A few hours ago we finished processing the final segment of tens of thousands of documents which came to us by mail and fax. We digitized them and entered them into our system. At this point, if we have your documents, they should show up in MyMIT. A few moments ago, we emailed everyone who applied Early Action and who was missing an evaluation or transcript in our database.
If you did not receive an email: your application is almost certainly complete. I say "almost certainly" because there are still some students whose November SAT scores have not yet arrived, because the College Board has not yet released them. If you ordered a score report from the College Board to go directly to MIT, we will receive them in time for consideration.
If you did receive an email: it contained information on what we required from you.
The most important rule of having a application missing component is this: don't panic! We do not consider applications until and unless we have sufficient information upon which to render a decision. Calmly walk into school tomorrow and ask your teacher or guidance counselor to fax the document to us. The fax number you should use is included in the email. We will receive it and process it postehaste.
Our documents team has worked incredibly hard this year to process a record number of documents in record time. As a result, we are already having a great reading season. I myself have thus far read well over 100 applications, and they have all been astonishingly excellent. I know it will be an especially difficult committee this year, which is always a mixed bag: it makes our decisions especially tough, because it means that our applicants are especially awesome.
Thank you for being awesome. Full speed ahead!
edit: some of you appear to have had multiple copies of the email sent from McGreggor. It appears some of the MIT mail servers love you so much they couldn't bear to send you a single email. Apologies for the duplication!
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Thanks a lot!
Posted by: Realms on November 15, 2011
If it's on the forms correctly it should be fine.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 15, 2011
Thanks,
-McGreggor (MIT Admissions)
Posted by: McGreggor on November 15, 2011
I'm just curious. It seems really funny to me to imagine an admissions officer thinking, "This year looks like it's going to be a standard admissions year. Still tough to narrow it down, but lighter than last year. And thank goodness we don't have to go through 2005 again! That year was a doozy!"
From my outsider, totally non-expert perspective it seems like it would always feel to someone in the middle of reading applications that this year is the hardest year ever, and that feeling gets communicated to comfort applicants who aren't admitted. But isn't it likely that there's some sort of present-bias involved when we're assessing how difficult a year is?
Posted by: lurker on November 15, 2011
For us, each of the last several years really have been more difficult than the last. Part of that has been numbers. Even though we don't try to recruit more applicants (we've actually significantly cut this down), our application numbers have gone up consistently. That means more work each year, which is tougher.
This year, I'd say part of it has been composition. As you may know, some other schools went to Single-Choice Early Action this year, meaning that if you applied to them you were not allowed to apply elsewhere. So while our early application numbers didn't go up as much as they had in past years, the proportion of students who were good matches for MIT seems to have increased, because students who weren't good matches may have applied SCEA elsewhere.
You're totally right that there is always the potential for presentism in these sorts of questions. And sometimes things are better (for example, this year, as I said, our documents team really did an amazing job, which got us more cases more quickly).
But overall, I think that increasing workload + increasing quality of applicants over the past few years (certainly since I've been an admissions officer) has been a pretty wide experience, and not just "in the moment."
Good catch though!
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 15, 2011
About the SCEA change: if there are more good matches this year, does that mean a higher percentage of students will be admitted EA vs. RA? Or will the surplus of good matches just be deferred?
Posted by: lurker on November 15, 2011
Posted by: Justice Mason on November 15, 2011
Thanks for working so hard for us (:
Posted by: Susan on November 15, 2011
@Susan: We get our SAT scores in batches. The November test will likely be reported to us by the third to fourth week of November, in plenty of time for consideration. I did not email missing test score kids because of this.
Posted by: McGreggor on November 15, 2011
Posted by: Anonymous on November 15, 2011
Posted by: Anonymous on November 15, 2011
Additionally, you admission bloggers are awesome. Gentlemen and scholars, etc.
Posted by: Grant on November 15, 2011
Thanks so much! We appreciate all that you guys are doing for us!
Posted by: Ashlee B on November 15, 2011
Thank you!
