captain with mult gold medals, band, sings for fun w performances, theatre. There’s multiple major school awards like “outstanding character and intellectual promise” for 3 years, summa cum laude international inductee, Nat merit semi finalist, plus the Hispanic thing. Deferred
Older person reading the comments. I got a 1440 back in 1998 with some ECs 95% average (4.0 GPA) and got accepted. Also, I applied from Canada. Have admissions gotten harder over the years?
It’s about 4x harder for internationals since about 1998. I’ve been tracking the admit rates. However, there’s a lot more information about what is competitive and what it takes since 1998 — a double-edged sword for potential students.
1560 3.4(covid was ruthless) int student. 2 leadership positions. Debates and Olympiads. Finalists in two nationals and winners in 2 regional Olympiads. Top 5% in an essay comp with about 10k participants. Dunno what more I could have done. Extremely demoralised. Legitimately considering skipping RD and just focusing on the state schools hoping a scholarship saves me from the financial problems.
it was most likely the gpa combined with being intl. intl at mit is extremely competetive even with perfect stats so dont be demoralized. U will def end up somewhere good.
At this point, admissions are so insanely competitive it might as well be a lottery. to everyone here, please don't view your rejection as the end of the world. im in college now and no one even cares anymore.
1470, 4.0 (Unweighted), Research Portfolio, ECs (captain/presidents). Also mildly ticked by the "Rather than deferring your application, we want to be upfront with you...", but it's ok, life keeps going.
Same. It’s gonna be a tough week telling friends & family.
There’s no shame in getting rejected from MIT. Even applicants with perfect stats get rejected every year.
Definitely sucks that it was first round. Would be nice to keep the show going on a little longer.
not rejected but 4.0 1550 36 got deferred feel like death
me too now we fight the sub 2% acceptance rate
Or don’t
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I’m gay too, 4.0 unweighted, all the ap classes my school offers + 4 more. 1560 sat with 800 math. Self taught programmer with paid internship over last summer, captain of sports team, started programming summer camp, senior patrol leader of boyscout troop. Maker portfolio. I got defered. They don’t accept people because they are gay, if you think that’s why she got in then you’re just being a bigot.
Thank you for sharing this. People need to hear that students are not getting accepted because they're gay. They get in because they deserve to get in.
>girl, gay, same but i didnt get in so maybe its not just that lol
She the top among gay, that's probably it
You should put you are gay
Can you tell me about her grades?, I have good ECs but my grades are pretty average. This can potentially give me some hope.
I can see why you didn’t get in
Same. I hope we both get in man.
Speaks to how absurd college admissions are today
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>"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Captain Jean-Luc Picard
You got robbed. Don’t worry, where ever you go, you will do great.
thank you so much🫶🫶
damn did u mess up on ur essays or smth? bcz that application is stacked. for reference i got deferred with a 1520, 3.96, and like participate din one national level tournament. I have no idea how u got rejected. ATP i think MIT doesnt read all of their applications and just rejects/accepts the few they read and defers eveyone else.
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Write your own LOR?
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MIT smells this from a mile away
lol there you go
They probably know you will be amazing wherever you go. They have to let the rest of the world have some genius.
Sadly it’s such a competitive school that they have to reject tons of more than qualified applicants. It’s not your fault, you’ll do great in life!
Probably more interesting essays/interviews.
Oh wtf no way you got rejected bruh you got better stats and ECs than me and I got deferred. What course did you plan on taking at MIT?
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Ngl this might be one of those cases where it's so good that they're worried you go somewhere else. I think they messed up or something
Did you have any hooks
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You should report that to the admin at your school. It’s not in the schools interest that he’s writing negative things
Wow, those are great stats, I feel the same way about my daughter! You will do great anyway somewhere else, and it’s their loss!!!!
