It's November 1. MIT Early Action applicants are wondering, what's next? And Regular Action applicants may be now starting their applications in earnest. Here are some updates from the Admissions Office...

Early Action

Tracking: Please be patient with the MyMIT Tracking. We are currently processing more than 10,000 documents which have all arrived in just the past few days. Do not call or email looking for missing documents until we post a blog entry saying that we have processed all materials. It may take us up to two more weeks for your materials to show up on the tracking system. However, if you have submitted your materials by the deadline, you are fine for EA.

Storm: Due to the devastating snowstorm that hit the northeastern United States this past weekend, we are extending our application deadline for students affected by the storm (i.e., those students who lost power for 24 hours or more). The new deadline for those students is November 6th, 2011, at 11:59 PM. For all other students, we will still require you to submit the application by the normal deadline, which is today.

Interview: If you have already interviewed with your EC, or have scheduled your interview for the near future, you are all set. Do not worry if your interview report has not yet appeared on your MyMIT Tracking; the deadline for ECs to submit their reports has not yet arrived. If you wish, you may now fill out the conducted interview form and we will be sure to get the interview report.

Midyear Report: I know that the Midyear Report box is sitting there, unchecked. Don't worry about this unless you are deferred from EA to RA. This form will not be made available until well after EA decisions are released.

Decisions: The admissions officers will be reading these applications all of November into December. We have not yet determined on what date we will release EA decisions. It will likely be sometime in mid-December, but you should wait for an official announcement from our office. We have not yet determined when the announcement will be made; it usually is about a week before decisions are released.

Regular Action

Interviews: The deadline to contact your interviewer (EC) is December 10. My recommendation, though, is to contact your EC before Thanksgiving, or even to do it now, if you're reading this. Your EC's contact information can be found on your MyMIT application portal. (Students with waived interviews are at no disadvantage.) If your EC has not gotten back to you, but it has been only a short time since you made contact (say, a week), be patient. By having contacted the EC before the deadline, you have taken your important step. If your EC has not gotten back to you, and it has been a long time (say, two weeks with multiple attempts to contact), please either call the Educational Council at 617-258-5510 or email us at interview at mit dot edu.

Recommendations: Recommendation forms are available on your MyMIT portal. It is okay if your teacher or counselor does not include the MIT cover sheet with their letter. We prefer to receive it, but letters without it are at no disadvantage. We will accept your school's own forms, the NACAC forms, or the Common App forms. You can submit teacher letters and school forms (such as transcripts) in three ways. Please use only one method; duplicate submission will only slow down the processing.

• If your school uses Naviance/Docufide to submit letters of evaluation and transcripts, your school can send these documents directly to MIT, a registered Docufide Document recipient. This is true even though MIT doe snot use the Common App; submission of materials works in the same way. We encourage you to have your school use Naviance/Docufide over other means of document submission, if possible. Please do not send additional copies via fax or mail.
• You can fax the documents to us. All letters must be typed or written on official school letterhead and signed by the evaluator. Letters not on school letterhead and not signed by evaluators will not be accepted. Please do not send additional copies via Docufide or mail. Documents may be faxed to: (617) 687-9184.
• You can mail documents to us. All letters must be typed or written on official school letterhead and signed by the evaluator. Letters not on school letterhead and not signed by evaluators will not be accepted. Please do not send additional copies via Docufide or fax. Envelopes may be addressed to: MIT Admissions; Room 10-100; 77 Massachusetts Avenue; Cambridge, MA 02139.

Supplemental Information: For art, music, and athletic supplements, please follow the instructions on the website. For any other supplemental information that needs to be sent, please include the MIT Supplemental Document Cover Sheet from MyMIT for any additional documents you send. It helps with filing. (Documents without the cover sheet will be fine, too, as long as there is enough information for us to match the document with your file.)

