Anonymous wrote:Most of the MIT responses were about the experiences of boys. Are there more people who can chime in with girls there? I know MIT has come a long way since when we were looking at colleges but it was a place I know my wife who went to a top 5 school elected not to apply to at all.

Anonymous wrote:MIT students are so kind to each other. It's is such a collaborative environment, they are not competitive with each other. They all want to see one another succeed and will go to great lengths to support each others' learning. MIT doesn't do Latin honors or any ranking....if you graduate from MIT, you graduate from MIT with mutual respect for all.

It's truly a remarkable community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing society seems to lack today is a genuine commitment to advancing humanity. Higher education was meant to serve that purpose, yet our collective pursuit of knowledge has too often been overshadowed by greed.

Artificial intelligence holds immense potential, but its true value lies in the morality and responsibility that guide its use. I was struck by comments noting that MIT seeks students who are not only academically exceptional but also kind. That emphasis on kindness is profoundly important — perhaps even more so than pure intelligence — because while humans possess emotion and empathy, technology does not.

Many of the top MIT students end up in quant finance, not advancing humanity. The lure of high salary and bonus is stronger than pursuing the more altruistic goals expressed in their MIT applications.

A quant who donates a large chunk of their salary to a good charity does more good than 99.9% of people.

Anonymous wrote:Current parents - Do all students have to take each of chem, bio, math and physics? My kid is currently taking ap physics c mechanics, but hates it and wants to major in either bio or bio-engineering in college. This all assumes, of course, that my kid is going to get in, which i know is a long shot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing society seems to lack today is a genuine commitment to advancing humanity. Higher education was meant to serve that purpose, yet our collective pursuit of knowledge has too often been overshadowed by greed.

Artificial intelligence holds immense potential, but its true value lies in the morality and responsibility that guide its use. I was struck by comments noting that MIT seeks students who are not only academically exceptional but also kind. That emphasis on kindness is profoundly important — perhaps even more so than pure intelligence — because while humans possess emotion and empathy, technology does not.

Many of the top MIT students end up in quant finance, not advancing humanity. The lure of high salary and bonus is stronger than pursuing the more altruistic goals expressed in their MIT applications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing society seems to lack today is a genuine commitment to advancing humanity. Higher education was meant to serve that purpose, yet our collective pursuit of knowledge has too often been overshadowed by greed.

Artificial intelligence holds immense potential, but its true value lies in the morality and responsibility that guide its use. I was struck by comments noting that MIT seeks students who are not only academically exceptional but also kind. That emphasis on kindness is profoundly important — perhaps even more so than pure intelligence — because while humans possess emotion and empathy, technology does not.

Many of the top MIT students end up in quant finance, not advancing humanity. The lure of high salary and bonus is stronger than pursuing the more altruistic goals expressed in their MIT applications.

Anonymous wrote:Case and Worcester are not MIT peers. Not even CMU, except in CS.

MIT peer is Caltech. Different schools, vibes. If the student is also into liberal arts, check out Harvey Mudd. Engineering at Mudd, liberal arts at Pomona...

Anonymous wrote:One thing society seems to lack today is a genuine commitment to advancing humanity. Higher education was meant to serve that purpose, yet our collective pursuit of knowledge has too often been overshadowed by greed.

Artificial intelligence holds immense potential, but its true value lies in the morality and responsibility that guide its use. I was struck by comments noting that MIT seeks students who are not only academically exceptional but also kind. That emphasis on kindness is profoundly important — perhaps even more so than pure intelligence — because while humans possess emotion and empathy, technology does not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:even if accepted, how do you know it’s a match, I wonder.

MIT alum - they seem to be very good at knowing how to pick students. Usually a mix of ambitious but kind. It absolutely is the hardest academic environment out there, but you learn to fail, be humble, ask for help and adapt.

With me and a friend we were choosing between MIT, Stanford and a few others.

Fit definitely depends on your student if you can give more details.

Love math & music? Carnegie Mellon might be another fit.

Thank you. Love of music and math and philosophy and physics. Hardworking. Kind. Can get himself into a hole though - this summer the professor he was interning with was opaque and brief in answering questions and my kid had a hard time persisting and keeping on asking questions- avoided the situation. Can procrastinate. A good friend. Likes being physically active. I just don’t know. Who knows if he’ll get in, of course, but if he did, I wouldn’t know how to counsel him. He didn’t apply to Carnegie Mellon bc he knew someone who went there who told him it was “sad”.