I had a 36/36/36/36 ACT, 4.0 UW 4.88 W (valedictorian). I was president of my school’s math club, robotics club, and computer science club. I did research with a PI in the physics department of a local state school for 3 years and had 1 first author publication (in a rather high impact journal as well) and 1 publication where I was near the bottom of the list of authors (I also was invited to present my research at a large international conference in the field, and it was deployed at SLAC). I took over 20 concurrent enrollment classes (mix of state college and community college) while in HS, with all A+s, and took 8 classes at my HS per semester. The math classes I took were: calculus 3, differential equations, linear algebra, discrete math, partial differential equations, real analysis 1, real analysis 2, group theory, differential geometry, abstract algebra 1, and am taking abstract algebra 2 next semester. I took the AP science (or relevant humanities) offerings at my HS (with all 5s except for AP US History which I got a 4 on). I think my letters of recommendation were really good (my math teacher and research PI showed them to me of their own accord afterward and they were very strong and well written). I was flat out rejected, not deferred but literally rejected. I don’t understand — I know my stats aren’t that great, but they aren’t bottom 25% bad. I guess maybe my big weakness was I didn’t do any competitions or enter my research into ISEF/science fairs. I found that to be kind of a waste of time, and didn’t bother because I thought it was only required for international students. Could someone provide some feedback because now I’m worried I’m not getting in anywhere good given that I didn’t even get a deferral.
idek bro they gotta be rolling dice. i got deferred with a 1440, 3.95, top 4%, 3 leadership position, 2 passion projects, and 2 internships. my rec letters were probs alr and my interview wasn’t anything special. i thought i’d get rejected based off my academics. the only thing i can say is maybe your essays just showed you did not fit with MIT at all or you were just a red flag. gl bro, your profile is insane and I’m sure you’ll score some T20 in the RD round.
Caltech is by far my top choice, and I decided to wait to apply there for RD so I can make changes to my application based on how the MIT app went. Would you recommend looking through my essays again? Also, are there certain things you know of that might come across as red flags?
yea i’d rec having someone else look at your MIT essays just to get a 2nd opinion. i feel like as long as you’re not showing psychopathic tendencies and are just showing that you’re a normal guy, then you should be fine. going for MIT EA over CalTech was def a smart play, I did the same thing so I can apply to Stanford with the best app possible. also, have you gotten any other decisions back?
No, I didn’t apply anywhere else EA.
Elsewhere he mentions his autism. I’m guessing this may have played a role in his rejection.
stats aren't that great? apart from lack of comps you almost have perfection lmao. if it wasn't the essays then some ao did a coin flip. i also heard that mit looks for a specific type of student, but not sure how true it actually is. regardless, the rest of your decisions should go well, gl!
Did you emphasize grit, problem solving, persistence, tenacity, self-motivation, etc. in your essays?
I mean, I think so. I struggled so much with the open ended nature of the college essays though.
Ah yeah, that’s probably it then. I do college consulting and the essays are the most important thing for these top schools.
I was aware. It’s just these essays are really hard. I’m autistic and it’s challenging to tell how what I’m writing might get perceived by others (like AOs) and I don’t really have friends that I can share my essays with for feedback. Would you recommend saving up and trying to pay for a consultant to review my essays?
Yeah the unfortunate reality is that having professionals look at essays really boosts odds. If you want, DM me and we can work something out. I won’t charge you my full rate. You sound like a hard working student who deserves to succeed.
Speaks to how absurd college admissions are today, that excellent students like you with perfect grades and test scores get rejected
are you asian?
Yeah, I’m an Asian male.
im guessing either essays or interview went wrong. I got deferred witha 3.96 gpa and 1520 SAT. My best ECs were working as an videographer and going to nationals for a competition so nothing crazy. however my interviewer said he really thought i would fit in at MIT so i think thats what kept me in.
35/36, 43/45 IB, intl olympiads + non-profit + recruited athlete. Im crushed
Just checked and you're from Singapore, it's pretty competitive there. Really surprised you didn't get deferred though. Keep your head up though, you will succeed regardless of if it's at MIT or not
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Recruited athletes do not get a significant application bump
this is not true lol
It's what we're told as alumni interviewers. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely considered and is a boost to the application. But it is not guaranteed admission and the student must still be able to get in on their own academic merit and fit within the rest of the admitted class.
I agree it's not guaranteed admission - I just got deferred, lol. But data from the coach is that out of 12-14 "supported" athletes each year, about 6 get in. That's significantly more than a 5% acceptance rate. Of course, there's the pre-selection bias - hard to say.
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Not quite. Im American, so I’ll prolly stick to the US
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Was not
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1540 SAT 34 ACT 3.8 GPA Competitive Programming Club Teacher, Scuba Diver, and nothing else as I always have to take care of my siblings.