Other schools: I know that many regular action applicants are applying early (action, decision, or otherwse) to another school. I still encourage you to work on your MIT application in the meantime. Working on the MIT RA application, and even submitting documents, is not a violation of an ED or SCEA agreement that I am aware of. Of particular importance is the interview: MIT's deadline for contacting your interviewer is December 10, which is before most early admissions decisions are released. You should schedule your interview before December 10, even if you are awaiting another school's decision. Interviews are strongly recommended. In fact, last year, of eligible applicants, we admitted 12.4% of those who had an interview (or who had their interview waived) but only 1.4% of those who chose not to interview.

Tracking: Application tracking is available on MyMIT after you submit your Part 1. For this reason, I recommend submitting your Part 1 sooner rather than later, so that you can track your documents.

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Wrong things at wrong places may bring hope............
i send a mail from "creates_4_with_lov@hotmail.com" to admissions@mit.edu which contains pains & hopes of my love for a love .............
i want it to be read by MIT admission officer.Pls read and reply
sorry!

Posted by: Searching It on November 1, 2011

Thanks for the update, especially on the Midyear Report! It's like you knew exactly how I was staring at that unchecked box, worrying about it....

Posted by: Christi on November 1, 2011

Oh man, here comes the long slow ride of waiting for decisions. I can't wait 'till December!

Posted by: TayS on November 1, 2011

Hi, Matt,
I have one recommendation in but my math teacher is still working on hers. Is there any leniency for when evaluations come in?

Posted by: Jason on November 1, 2011

I have been following the admissions blog for a while now and taking note of newsletters and updates from the admissions office. I did sign up for a MyMIT account but I am not applying this year. Does the early sign up affect me in any way if I apply next year? I'm starting A levels which take 2 years hence applying next year with the hopes of gaining admission just after completing the course.

Good luck and best wishes to all of this year's applicants

Posted by: Samuel Sowah on November 1, 2011

How about the SAT tests and TOEFL? The SAT tests are not available in my country, but I am planning on travelling to another to do them, or is there any alternative? And does anyone know whether Cambridge language certificates such as FCE are accepted?

Posted by: Blaz on November 1, 2011

hi Matt
I still not have given SAT
I don't have any science subjects taken , instead of them i have accounting ,business , economics
as SAT fees are of financial hardship for my family do i still have to give SAT 2 in science subjects ( and are they of any importance as it is mostly predictable that my scores will be below average in them).
* i would like to know which else subjects do i could give SAT 2 to show my ability , regarding to the course of study i have taken and determined to continue with

i am planning to get recommendation from my accounting teacher ( evolution a) and English teacher (evolution b).
both of them and my school too don't have their own mail id . i will write my school profile myself ( and get it verified by my headmaster ).
* if i could scan and mail the documents myself on their behalf ........on which id and what to write on the subject line . i would be more then pleased if admission office let me send application for fee wavier by email too

in your hands
dheeraj █║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║║™ original signature Verisign un secured

P.S.
are sloan b r articles are worth of downloading . how they are compered to HBR ?

Posted by: Dheeraj , ind. on November 1, 2011

I'm applying early action and this is the first I've heard about school letterhead being required for teacher recommendations. Mine were sent last Monday (10/24) and I'm not sure whether they haven't been processed due to the large number of forms coming in right now or the fact that they aren't acceptable. The guidance office at my school sent all of the letters and I'm fairly certain that they used an official school seal over the back of the envelope, but I'm not sure if that is enough to ensure the validity of the letters. Should I be freaking out or emailing someone right now, or am I over-reacting? Thanks!

Posted by: Amelia on November 1, 2011

@Searching: I'm not sure what to say other than your email will be handled by our usual process.

@Jason: We are much more lenient with teachers than with the applicant. It will be okay if your math teacher submits her letter for you a little bit late.

@Samuel: There is no effect.

@Blaz: I don't know how to help you other than to point you to our testing requirments page: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/tests

@Dheeraj: Our testing requirements are clearly spelled out in the link I posted above for Blaz. Note that the MIT education, not to mention the MIT admissions process, will be very difficult without any background in the sciences. Finally, I have found many articles in the Sloan Management Review to be compelling, happy reading!

