Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, 11,883 students applied Early Action to the MIT Class of 2030. we have offered admission to 655.We deferred 7,738 applicants;⁠ these students will be reconsidered without prejudice in Regular Action, with decisions released sometime in March. Given the competitiveness of our pool, we have also informed 2,703 students that we will not be able to offer them admission this year. 787 — withdrew from our process before we released their decision.

Why would so many withdraw? Does that mean they switched their ED choice perhaps?

maybe they got into their ED school. MIT doesn’t have ED.

Anonymous wrote:This year, 11,883 students applied Early Action to the MIT Class of 2030. we have offered admission to 655.We deferred 7,738 applicants;⁠ these students will be reconsidered without prejudice in Regular Action, with decisions released sometime in March. Given the competitiveness of our pool, we have also informed 2,703 students that we will not be able to offer them admission this year. 787 — withdrew from our process before we released their decision.

Why would so many withdraw? Does that mean they switched their ED choice perhaps?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIT AOs are not myopic. They want admits who will graduate. MIT has a fairly broad range of required courses for everyone. A one trick pony math kid who can't read literature, write essays, take 3 nonmajor science courses is not what they want. Sure sime kids take economics so they can have mathy "humanities" but even so they need to absorb principles.

WTF are you talking about?

I highly doubt there is a graduation problem with moppers at MIT.

The notion that people who are able to do complex math manipulations can't absorb principles is kind of silly.

And the most successful alumni are not the well rounded renaissance man.
They don't train management consultants at MIT.
They are training the kids that are decoding the matrix of the financial markets or figuring out how to create fusion reactors.

LOL

It is just simply about money and fame. I am not sure I agree w you that's the mission for MIT

Anonymous wrote:MIT AOs are not myopic. They want admits who will graduate. MIT has a fairly broad range of required courses for everyone. A one trick pony math kid who can't read literature, write essays, take 3 nonmajor science courses is not what they want. Sure sime kids take economics so they can have mathy "humanities" but even so they need to absorb principles.

PP, I understand what you’re saying and largely agree, though I suspect you’ll get a lot of pushback from people with more one-dimensional thinking. I’d like to point out that the main reasons people care so much about MIT—especially Asian immigrants and middle- or lower-middle-class families with academically strong children—are:

1. MIT does not consider legacy status.
2. While MIT does recruit athletes, it rigorously evaluates academic ability; athletic talent alone is not enough for admission.

I believe most of the top schools in the US look broader intelligences than just math.

Anonymous wrote:This year, 11,883 students applied Early Action to the MIT Class of 2030. we have offered admission to 655.We deferred 7,738 applicants;⁠ these students will be reconsidered without prejudice in Regular Action, with decisions released sometime in March. Given the competitiveness of our pool, we have also informed 2,703 students that we will not be able to offer them admission this year. 787 — withdrew from our process before we released their decision.

Can someone please explain why deferral rate's so high? They deferred three times as many applicants as they rejected - is it because the caliber of students is so high or because they're afraid that RA won't yield anyone good and they'd have to extensively tap into their deferral pool? Seems odd for a highly selective college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS has one!
Super impressive and interesting kid.

Holton has one too. An athlete.

Are you sure? I see RIT on Insta but not MIT…

Yes, I am sure. It’s not on Insta yet. The Holton Insta posting is not as quick as some of the other schools.

Kids don't always do their insta posts immediately. My kid waited a couple of weeks. Some wait longer or don't do it at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS has one!
Super impressive and interesting kid.

Holton has one too. An athlete.

Are you sure? I see RIT on Insta but not MIT…

Yes, I am sure. It’s not on Insta yet. The Holton Insta posting is not as quick as some of the other schools.

Can you share the sport?

Anonymous wrote:MIT AOs are not myopic. They want admits who will graduate. MIT has a fairly broad range of required courses for everyone. A one trick pony math kid who can't read literature, write essays, take 3 nonmajor science courses is not what they want. Sure sime kids take economics so they can have mathy "humanities" but even so they need to absorb principles.

What makes you think these kids aren’t multi-talented. All these kids are well rounded, read a ton outside of the classroom, play music at a high level, engage in community service etc. no bogus nonprofits tho.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 'math competition industry' thing reminds me of Spelling Bee. My kid went to national one and lo and behold all the top placers were in like a hidden Spelling Bee Industrial Complex nobody knew about.