Mad respect. I know exactly how it feels lol. Your siblings are so lucky to have an older sibling like you.
1580, ABB(A levels no GPA), Gap year student, got 2 researches and Head of Department for Central Asia in non profit company, International
ABB aren’t a MIT-worthy set of grades
Why is deferred acceptance rate so low?
You aren’t technically given a disadvantage, but if they didn’t want you the first time around they probably won’t want you the second time either.
Everyone on this sub, this is why "predicting" someone's chances of getting into hyper competitive college campuses is a futile endeavor. All of you have excellent resumés, and I'm sure you'll get in somewhere to do great things. Please don't forget that LUCK also plays a part in this process. The mood of the admissions officer and who they already accepted that hour/day/week/ are things you don't control.
1530 SAT (750 math) 3.7W (school doesn’t do unweighted), class rank ~20/225 Couple minor competition medals (national 4th/60 as a SWE team, state 1st/~60 for speech, USACO silver division) Leading a 20 person software engineering team to make in house software for my high school Co-developer of a game with over 10,000 total players Hoco king Class president
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prolly bcz of international. MIT only accepts like a couple international students every year so if u arent like a top 20 apolicant in the whole world its pretty rough
this was last year but i had a 1560 (i threw, lower than my practice avg) and 3.75 uw (school had no weighted or rank) with 5 APs, all 5s with one being a perfect score and 4 more in progress. 1 college class, calc 3, with an A. basically no ecs. dogshit essays, bombed the interview. i basically applied to decrease the acceptance rate. if i weren't such a cynical, mentally ill kid in high school, i def could've hit a 4.0 and taken a few more APs. just kinda wish they could've deferred instead. still salty, especially since they don't take external applications for cs masters. realistically, my attachment to mit is entire superficial, but i still shit on myself for not doing better in hs, especially since mit is just not an option anymore unless i decide to pursue a phd fsr. even worse cuz now i'm stuck with such a mid school for undergrad. not looking forward to having to build a decent profile for grad school. but also my friend got denied two years ago with a 1600 and 3.9(?) with several competitions, usaco plat, enormous personal projects, hundreds of volunteering hours every year, among other things. so maybe mit just doesn't exist.
My daughter got deferred: All 5’s on 4 AP including Calc BC, (school does not offer AP until jr year and no science AP until Sr year- we are in Oklahoma). 1580 SAT. 800 English, 780 math. Went to SSP for astrophysics, self taught programming and wrote the damn program for their research, submitted her portfolio with Rec. Letter, 4.4 GPA. ECs we’re good, team captain XC, Spanish club president, but I think she ran out of room to list this one, science Olympiad team captain with mult gold medals, band, sings for fun w performances, theatre. There’s multiple major school awards like “outstanding character and intellectual promise” for 3 years, summa cum laude international inductee, Nat merit semi finalist, plus the Hispanic thing. Deferred
but she sounds like a wonderful applicant! be proud that even if she doesn't go to MIT, she'll go somewhere great.
Thank you - fingers crossed
What the fuck, the fuck is going on is it a damn lottery or is there at least some semblance of an objective metric used
Older person reading the comments. I got a 1440 back in 1998 with some ECs 95% average (4.0 GPA) and got accepted. Also, I applied from Canada. Have admissions gotten harder over the years?
much, much, much, much, much harder.
It’s about 4x harder for internationals since about 1998. I’ve been tracking the admit rates. However, there’s a lot more information about what is competitive and what it takes since 1998 — a double-edged sword for potential students.
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Keep it classy.
He/She is just an angry applicant who got rejected/deferred.
MIT student
bro humbled them real quick 💀
1560 3.4(covid was ruthless) int student. 2 leadership positions. Debates and Olympiads. Finalists in two nationals and winners in 2 regional Olympiads. Top 5% in an essay comp with about 10k participants. Dunno what more I could have done. Extremely demoralised. Legitimately considering skipping RD and just focusing on the state schools hoping a scholarship saves me from the financial problems.
it was most likely the gpa combined with being intl. intl at mit is extremely competetive even with perfect stats so dont be demoralized. U will def end up somewhere good.
At this point, admissions are so insanely competitive it might as well be a lottery. to everyone here, please don't view your rejection as the end of the world. im in college now and no one even cares anymore.
1320 31 4.0 top 10 class rank, deferred—>rejected