@Amelia: You don't need to worry. If we have any questions, we will follow up with your teacher.

Posted by: Matt McGann '00 on November 1, 2011

Dear Matt,
I'm finishing up my early action application. Most of my essays have been tweaked to exactly hit the word limit, but in the online application, all of my apostrophes and dashes have been turned into long lines of diamonds with question marks in them and the program thinks two of my responses are over the limit. Shall I hit "save data anyway" and submit as is?
Thanks so much,
Jordan

Posted by: Jordan on November 1, 2011

@Jordan: You may want to read my last update at http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/ea-updates-2011. If you copy and paste from a program like Microsoft Word into the application, you may lose some formatting for characters like apostrophes, em dashes, and quotation marks. I would recommend that you fix the formatting problems by editing within the text box on MyMIT, turning those diamonds and question marks back into their appropriate characters. As for the word count, my understanding is that MyMIT is counting words like won't and first-class as two words each, and father-in-law would be three. Thus, you may find that you can only fit, say, 247 words for a 250-word prompt. My understanding is that you will not be able to submit your application if you are over the word count. You will need to conform to MyMIT's overly strict way of counting the words; everyone else will have the same restrictions, so you're on a level playing field.

Posted by: Matt McGann '00 on November 1, 2011

Jordan,
I had this same problem when I submitted my application. It can be remedied by going in to the application, deleting the diamonds, and inserting whatever form of punctuation they replaced. Don't mean to steal your thunder Matt, just thought I could help.
Ian

Posted by: Ian Hoek Spaans on November 1, 2011

Oh, sorry that I didn't see that other entry. Thanks, y'all. Man, those few words are going to be hard to eliminate for some of these (now I realize more are actually this way, too bad I like dashes so much)! Looks like I'll have to spell cliché without the é as well.
-- Jordan

Posted by: Jordan on November 1, 2011

Matt, I am a college counselor looking for the MIT net price calculator. I can find a College Board calc (https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/mit) if I do extensive searching, but I can't seem to find a link from the admissions site yet. Is this calculator ready to launch, what's the status? Thanks!

Posted by: Kylie on November 1, 2011

For the curious:
I actually don't think that the online application counts words with dashes or contractions as more than one. I have an essay that is exactly 250 words when counting them as one that was accepted into the system and uses the words far-away, tree-hugging and I've. The problem was where I used long dashes (space, dash, dash, space) as in: "It’s a separate world there in the great outdoors – stripped of technicalities and radiating the fundamentally good."

-- Jordan

Posted by: Jordan on November 1, 2011

What EC stand for?

Posted by: John T on November 1, 2011

I submitted my application last night, and I can't wait to hear back!
Good luck fellow applicants!!

Posted by: Mason Williams on November 1, 2011

Hi! I am been here one year. I will apply for the regular application. When is the best time to summit my application?
What happen if I take my TOEFL and I can't get more than 90?

Posted by: Thuy Nguyen on November 1, 2011

Hey Matt I was wondering if you could answer this question for me since the answer I got when I called the admissions office was a little vague. For my evaluation B I asked my school jazz instructor fill out the form and write a letter of recommendation. Originally they didn't accept it because he teaches a performance class instead of an academic class. But after I called they accepted it. However they said that usually you have an academic professor write the evaluation and that this recommendation would not be "as strong" as an academic professor's. Should I choose another humanities teacher to write an evaluation or should I just use this evaluation? Bearing in mind that this teacher has known me since the 7th grade and I thought they would be able to write the best recommendation.

Thanks for reading and answering all of our questions.

Posted by: Andrew on November 1, 2011

Ah, now the agonizing wait begins. Good luck, everyone!

Also, I found out that the transcript that my school sent out to MIT does not have my Senior year first-quarter grades. I can request that they be sent out when they become available, but if I do, would MIT take these grades into consideration for EA?

Thanks a lot!

