Word count questions (several threads merged)

mcgmit
Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:55:35 +0000

We’re pretty excited about the new essays this year, particularly since we’ll get to see several more aspects of your life and personality than in years’ past. If you had applied last year, you would have had only two short (100 word) and one long (500 word) essay prompts, along with space for some optional essays. (Maybe one out of three or four kids would have used this optional space, BTW.) This year, the five short answer questions (two 100 word responses and three 250 word responses) offer more space for you to write significantly about yourself.

In a very non-scientific manner, I took the opportunity to randomly sample some of the responses we’ve gotten in thus far this year. (We don’t review your case until all required application components have been received, so I blinded myself as to the applicants’ names.) As someone who has read tens of thousands of essays, I can honestly say that the responses I’ve seen this year are among the most helpful and informative I’ve ever come across. These cases were chosen at random, mind you, which makes me incredibly excited as we begin this year’s application season. Our ultimate goal is to try to get to know you through your application and interview, and our essay changes are a big step towards that goal.

Applicants always ask how helpful supplemental essays are: Do we read them? Do we preferentially admit kids who use EVERYPOSSIBLESPACE in the application? Will I be at a disadvantage if I submit/don’t submit a supplemental essay? These are incredibly important questions, and there is an easy, unified answer to them. We specifically design our “required” application questions to get a ton of information from you, and we believe that these questions help us to get a very, very good idea of how you might thrive at MIT and contribute to our campus. The supplementary space allows YOU to feel comfortable that the application has captured as much as you would like to tell us. Use the space only if you feel you need to. Although we’ll read every word you write, we don’t give preference to those who use/don’t use the optional space. That’s why they’re optional!

-McGreggor (MIT Admissions)