<p>Then how much chance do I have in this case?
And what can I do to enhance my chance?</p>
<p>you are about one person in a list of almost 3000 (i think). You can keep sending in essays, recs, and stuff. Show you really want to get into MIT.</p>
<p>Wow–3000! So it’s about equivalent to being deferred EA. Any idea how they decipher between the 3000? Surely they wouldn’t re-read and re-evaluate all 3000.</p>
<p>wbtong will get a review he is an amazing math guy with some fine achievements. His application is to graduate level training so don’t apply undergrad standards and procedures.</p>
<p>zking, as far as I remember, they said that they re-evaluate the candidates from the waiting list.</p>
<p>That must be a lot of work! I’d assume they don’t re-read the applications. Maybe they just go off of the reviews and have the original readers read any new information the student sends. After all, it would be highly impractical to re-read (for the third time, in some cases) each application and then discuss the summaries in groups.</p>
<p>I think you got it right.</p>
<p>Haha, I think graduate admissions aren’t as… well-regulated as undergraduate admissions are.</p>
<p>MIT’s undergraduate admissions office reads and re-reads files, carefully taking notes and discussing applications in committee… graduate admissions is usually done over a few days by a panel of professors, and I suspect that the process is a little more quick and dirty.</p>
<p>how many grad school application does MIT get?</p>
<p>For numbers, you would have to look at each individual department separately.</p>
<p>Applying to grad school is not the same as applying to undergrad. You do not apply to a central admissions office, but rather to the department in which you want to study. Each department has their own admissions policies and standards, so the admit rate for the biology department is going to be different than the physics department, which is going to be different than the aerospace engineering department.</p>
<p>the officer said there are about 10 persons in the list</p>
<p>If you have done original work of any kind and there is progress in it (significant new results / a publication/ communication with a journal) then keep MIT updated. If you know someone who has a high opinion of you and/or someone who is famous and they hadn’t written you a recommendation, an extra letter in your file certainly won’t hurt. Keep in touch, show your interest.</p>
<p>Good ideas, Ben! </p>
<p>I’d just be concerned about sending them too much. When deferred, I sent them an essay requesting a change of intended major (with an explanation) and an additional teacher recommendation from a former MIT professor. I was planning on sending an additional essay on my experiences in Bangalore, but didn’t want to add to the already-large stack of papers. I’ve heard of students sending pounds of supplements (newspaper articles, highlighted works, essays, resumes, etc…) and getting in, but I’ve also heard of those who expressed a casual interest and didn’t even write the optional essays. </p>
<p>As an admissions officer at a simillar institution, how would you react to an application with lots of supplements? Beyond a certain point, they must know you’re interested. In my situation, I <em>might</em> be able to get an additional letter from one of the people who assisted me in my research in AltE sources. Would such a letter be valuable or would it be considered redundant and extraneous? </p>
<p>Also, on a more general note, how strongly are testimonies from “famous” persons weighted? Are you talking about in a scientific domain (for MIT and Caltech, of course) or would such a letter still be valuable from a political leader, like a governor or senator? I’m speaking strictly in terms of weighting–clearly, it would be unwise to bombard admissions with additional information if it adds no substantial advantage.</p>
<p>I really don’t think keeping the graduate committee updated with news of an upcoming publication is the same as deluging an undergraduate committee with pounds of paper.</p>
<p>In the case of graduate admissions, they explicitly care about your publishing history – you are, after all, applying to a program in which you will do research and publish papers for the next 5-6 years.</p>
<p>I must have misinterpreted the context of Ben’s response. Rereading the thread, though the OP’s original post related to UG admissions, it is clear that Ben must have been talking about graduate admissions. </p>
<p>That would make sense. Considering the point of graduate school is research, a headstart in your undergraduate years can only help. Plus, each department only evaluates a handful of applicants. In undergraduate admissions, they have thousands to deal with, so pounds of information from thousands of applicants can be burdening.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the OP is a grad school applicant, as became clear in the posts below his (though not in the original post).</p>
<p>
Not well if they don’t say something very good about you in at least one area that hasn’t already been said. So if the letter doesn’t have something quite strong (or new) to say about you, don’t bother. (I.e. if the person only knows you a little bit and would write a letter with no real specifics about your abilities.)</p>
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<p>My post related to grad admissions, and there “famous” has a very specific meaning – typically a Nobel laureate if the field has Nobels or someone of a similar stature. Such a letter certainly does often have a strong effect at the graduate level (from everything I’ve been told) because the person “knows what he’s talking about”. Letters from senators, governors, presidents of the United States, etc., typically hurt more than help (even in UG admissions; in grad admissions such a thing would obviously be a complete joke) because they typically show you are (a) fairly privileged (b) think you need a “huge name” to help you, or both. Plus, senators and presidents typically think they’re a big deal and that a piece of paper from them already means a lot (regardless of what it says), so they often write something like “I found John to be an intelligent and mature young man, a real credit to his school and community”, which could truly be said of two thousand other people.</p>
<p>So, in general, “famous” people don’t help you much, unless their “fame” makes them particularly qualified to comment on your abilities/achievements.</p>
<p>Thanks Ben, your comments make complete sense. You seem to be correct–the original poster is probably referring to graduate admissions. </p>
<p>Anyway, one a separate and more personal note, how valuable (or harmful) do you think a supplemental letter from a previous MIT professor (who taught one of my JC classes) be? The letter doesn’t convey anything distictly different from my other letters but sort of explains why they think I would “fit” their class–my curiosity for mechanics of everyday instruments, drive to learn, innovative abilities, and marketing strengths, etc… If my other letters and essays convey the same message, do you think this additional letter will help or hurt me? I’m wondering how much weight the testimony holds, coming from a former professor of their own institution. Since it doesn’t convey some distinct attribute, would it be considered extraneous and potentially hurt me application?</p>
<p>No, my best guess is that it would help. I’d find it hard to imagine a world in which it hurt. (The bad kind I was thinking about would be a letter from a collaborator whose machine you used once… “In the short time I observed him, John was very responsible in turning the knobs…”)</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t think it would hurt my application, but didn’t want to add it if it wouldn’t conribute much to my application. From your post, it seems like I made the correct decision in having them send it.</p>