Its like the sports industry. We know kids who are training for squash in Egypt and Malaysia. That plus the amount of money one needs to spend on private coaches, traveling to places made us decide not to pursue it. One family in Greenwich built a squash court in their home and had a renowned squash coach as a full time employee (he could not coach other kids).

That's not the same as cheating, though. That's intensive preparation that can be expensive, which some might consider "unfair", but still depends on the talent and effort of the skill of the student.

Indeed, money just tilts the scales. But the rampant cheating on the AMC exams is just that -- cheating. Again, not that important in the big scheme of things but there used to be this lore that MOP qualification meant a ticket to MIT. Certainly not the case any more.

It becomes pretty obvious at MOP

Yes, but this year's MIT admissions has been tough. A lot of MOPpers that my kid knows were deferred (at least half a dozen). Some of these kids made it to the team selection test group, so not the cheater crowd. Apparently, there's a new AO at MIT who looks at the math kid applications, so that may have contributed. I'm sure these kids will be fine wherever they go though.

MIT has been able to corner the market on Americas best math minds. It would probably be a mistake to let an air bubble form in that pipeline.

My kid is a freshman at MIT (planning to focus on math) --where do you get the idea that MIT has "cornered the market" on the best math minds? Seems to me there are brilliant math minds all over the country.

And isn't that a good thing?

Your second sentence implies that it would be a mistake if MIT failed to keep a monopoly of great math minds. How so?

I mean, #1, I don't agree with your premise that MIT has such a monopoly but #2, even if it did, why would it be a mistake to bust up the "pipeline"?

Anonymous wrote:MIT AOs are not myopic. They want admits who will graduate. MIT has a fairly broad range of required courses for everyone. A one trick pony math kid who can't read literature, write essays, take 3 nonmajor science courses is not what they want. Sure sime kids take economics so they can have mathy "humanities" but even so they need to absorb principles.

WTF are you talking about?

I highly doubt there is a graduation problem with moppers at MIT.

The notion that people who are able to do complex math manipulations can't absorb principles is kind of silly.

And the most successful alumni are not the well rounded renaissance man.
They don't train management consultants at MIT.
They are training the kids that are decoding the matrix of the financial markets or figuring out how to create fusion reactors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 'math competition industry' thing reminds me of Spelling Bee. My kid went to national one and lo and behold all the top placers were in like a hidden Spelling Bee Industrial Complex nobody knew about.

Its like the sports industry. We know kids who are training for squash in Egypt and Malaysia. That plus the amount of money one needs to spend on private coaches, traveling to places made us decide not to pursue it. One family in Greenwich built a squash court in their home and had a renowned squash coach as a full time employee (he could not coach other kids).

That's not the same as cheating, though. That's intensive preparation that can be expensive, which some might consider "unfair", but still depends on the talent and effort of the skill of the student.

Indeed, money just tilts the scales. But the rampant cheating on the AMC exams is just that -- cheating. Again, not that important in the big scheme of things but there used to be this lore that MOP qualification meant a ticket to MIT. Certainly not the case any more.

It becomes pretty obvious at MOP

Yes, but this year's MIT admissions has been tough. A lot of MOPpers that my kid knows were deferred (at least half a dozen). Some of these kids made it to the team selection test group, so not the cheater crowd. Apparently, there's a new AO at MIT who looks at the math kid applications, so that may have contributed. I'm sure these kids will be fine wherever they go though.

MIT has been able to corner the market on Americas best math minds. It would probably be a mistake to let an air bubble form in that pipeline.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS has one!
Super impressive and interesting kid.

Holton has one too. An athlete.

Are you sure? I see RIT on Insta but not MIT…

Yes, I am sure. It’s not on Insta yet. The Holton Insta posting is not as quick as some of the other schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS has one!
Super impressive and interesting kid.

Holton has one too. An athlete.

Are you sure? I see RIT on Insta but not MIT…

Anonymous wrote:NCS has one!
Super impressive and interesting kid.

Holton has one too. An athlete.

MIT AOs are not myopic. They want admits who will graduate. MIT has a fairly broad range of required courses for everyone. A one trick pony math kid who can't read literature, write essays, take 3 nonmajor science courses is not what they want. Sure sime kids take economics so they can have mathy "humanities" but even so they need to absorb principles.