I think people underestimate MITs strength in the humanities.
My friend’s family all went there (he is also headed there). He said that it’s arguably harder to get into MIT for humanities and that it’s no joke there. They take it extremely seriously. He made sure to take the most rigorous english classes and had to play suck up to the english teachers because he needed to get good grades and letters of rec from them.
Yes, MIT expects its students to be very well-prepared to enthusiastically do well in challenging HASS classes, and my understanding is this is one of the easiest ways it can cut down its application pool to a manageable size (weeding out all the STEM+++ applicants who do not understand they are expected to be at least HASS+ students as well).
The thing I am not sure about in the OP’s case is whether those are actually insufficient ACT scores. Again the English scores are actually quite good–36 and 35, same as the Math. And I know this is kinda just a quirk of the CDS format, but that means the OP’s kid was consistently either 50th or 75th for Math and English across these tests.
OK, but then Science and Reading were not at that level, but it is not like they are a disaster–29, 31, 32, 32. And again maybe this is just my own perspective, but I really don’t think that means this kid is likely to struggle in a real HASS class, where reading is not done ACT-style.
So I don’t know, but I am wondering if MIT might actually think those ACT scores are good enough for both STEM and HASS. Sure, ideally the Science/Reading and those composite scores would be a little higher, but I don’t know if MIT will actually much care about that specific issue.
I want this to be the case sooo badly.
Again- the scores are ONE element to a multifaceted assessment process. Just one. It’s tempting to overthink it- as if an Adcom says “hey, remember that kid we put in the rejection pile-- his scores are actually higher than a lot of other apps we’ve reviewed. Let’s talk about him again”.
No. OP’s son will NOT be rejected because of his scores, and will NOT be accepted because of his scores. They are one element of the review process.
But do they expect the exceptional heights in humanities scores that they do in math? Capable/qualified doesn’t necessarily mean stratospheric. And MIT does superscore, right?
Oof — I just checked and saw that even the 25% for Reading is 34.
The CDS lists percentiles
Yes
For the most part, top schools seem to look for students who excel across the board. Even if they stand out in one particular area.
In the end, you control what you can.
You know it’s the ultimate Hail Mary but that’s ok. They will have kids studying there.
Will one be yours ?
No idea but it won’t be if they don’t apply due to low (relative to the school) scores.
No clue which answer above is right bcuz every possibility was recommended.
Pick one of the choices. It’ll be a great choice. Crush the app. And don’t look back. If the student ends up there- great. If not and yes this is the expectation - then it’s another school’s good fortune.
Best of luck.
I believe MIT will superscore the ACT (highest of the math and reading scores individually).
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