Stanford vs MIT...Which is harder to get into?

oasis
Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:13:21 +0000

^ I think that’s true!

Stanford and MIT are both about 1/4 Asian, but I think given the broad Asian applicant pool from California (even private schools tend to favor local students to a certain degree), they are more likely to admit Asian applicants from California. There is not a big Asian applicant pool in MA, so MIT is selective in its choice of Asians to admit (therefore the “local Asian advantage” is not as prevalent). Also, I think the other undeniable factor is that even though MIT is broadening out in its selection of students now (not just admitting the olympiad winners, science fair participants…etc.), science/math scores are still paramount to MIT (to a degree I think is much more focused than Stanford). Asians are notorious for destroying math and science exams, so the competition for spaces at MIT is much harder for Asians than at Stanford.

As for Ivies, Asian percentage hardly ever surpass 15% (it’s been like 11 to 13-ish at HYP), so I’m not surprised it’s much harder for Asians to make it through the Upper Ivies. Asians probably have a good chance at the lower Ivies, though - but I think this is just because their scores and application becomes relatively superior to the rest of the applicant pool in the Lower Ivies. At the Upper Ivies, Asians don’t have a clear advantage in their application (unless they never slept in high school and did something like curing cancer at the age of 16).