(@John T - EC stands for "Educational Counselor" - MIT's alumni interviewers)

Posted by: Ken L. on November 1, 2011

There seems to be an issue with my being able to submit Part 1 of the application. In Section 2 it keeps saying that a permanent residence is required, even though I have already indicated one. Any Ideas on how to fix this?

Posted by: Siouxsie Downs on November 1, 2011

Hey, I have a question.
I assumed that I did not have to print out the separate evaluation forms that MIT has because when my science teacher sent her letter of recommendation online, it said that evaluation A had been processed on myMIT account. However, my history teacher's recommendation letter still has not been processed. Do I have to print out the separate evaluation forms and get them faxed?

Thanks.

Posted by: Tim Lee on November 1, 2011

@Jordan, @Ian: Thanks!

@Kylie: See the bottom of http://web.mit.edu/sfs/ for the link. We'll do a wider roll out when we get a chance.

@John: As Ken noted, EC stands for Educational Counselor, which is an MIT alumni/ae interviewer.

@Mason: Best wishes!

@Thuy: Submit your application by January 1, but be sure to distribute your school forms earlier, and to schedule your interview by December 10. The minimum TOEFL score is 90.

@Andrew: I sent you an email, but others may want to see this previous blog entry: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/about_mit_recommendation_lette

@Ken: If it's in your file, we will consider it.

@Siouxsie: I sent you an email. Hopefully it will not be a problem.

@Tim: Just be patient; we are processing thousands of documents right now. It will be processed soon, I'm sure, with or without the evaluation forms. If for some reason we haven't processed it in a few weeks, we will let you know to have it resent.

Posted by: Matt McGann '00 on November 1, 2011

Hey-- I haven't really sent in my Part 1 of the application because I thought it wise (apparently not?) to send all parts at once. I'm applying Early Action, so will it be a problem? =/

Posted by: thelittlerhoboatthatcould on November 1, 2011

Thanks for the reply. But are the evaluation forms required? My teachers just sent in their recommendation letters.

Posted by: Tim Lee on November 1, 2011

I already submitted Part 1 and indicated that I was applying early action. However, I now want to apply regular action. Will that be a problem? Is there any way for me to change Part 1? Thanks!

Posted by: Mallika Mathur on November 1, 2011

Hi! These blogs are really helpful, and truly the best example of constant updates I've seen. Just a question about recommendations - How do good recommendations look? My guidance counselor mentioned that mine were very good, and I was wondering how much weight that might have

Posted by: Natasha on November 1, 2011

Hi Matt,

Two questions.
My supplement recommendation got accidentally submitted multiple times via postage mail and then via fax. Does this duplication pose any problem?
Also, I had a recent change in my biographical information and I changed that on MyMIT, how long does it usually take for the system to make the change.

Thank you very much!

Posted by: Jonathan on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,

I just submitted my application for Early Action, and I live on the West Coast, so it's 10:00 PM right now. On the submission page, though, it said that I turned in Part 2 on 11/2/2011; was I supposed to have turned in my application by 12:00 AM EST?

Thank you!

Posted by: Rebecca on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,

I just realized that I forgot to mention both my National Merit Semifinalist status and my NHRP (National Hispanic Recognition Program scholar) status on my application. Would it be possible to add that to my file? Or should I send an email to admissions@mit.edu with this information?

Thanks!
Aidan

Posted by: abevac on November 2, 2011

HI Matt,

I turned in the EA application past the deadline due to the last minutes essay problems. What happened was when I copy and past the essay from the word doc to MyMIT, the words are recounted and my essay went to over the limit. I thought in the past this was allowed so I didn't pay much attention about it. However, when I was trying to submit, the system wouldn't let me. I had to play around with reformatting the essay. As a consequence, the submission past the deadline by almost 30 minutes. After the submission, my application showed as EA and processed. Is that an indication that my application was accepted as EA without any problem? If so, will I be punished in anyway by being late?

