megnut

What % will get accepted later?? Any hope? or suggestions...

molliebatmit

Last year 30 students were accepted from the waitlist. In the three years before that, only one student (total) was accepted.

Whether MIT goes to the waitlist will depend on whether the admissions officers' yield projection is accurate. MIT houses all freshmen on campus and guarantees housing all four years, so the freshman class can't be any bigger than the number of available spaces in campus housing.

Not all of the students who were waitlisted will accept their spots on the waitlist. If you're interested in staying on the waitlist, you should communicate with MIT, updating them with any news or awards in your life. This is the one time MIT considers demonstrated interest as a criterion for acceptance.

mathwiz

There's a tech article saying they expect 10 off the waitlist...

dally

Keyword: "expect". Yikers.

I think waitlisting is the worst decision ever! Gah, I wouldn't be able to take it.

mathwiz

sigh.....

My being optimistic
More top students are applying to more top schools than ever. Those who get in at one school will be the cream of the crop, and have more options, more so than previous years because they are the cream of the crop. Hence, yields will drop. MIT's expected yield is 66.5%. A yield of 65.2% like last year would allow for 20 spots. A yield of 64%, still very reasonable, would allow for 40 spots. Not all waitlisted will accept spots, and not all waitlist admits will enroll. I figure 400 kids remain on the waitlist, and 50 kids admitted from it, so 50/400 = 12.5% chance of being admitted off the waitlist, better then regular admissions odds.

My being pessimistic
A tiny error in the yield could easily provide those extra ten students. In addition, transfers could be admitted into the freshman class. Also, kids deferring from last year might not be fully offset by kids deferring this year. So 10 waitlist admits is still very optimistic. The number should be closer to 0. Even if we do have ten, then 10/499 = 2%, worse than the international admit rate. And they might decide later not to expand to 1020. And all this is IF they admit an extra 10 kids.