Posted by: Erin on November 16, 2011
If my teachers don't speak English, should I send my recommendation letters in the original format and traduced, or just the traduced one?
If I am from Mexico I don't have to fill in the part of Application 2 where I am supossed to put my grades and classes in high school right?
Thank you very much
Vero Muñoz
Posted by: Vero Muñoz on November 16, 2011
We will look at your best SAT IIs.
It is unfortunately not possible to look for your supplementary recs. Because they are supplementary, we can't tell you if they are missing or not, because we don't know if they should be there or not.
@Grant -
It should be in our system by now. I would email admissions@mit.edu and ask them how it should be best be handled, because they will be able to see what is up with your specific situation.
@Ashlee -
If you didn't receive an email, there is a strong likelihood that it is being processed tonight or tomorrow. There is a small possibility that it could have gone to spam - check your spam folder. If it doesn't show up in a day or so on MyMIT, have them fax another copy.
@Erin -
You can fax it if you like. But to be honest we do not spend a lot of time going over publications in committee. We rely on your LORs and external recognition (like the fact that you have been published) to establish validity and credibility of quality.
@Vero -
We prefer both original and translated. And you are correct about self-reported grades.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 16, 2011
Thanks!
Posted by: Nolan Meghrouni-Brown on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Nolan Meghrouni-Brown on November 16, 2011
Just to check-- MIT EA applicants do NOT need to mail in first quarter grades, correct?
Thanks.
Posted by: Ash on November 16, 2011
Will be hoping reply from you soon!!
Posted by: Rahul Shrestha on November 16, 2011
Thank you.
Eugene
Posted by: E Zheng on November 16, 2011
If you have already enrolled in private university, you may not apply as a freshman. However, if you have not yet completed at least one year elsewhere, you may not apply as a transfer. Based on the facts you provide above, it sounds like you will have to wait until next year to apply to MIT.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 16, 2011
Posted by: anon on November 16, 2011
what if i have enrolled myself in some university but have not attended a single class?(deferred admission). can i still apply to MIT as freshman?
thanks
Posted by: vikram on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Luis H.S. on November 16, 2011
Just out of curiosity, if not all documents are received will our application be deferred to regular action or will it just be dropped all together. I've spoken to both my counselor and registrar, but I'm currently out of school working so I don't have the opportunity to speak with them face to face, I have confidence that they will ensure my transcript gets faxed, I was just looking at all possible outcomes.
Posted by: Dimitri on November 16, 2011
Thanks
Posted by: Matias on November 16, 2011
I would email the admissions office to ask directly and clear it up.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 16, 2011
Has MIT considered sending out an email to its applicants to confirm that all the materials have been received by MIT and thus the student's application file is up for consideration? Even an automated email would relieve a lot of tension on the applicants' end, confirming that the student's name is in the database for consideration in the early application period.
Posted by: SeanJ on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Matias on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Safkat Islam on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Mason Williams on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Mason Williams on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Jack on November 16, 2011
Did you order a score report from the CollegeBoard direct to MIT? That's the only way to get your official November scores to us on time for EA.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Jack on November 16, 2011
Posted by: Ashlee B on November 17, 2011
Posted by: Lauren W on November 17, 2011
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 17, 2011
Posted by: Safkat Islam on November 17, 2011
I contacted my interviewer in early October, but wasn't given a date until early November. I've had my interview but my tracking shows the report has not been received (hasn't been two weeks yet). Will this hold up the reading of my file (everything else is in)? Anything I should do?
Posted by: Jeremy on November 17, 2011
If any of you still have missing EC reports don't sweat it. We'll be pulling these in as we go along. Don't worry! We'll get them!
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 17, 2011
I posted this in your "Deep Breath" blog but I understand that the burden of admissions probably prevented you from replying to EVERY comment, so I ask again:
For British high schools, do O-Level grades count as your "school grades" or do the grades given by the school itself hold precedence over the O's?
Thanks,
Muhammad Sabir
Posted by: Sabir on November 17, 2011
is a transcript with 7 Bs and 2 Cs capable of getting an international student admitted to MIT if other parts of his application are good.