Thanks,

Jim

Posted by: Jim on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,

I wanted to ask which transcripts I should send. I am currently doing A Levels. I applied to another college which required transcripts from Grade 9 onward, but for MIT it just says "most recent transcripts". Actually my transcripts from Grade 9 are quite bulky (we had a four-page report every term), and I was wondering if it would be a hassle for the admissions office. Should I just send in my final O Level result and my A Level term grades?

Thanks!

Posted by: Misha on November 2, 2011

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am Chinese senior high school student who would like to apply to your esteemed undergraduate prorgram in biology since I have a very strong interest in this field.

However, I checked that most of the top 30 US universities require SAT I and II tests, but I did not have one and I did not plan to take the test. But I have got an IELTS test score, which is 7.5, with sub scores as below: Listing 9.0, Speaking 6.5, Reading 7.5, Writing 6.5. So I am writing this letter to ask will you consider students who only have IELTS score but not TOEFL score and with no SAT score?

Thank you very much for your consideration and your prompt reply would be much appreciated.
Yours sincerely,

Jingwen Xiao

Posted by: Jingwen XIAO on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,
Could you tell me if there is some kind of 'cut-off' for SAT scores for MIT admission? And for RA, approximately how long will the admissions process be (I mean, the interviews and other stuff)? Will it get over before February next year?

Posted by: Kshitij on November 2, 2011

@thelittlerhoboatthatcould: Not a problem, unless you didn't submit them yesterday at all.

@Tim: No, not required.

@Mallika: Send an email to admissions@mit.edu with your request.

@Natasha: Recommendation letters are a helpful and important part of our process.

@Jonathan: The duplication is not a problem. For your second question, I don't know; I'd recommend emailing admissions@mit.edu with your information updates.

@Rebecca: We will accept your application for Early Action.

@Aidan: Yes, email.

@Jim: We will accept your application for Early Action, no punishment.

@Misha: Your final O Level result and my A Level term grades should be fine.

@Jingwen: We are aware that the SAT is not offered in China. For applicants for whom this poses a hardship, we will consider applications without the scores. While the IELTS does not fulfill our testing requirements, we will consider any IELTS scores that are submitted; a 7.5 will be helpful.

@Kshitij: There is no cutoff. RA admissions decisions will be released in mid-March.

Posted by: Matt McGann '00 on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,
I am bit worried about my teacher recommendations. I currently attended a sixth form college where I'm doing A level subjects. The problem, however, is that I am not doing any subject under humanities. So how, do I go about the recommendation from the Humanities teacher? For the school report, should I send just my A level term grades or should I send my secondary school report from my previous school alongside the A level term grades? Also which counselor recommendation would be most suitable? A level or O level. Thanks.

Posted by: Adesoji on November 2, 2011

@ Jordan : were any of your essays longer than 250 words ? If so, were you able to submit them ? Thanks.

@Matt : I am currently working on my essays, and the last one (about facing a particular challenge) is 330 words long. It really tells something important about me, so I am confused whether I should leave it this way or not. What should I do ?
Thank you for everything.

Posted by: Moe on November 2, 2011

Hii,

I want to ask you few things.I gave SAT1 and 2 in 2007 and at 1st I thought I will send the same scores but now I doubt if the scores will be still valid.Now I want to reappear in Sat 1 and Sat2 both but if i go for SAT1 on DEC3rd ,the only time I can go for SAT2 will be 28th of Jan 2012.Now what must I do:(.I have applied for Regular action.Is it ok if my scores of sat 2 reach MIT in Feb?

Posted by: Sadia Siddiqui on November 2, 2011

I took my SAT . I got 460 on my reading. Should I do the TOEFL or do the SAT( ACT) again? What happen if I get lower than 90 on my TOEFL?
Thank you very much!

Posted by: Thuy Nguyen on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,

I am appying to MIT via questbridge, and they required that all materials, including a secondary school report with school profile and a transcript be sent by November 1st. However, my school no longer has counselors due to budget cuts, so the individual who filled out my school report is actually a teacher who was authorized by questbridge to act as my counselor. He had difficulty completing the school report because he could not find our school profile. As a result, he was forced to send my secondary school report without the school profile in order to meet the deadline (my transcript was sent through the mail). Will my questbridge application still be considered?

