I think I'll just start with the facts and save the long, introspective part for a later entry, once I've had a chance to really process all of this.

In a nutshell: after four incredible years here, I'm going to be leaving MIT in July. I'll also be leaving Boston, which has been my home for more than a decade, and which will always be the city I love more than any other. It's a lot to digest, and it's going to take some time.

I guess you probably want to know the details. I'm heading back to Oberlin, my alma mater, where I've just been appointed Vice President for Communications - I'll be overseeing communications strategy for the whole college. Those of you with whom I've spoken about Oberlin know how deeply I love the place, and at this critical moment in its history, it needs me - in many of the same ways that MIT did four years ago - to help it tell its story to the world. It's a tremendous professional opportunity, but to me it feels more like a calling than a job.

Nothing can lighten the sadness of leaving MIT. I may not be an alum, but I did spend four very intense years here. I may not have taken 8.02, but I also didn't get summers off the way you slackers do... so let's just call it even. ;-) As Nance says, I may have been born into the Oberlin family and married into the MIT family, but one is no less significant than the other.

So while I may be leaving MIT physically, I'll never leave MIT - it's too much a part of me. I'll just be more like an alum than a current student.

One thing is certain: if I am invested in you - and you know who you are - no distance will ever change that. I'll still be checking up on you, keeping tabs, making sure you're getting the most out of your college experience, same as I've always done.

That's a promise.

I'll write a lot more over the next couple of months. I'll get all sorts of reflective and nostalgic, as soon as I'm ready. Stay tuned.

-B

P.S. This is the 2500th entry on mitadmissions.org. That speaks for itself, I suppose.

It was truly AWESOME to spend lots of time with all of you this past weekend. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did!

A quick update before I depart for a few days of vacation...

First, a big thanks to Chris Merrill '12 for sending me the group photo from our Meet The Bloggers party. If I shrink it down to fit here, you won't be able to identify anyone, so I'll just link to the big version:

MTB Party Group Photo

Second, another big thanks to Kris Brewer and Larry Gallagher from MIT TechTV, who worked tirelessly during CPW to capture our various events on video. You'll find the fruits of their labor here:

MIT TechTV CPW Channel

Have fun reliving the memories, and I'll talk to you all when I get back next week.

:-) B.

cpw2008.tumblr.com

Enjoy! :-)

-B

I've decided to add to the CPW coverage by creating a CPW tumblr account. For those of you who are unfamiliar with tumblr, it's a great site that basically allows you to upload photos and thoughts to the web in real time, using your cell phone. If just 10% of the prefrosh currently registered for CPW each upload 5 texts and/or photos over the course of the weekend, that'll be 500+ snapshots. Seems like a pretty cool way to live-blog CPW from a variety of perspectives.

If you're interested in being part of the project, please send me an email (benjones at mit dot edu). I'll need to confirm that you're really who you say you are, of course, so if we haven't met before, please write to me from whichever email account you used to register for your MyMIT account so I can verify it.

Disclaimer: if something goes horribly wrong with this experiment, I'll have to pull the site. But let's give it a shot and see what happens.

CPW begins one week from today!

Some quick messages from CPW HQ!

If you haven't yet registered for CPW: the deadline is TODAY! Please log into your MyMIT account and fill out the CPW registration form asap. If you don't have a MyMIT account, you can call the CPW hotline (617.258.6085) to register via telephone.

If you have already registered for CPW: please log into your MyMIT account and confirm that your registration was recorded by the system. Simply click on the "Registration" link in the CPW portlet - if you see your registration information, you're all set. If the form is blank, however, then your registration was not received by MIT. This has happened to a few students who didn't register using one of the recommended browsers (Safari or Explorer). If your form is blank, you'll need to register again.

Thanks, and see you all in less than 2 weeks! :-)

-B

We've been hearing reports that a few of you haven't received your packages yet. Please don't worry - they should arrive very soon!

In the meantime, please don't forget to register for Campus Preview Weekend via your MyMIT account by March 31st.

If your parents are coming, we have blocked off reduced-rate rooms at several nearby hotels, but the rates will expire soon, so please encourage them to call as soon as possible. There's more information for parents here.

Update for Waitlisted students:

If you would prefer to email us your plans to stay on the waitlist rather than return the postcard, simply send a message to mit2012waitlist@mit.edu and we'll be happy to take care of this for you.

Random fun:

In this post I mentioned that Shannon '12 had created a job-awesomeness formula for me. To understand it, you must first read the email conversation that we had on the day decisions were released:

Shannon: Times like this make me convinced you have the best job in the world. And then I [think about the admit rate], and I think your job sucks. Just fyi.

Ben: My job is 11.6% best-job-in-the-world (this year's admit rate) and 88.4% this-job-sucks. Except... while in the first few post-decision weeks the sadness for rejected students outweighs the joy for admitted ones, that ratio soon reverses and becomes a landslide win for the joy, which sticks with you through the years (because you see the students you admitted every day, and they remind you). So you have to adjust the 11.6% and 88.4% accordingly. I'll leave it to you to put all of this into some sort of algorithm or formula to determine whether the job nets joy or sadness as a function of time.