Thanks
Posted by: vee on November 17, 2011
Posted by: Samuel Bray on November 17, 2011
I'm having trouble with sitting and waiting to find out if my counselor/registrar faxed my transcript even though they told me they have sent it because it is my fourth time trying to get my high school transcript to the admissions office. Since I have only dealt with them via phone and email due to my job schedule interfering with my ability to speak to them in person and verify that they have indeed sent it. I have been checking myMIT but it hasn't shown up yet and having instruction not to call the admissions office I was wondering if there was any other way to find out if it has been received.
Posted by: Dimitri Mata on November 17, 2011
Is scoring a 30 on the ACT competitive enough for MIT? Will 800's on SAT II subject tests compensate?
Thanks.
Posted by: Mike on November 17, 2011
Posted by: Sam Engblom on November 18, 2011
Posted by: acmckinny on November 18, 2011
How long can it take for a document to appear in the MIT tracker? I think it's at least 24 hours, but my parents are freaking out and I'd like to have some concrete evidence to calm them down.
Posted by: Sabina Lee on November 18, 2011
Don't know how helpful this is, but it was about 48 hours for me to see my faxed transcript up on myMIT.
Posted by: Dimitri Mata on November 19, 2011
Happy reading Chris! I hope you enjoy my application!
Posted by: Mason Williams on November 19, 2011
Thanks for that comment. Now I can mitigate the 'rents...
Posted by: Sabina Lee on November 19, 2011
Just wondering. Thanks!
Posted by: Erin on November 19, 2011
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 19, 2011
This is off-topic, but I hope you can help me out anyway. I actually have a very big problem with teacher recommendations. I come from a middle class family and studied in a very small school in a village in Asia. My school did not have a counselor. On top of that, I took a gap year after my finals, and during that time I moved to a different city. Now, there is no way to contact my teachers as they don't have things like email addresses, and even if I could call them they are not at all familiar with this college process. It has been a year since I saw any of them. I achieved good marks in my finals and since then I have come very far, participating in many national competitions and even getting medals in international olympiads. Is it possible that my application be considered without the recommendations? And if so, how should I inform the college about my situation? (e.g. should I write this in the additional information section?) Will I be at any disadvantage because of my background and failure to produce these documents?
Thanks for your time.
Posted by: Swas on November 20, 2011
I just realized that I have not sent in my AP scores yet. Is there still time to do so?
Thanks!
Maya
Posted by: Maya on November 21, 2011
My Humanities Teacher Evaluation was supposedly sent in once, may have been lost, and was sent in again when i received the email from admissions. The email said send it by Friday and it should be processed by Monday. If it does not show up in MyMIT today as being received, what should I do and what will happen to my application?
Thank you,
Duncan
Posted by: Duncan on November 21, 2011
If it doesn't show up today I'd refax it Wednesday. But it should show up today or tomorrow. Again, we'll hold off consideration on your application until we have sufficient information upon which to render a decision.
Posted by: Chris Peterson on November 21, 2011
Posted by: Erin on November 22, 2011
Posted by: Katie on November 23, 2011
Sri
Posted by: Sri on November 28, 2011
I don't know what to do because my EC told me to send my Secondary School Report along with my Teacher Evaluations via mail but I see that you recommended some applicants to send it via Fax.
What's better?
Thank you very much, Vero
Posted by: Vero Muñoz on November 29, 2011
I understand that EA decisions are made by "mid December", but as an anxious applicant, is there a more specific date where I will know by?
Also, will I receive an email or will I have to check my MyMIT account daily to see if a decision has been made?
Posted by: Julia on December 4, 2011
Should I fax the unofficial score report while the official score report is being processed?
Posted by: Fernando Ruiz on December 4, 2011
When i changed it from biological information , its not changing in pdf file of part 1
please help me , MIT is my dream and i do not want to let it go like this :(
THANKYOU
Posted by: shubham gupta on December 15, 2011
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