<p>Getting in MIT, like many top schools, is based on merit and sprinkled with a bit of luck.</p>
<p>You obviously have to be well qualified and have enough quality extracurriculars and/or activities and awards to impress the admissions board. But it is ultimately up to the admissions committee to deem you worthy of an acceptance. And that could be entirely based on whether or not your application is reviewed before 600 others who are like you or whether you’re viewed right before or after lunch. </p>
<p>The people on the committee are humans and will be influenced by trivial things like that. It is what it is. </p>