You raise an important point. MIT carefully screens for “nice”. I mentioned that in my first post, but didn’t give that the importance it deserves.
They care a great deal about what the recommendations say about the person and not just about his or her accomplishments. And MIT does a pretty good job with this screening in that these kids do have far less ego than their talents might otherwise suggest.
Well, certainly not in public, but perhaps in private. One of my son’s friends was deferred from MIT EA, but did get into a top 25 school EA. Perhaps out of frustration, in a conversation with my son he wondered how others did so much better when he only got into his “safety”. Well that safety is a place that 95 percent of students would be thrilled to attend.
This is a kid we have known for 10+ years, and this was way out of character for him. He really is a nice kid that teachers loved. He did get admitted to MIT and two of the HYPS schools during regular decision though, and is at MIT today.