Admissions officers/MIT students!!! I need your insight

QuantumArbiter · 10-28-2009, 01:15 AM

Ok, based off of your experiences, have you noticed a stronger applicant pool in EA? Is it more competitive in EA than RD?

QuantumArbiter · 10-28-2009, 01:31 AM

Also, on a complete sidenote: Is it alright if I don't want to report any of my AP scores, but state on the Awards section that I'm an AP Scholar with Honors?

Will it hurt my admissions chances?

fontaine · 10-28-2009, 01:36 AM

Yes, it is generally more competitive due to the more self-selecting applicant pool. On the other hand, the EA acceptance rate is higher.

And not reporting any of your AP scores will probably look a bit fishy.

Inconclusive · 10-28-2009, 02:41 AM

>>Yes, it is generally more competitive due to the more self-selecting applicant pool. On the other hand, the EA acceptance rate is higher.

Plus, YOU GET A SECOND CHANCE UNLESS YOU ARE REJECTED.

eisensteinprime · 10-28-2009, 05:24 AM

The higher EA acceptance rate may be caused by the fact that international students can't apply EA.

molliebatmit · 10-28-2009, 07:48 AM

Overall, equal numbers of students who originally applied EA and who originally applied RD get into MIT. But the pool of students who originally applied EA is much smaller. This indicates that, as a whole, the students who apply EA are more competitive for admission than the students who apply RD.

However, EA applicants are not penalized for applying EA. Some EA applicants are admitted EA, and those whose applications the admissions office thinks are competitive are deferred to RD, where they are read and considered anew.

QuantumArbiter · 10-28-2009, 05:17 PM

Ok thanks!! But what about the not reporting AP test scores?

I will be saying I'm an AP Scholar with Honors though...why does it look fishy? I just don't want to report them.

AP scores aren't looked for in admissions...right?

cgar514 · 10-28-2009, 05:28 PM

1. AP scores I don't believe are...idk though. Shouldn't be that important anyways.

2. FYI if you look at the stats, the percent of people deferred by EA and accepted by RD is very low. So my suggestion, from my applying results and results of people I know, is to apply with the assumption that that round is the final word.

cicero_oratore · 10-28-2009, 06:30 PM

cgar514, where are you getting your facts? Admission for those deferred to RD is about the same rate as for those who just do RD. And around 78ish percent of EA applicants are deferred.

molliebatmit · 10-28-2009, 08:45 PM

Haha, the percentage of people accepted in general is very low -- by that logic, everybody should just give up before applying.

neuron39 · 10-28-2009, 10:08 PM

There's nothing to lose by applying EA, as long as you can complete the application by 11/1. It seems to me that, statistics aside, if you're deferred EA, your chances of ultimate acceptance are somewhat higher than if you applied RD - because you're scrutinized all over again (the adcoms are human, and may remember favorable aspects of your application and reasons for the deferral as opposed to outright rejection). Just my opinion, not necessarily borne out by stats.

PiperXP · 10-28-2009, 10:58 PM

If you're rejected EA, you wouldn't be admitted RD.

Inconclusive · 10-29-2009, 01:34 AM

>>There's nothing to lose by applying EA, as long as you can complete the application by 11/1...

You are right, because there are a lot of positive things for applying EA BUT
Acually, I think the only down side of EA is that MIT is committed to admitting no more than 30% of their class during early action.

They have a good reason for their choice

From Matt
"The reason is that we are committed to admitting no more than 30% of our class during early action. We feel that the pressures to apply early are too high, and don't want to further contribute to that by leaving only a very small number of spaces for regular action, further pressuring people to apply early. Additionally, we don't want to penalize those students who apply regular action"

oasis · 10-29-2009, 02:09 AM

AP scores cannot be a check box on the Academics evaluation, because not every one takes APs. However, if you have taken APs and have test scores, sometimes they can be used as a huge plus in your favor.

However, I don't understand your mindset. You want the "AP Scholar w/ Honor" distinction, but you don't want to report your scores. I personally think the non-reporting choice immediately detracts from any positive benefit that you may have with the distinction, since it's pretty clear that you didn't get all 5s (because in that case, you would report them ;] ).

So I don't know what your situation is with your scores. If you got all 3 or 4s, I would say just leave out the AP Scholar w/ Distinction, because to be honest, unless you get National Scholar as a junior (and even that it isn't really "prestigious" either), the distinctions don't mean much since CollegeBoard hands them out like candy if you take more than 5 exams (to be honest, getting a 3 on over 5 exams isn't too hard to do in the HYPMSC application crowd). Unless, of course, you report your exam scores along with your distinction.

If you're trying to hide a AP score you failed (like, for instance, you got 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1), just don't report the 1. There's no requirement that says you have to report all scores.

But ultimately it's up to you, and sorry if what I just said sounds a bit harsh. It's just that the way I see it, I think adcoms can see right through what you're trying to do, and I don't think it's to your advantage.