<p><a href=“http://www-tech.mit.edu/V125/N64/64tulane.html[/url]”>http://www-tech.mit.edu/V125/N64/64tulane.html</a></p>
<p>Should Harris and Elany be allowed to subvert the regular application process–from filling out applications to competing with other applicants for limited spots? MIT transfer acceptance rate stats for 2004-05 were 6/302, which is less than 2%. <a href=“MIT Institutional Research”>MIT Institutional Research;
<p>On the whole, I think it is fair. After all, if it hadn’t been for Katrina, these two students <em>would</em> have been able to apply to transfer. Furthermore, by doing well at MIT (A’s & B’s, according to the article), they can demonstrate potential to those making the decisions - and no matter how “fair” or “unfair,” potential IS potential.</p>
<p>If anything is unfair, it is being shaken up by a hurricane. It would be even more unfair to prohibit someone from applying as a transfer to MIT when he or she would have been able to apply if not for the hurricane.</p>
<p>Anyway, if Student X applies as a transfer and doesn’t get admitted, it is very, very likely that the decision will have nothing to do with Harris and/or Elany taking spot(s). Note that the majority of the students have already left.</p>
<p>Edit: It is a little unfair that they get to stay an extra semester. On the whole, however, I think the arrangement is fair.</p>
<p>“On the whole, I think it is fair. After all, if it hadn’t been for Katrina, these two students <em>would</em> have been able to apply to transfer. Furthermore, by doing well at MIT (A’s & B’s, according to the article), they can demonstrate potential to those making the decisions - and no matter how “fair” or “unfair,” potential IS potential.”</p>
<p>I don’t disagree with you on this. However, I’m sure that the majority of transfer applicants could get A’s and B’s at MIT. Otherwise, why bother applying to such a competitive and specialized school? So, really, Harris and Elany are not performing at a level way beyond what any other student could achieve.</p>
<p>“If anything is unfair, it is being shaken up by a hurricane. It would be even more unfair to prohibit someone from applying as a transfer to MIT when he or she would have been able to apply if not for the hurricane.”</p>
<p>I agree completely that being “shaken up by a hurricane” is unimaginably horrific. However, I never said–nor do I think anyone else feels–that Harris and Elany should have been “prohibit[ed]” from applying as a transfer. Quite the opposite, in fact: Both Harris and Elany should have to face the competition of the transfer applicant pool and not get special admission, as seems to be the case. Not having equal admission practices is unfair to any applicant–be they freshman or transfer–who has to face the rigors of the application process and the competitiveness of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>“Anyway, if Student X applies as a transfer and doesn’t get admitted, it is very, very likely that the decision will have nothing to do with Harris and/or Elany taking spot(s). Note that the majority of the students have already left.”</p>
<p>This is irrelevant. The number of spots available is not the issue. The way in which Harris and Elany were permitted to become MIT undergraduates is.</p>
<p>Edit: In case it wasn’t already clear, I have NO problem with them being Visiting Students or having been admitted after Hurricane Katrina hit. My issue is with them being allowed to stay on as regular undergraduates without going through the transfer application process, as everyone else does.</p>
<p>I guess when we were all looking for “hooks” to boost our apps, we should’ve considered throwing ourselves in the path of a hurricane. I’m kidding and that may be horribly insensitive, but nonetheless I don’t think admissions policies should be bent due to ultimately beneficial circumstances outside of students’ control. I certainly don’t think that having spent time at MIT will hurt their applications in any way (unless their GPAs dropped because of increased course difficulty, which was never mentioned as the issue here). They should be as well prepared as anyone else to run the admissions gauntlet, and they have done nothing special to be exempt from doing so.</p>