Race in MIT admissions.

snipersas
Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:54:55 +0000

This depends on how you measure achievement. For example, one interesting thing we have noticed is that most of the students who win exceptional accolades upon their graduation from MIT (Rhodes scholars etc) often did not have perfect scores and perfect grades. What they tended to have was a propensity to make use of their resources, great letters of recommendations, and a clear passion for a particular thing they really wanted to do.



Could this tendency result from the fact that most major postgrad scholarship competitions weigh letters of recommendation heavily in their analysis? I remember reading somewhere that the Rhodes requires eight letters, and those letters form the primary basis for selection, with grades serving only as a basic filter.

Maybe some people are just naturally impressive? lol