How will the pandemic affect MIT admission this year?

Lindagaf
Fri, 28 Aug 2020 01:10:15 +0000

Ok, let’s imagine your scenario @kutter .

Susie lives in Westchester County, NY. Sally lives in the Bronx. If they present with the same everything, except Susie has an SAT score and Sally doesn’t, I’d give the nod to Sally.

Between Susie and Sandy, who lives in Orange County, CA, assuming Sandy wasn’t able to take her test, I am guessing that even then Susie won’t necessarily get the nod. They will probably look very closely at course rigor, teacher recommendations, and essays, as well as a bunch of other factors. They can’t favor Susie just because she has a test score. Here is why:

I live in a well-off suburban area about an hour from a major city. I’m a test prep tutor. I can tell you that which students have been able to take their test and which have not literally seems to be luck of the draw these days. The students are completely at the mercy of the school district where they signed up to take their tests. I have three kids who were/are taking the SAT this weekend. Two have had their tests cancelled. One has not.

MIT and all the other colleges who are test optional right now (most of them) know this. They are not going to favor a student with test scores right now. They can’t.