Thank You

Posted by: Nick Bernal on November 2, 2011

Hi Matt,

I am from India and I passed out of high school in May 2010. I came to know about MIT after high school and due to my ill-preparedness, I missed deadlines and failed to apply last year. I have been home for an year and a half now and am finally applying this year. I hope I am eligible.

Thank you.

Posted by: Pooja on November 3, 2011

In my application, I listed a summer course that I took at Berkeley as both a summer activity and a college class. However, the ATDP program does not submit official transcripts. What now? Do you need a transcript from the program?

Posted by: TayS on November 3, 2011

What's the prognosis on the mudkips right now?

Posted by: Cool Kid on November 3, 2011

Hello Matt,

I have a question with recommendation letters. I don't know if my teacher has sent my rec letter yet or whether it just did not show up on the system. I feel hesitant asking my teacher because he is quite busy and may feel annoyed by me. Should I wait until you announce that all the documents have been processed, or should I ask my teacher right now?

Posted by: AK on November 7, 2011

Hello Matt,

I filed a score report from College Board for my SAT scores about three weeks ago. However, on the Application Tracking page, all that is shown is the ACT report I sent to MIT. Is this reason to worry, or am I being paranoid? I know it takes the admissions officers a long time to go through all the apps, but I want to be assured that nothing wrong has occurred.

Thank you so much,
Sean

Posted by: Sean on November 10, 2011

I have submitted all of my early action application information in mid October. However, one of the teacher evaluations has not yet been shown as processed. It was submitted via Naviance on Oct. 7 and documents submitted via Naviance at a later date (Oct. 18) has been processed. Should I be concern? Is there anything that I need to do? Thanks.

Posted by: Jon on November 10, 2011

Hello Matt, please advise if one still needs to send his Mid year School Report and School Report if he is a High School Graduate, and Final School Report is available for submission?
If School Report is required, how many years of the Secondary/High School report is necessary?
Thanks for your immediate response.

Ciao,
Eugene

Posted by: E Zheng on November 15, 2011

Hello Matt, for a High School Graduate, is it sufficient just submitting the Final SPM (O level equivalent/ under Ministry of Malaysia Examination Syndicate) and STPM (A level equivalent / Under Ministry of Malaysia Higher Examination Syndicate) as the School Transcript as requesting?
Perhaps the final 2 years Year 12 and 13 school result transcript are still required?
Thanks
Eugene

Posted by: E Zheng on November 15, 2011

Hello Matt, I have a few questions to ask.

1. I accidentally clicked on Fee Waiver on my application when submitting Part 1. Is there any way for me to retract the fee waiver application?

2. Regarding the Recommendation Letters, a letter must be submitted by both a Science teacher and a Humanities teacher. The problem is in my selection of A-Level course, I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Further Mathematics. There is no Humanities teacher for me to ask.

MIT Admissions mentioned that students usually go back to their high school to ask their former teachers for the recommendation letter. Well, over here it’s the High School Certificate examination season and all teachers are currently being posted to either other schools to become invigilators or are at the exam centres to mark exam papers. There is no way to contact them now.

In my own opinion, I have left the secondary school for 2 years already, I believe that the lecturers at the A-Level college I’m studying now will know me better than teachers at my secondary school. Therefore, please advise if MIT Admissions will accept the 2nd recommendation letter from another Science Lecturer in my college.

I hope for favourable replies. Thanks!
Kee Onn

Posted by: Kee Onn on November 19, 2011

Hey Matt!

I had to ask about my recommendations. I have the same problem as Kee Onn. I'm studying A Levels and all sciences. My O Level humanities teachers don't really know me that well, but I am extremely close to all four of my A Level science/math teachers. Is it possible to send 2 Evaluation A forms instead? I could ask my O Level English teacher but she will just write a generic one as we aren't that close and it's been two years since I've studied from her anyway..

Posted by: Misha on November 25, 2011

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