Sugarcoating Rejection? Stop it. Be realistic.

llazar
Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:54:56 +0000

This thread is mainly targeted towards rejected students who felt they were strong applicants in the pool.

This isn’t a hate thread, this isn’t a rage thread, this is just a thread that asks that people to be more realistic so that the rejected themselves can be more realistic. My main concern is people who claim that “MIT rejected you because they didn’t feel MIT was right for you” or “You’ll find the right place for you.” Now, I get that this is all well-intentioned, but here are the facts:


MIT accepted some 1 in 10 of every applicant that applied. Even exceptionally talented students in STEM fields are rejected. There is no statistical doubt that these kids would have succeeded at MIT. If you would like to argue this point further with me, PM me. My main premise is that not only are there not enough spots at MIT for qualified applicants, there aren’t enough spots for kids who would excel at MIT. Moreover, the spots aren’t necessarily filled by those who would excel the most, but create what the adcoms determine as the best environment.
By telling rejected students things like this, it makes many of them question what they did wrong. The fact is, you didn’t do anything wrong, as long as you did what YOU wanted. College admissions is a crap shoot not just because everyone is an exceptional candidate, but mostly because the criterion of admissions is not so straight forward as an assessment of accomplishment and intellect. In short, it is not meritocratic. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, in fact I think MIT has such a great environment because it ISN’T entirely meritocratic.


At the end of the day, there is no reason for a rejected student to feel he or she wasn’t good enough for MIT, and there is no reason that they wouldn’t have fit in at MIT. When it’s this selective, it’s just a matter of chance.

Lastly, getting into MIT doesn’t grant you success. Getting rejected doesn’t keep you from success. College is about what you make it, and quite frankly a top college is a top college is a top college. You’re success is dependent on YOU.