A few hours later...

Shannon: While I had to assume 100% happiness when not making decisions and make up a few arbitrary dates and vacation times and take away your weekends, a rough estimate says your job is ~65.27% awesome. Work is attached.

Yep, this pretty much made my day.

And now you can all use this thread to write new formulas and solve the puzzle from a variety of different ways and make me laugh all day. :-)

I am here in the office preparing the blogs for the post-decision-release onslaught of comments. It's eerily quiet, which is both nice and unsettling at the same time. In the last two months - days, nights, weekends, whenever - I can't remember a time in which I was alone here. I hope that all of my colleagues are still asleep - they deserve it!

I'm sitting here reflecting on the class we just admitted and feeling incredible about it. We've admitted some great classes over the years, but there's something about this one that just feels perfect. (Yes, I say that every year. Yes, it's true every year.)

Having said that, there are of course many of you to whom we were not able to offer admission, and I am feeling equally sad about that. Having you in the class would have made it no less perfect. But the numbers are the numbers, and there are only so many spots.

Shannon '12 did an amazing thing for me and calculated whether my job is net joy or net sorrow as a function of admitting, not admitting, and time. Maybe she'll let me blog her results sometime. ;-)

Anyway, I need to go get some things set up before we release decisions at noon. If you're looking for a way to pass the time, and you haven't read this already, check out this post from a couple of years ago. Hopefully it will help you understand what the last few weeks have been like for us.

Best of luck to you all! I'm thinking about you.

-B

Jess sent me an email a few days ago making fun of me for being completely awol from the blogs recently. She's right, and I apologize; we've been working 7-day weeks since January reading all of your applications and selecting the class in committee. This time next week I'll be enjoying my first day off in quite awhile, and my blogging should return shortly thereafter.

I'm pleased to let you know that we're on schedule to release decisions online at noon (Eastern Time) on Saturday March 15. They will be mailed via postal mail a few days later, most likely on Monday, March 17 or Tuesday, March 3/18.

Decisions will be available online to those who meet all of the following criteria:

• You have applied for freshman admission (not transfer or graduate).

• Your intended entry year (as designated in your MyMIT account) is 2008.

• You applied in Regular Action, or were deferred in Early Action (the system is unable to display decisions for those who applied in Early Action and received a "final" action in December - i.e. admitted or denied).

------------------------------

What is the process for receiving my admissions decision online?

In order to check your decision online, you will need to have registered for a MyMIT account and you will need to know your username and password. When decisions are released, simply visit https://decisions.mit.edu and log in using the same username and password that you use to log into your MyMIT account. There are no interim screens, so you should be sure you wish to receive your decision online before logging in to decisions.mit.edu.

Please note that you can visit https://decisions.mit.edu beginning tomorrow (Monday, March 10) to confirm your username and password. We will not be in the office on the weekend that decisions are released, so to prevent any delays, you should confirm your username and password well in advance.

What if I've forgotten my MyMIT username or password?

You may use our automated system to reset it. Simply visit my.mit.edu and click on the "lost username" or "lost password" link.

What if I don't have a MyMIT account?

If you do not currently have a MyMIT account and you wish to receive your decision online, you will need to register for one using your MIT ID, which was sent to you via postal mail soon after receiving your paper application (if you used the online application, you already have a MyMIT account). If you have misplaced your MIT ID, or if you never received it, you may call our office to get it (please note that you will be asked to give some personal information for verification).

If you register without your MIT ID, your username and password may not work on decisions.mit.edu.

------------------------------

Hang in there - only a few more days of waiting!

390 --> 522
I've been noticing lots of speculation all over the web about the reasons behind our increasing the number of EA admits from last year's 390 to this year's 522. Fear not, we have no plans to increase the class size, nor are we abandoning the principle of enrolling a maximum of one third of our class in EA.

Recent changes in the early application policies of some of our peer institutions have increased the number of outstanding applications to MIT and to many other highly selective schools. Each university's yield (the percentage of students who accept their offer of admission) is predicted to decrease accordingly, and the increase in the number of students admitted to MIT in Early Action is simply a reflection of this.

Snively
I mentioned in this entry that we couldn't hire Snively as a blogger, despite a significant public outcry of support, because of the "Burton-Conner rule." After weeks of people picketing around the clock outside of 3-108, we've relented. Please go home now, you're scaring the prospective students.

(Real reason: the other Burton-Conner bloggers collectively publish about as much as two, not three - so there's room for Snively. At least that's how we justified it.)

Evan Broder's Holiday Card
...is perhaps the cutest thing on the planet (thanks Ms. Broder!). If he doesn't start blogging again soon, I will scan it in and publish it here.

Valentine's Day
...is coming! My wife wanted me to share this link with you, in case you have a wonderfully nerdy mom or girl that you need to impress. I think this one is particularly awesome, although I can't afford it. :-(

That's About It...
We start reading RA applications this weekend. Yay!

Introducing a great opportunity for high school students who are interested in MIT: The MIT TechFair THINK Competition!

MIT Technology Fair - a group of undergraduates dedicated to celebrating innovative technology by bringing in companies to showcase their cutting-edge research - has put together a high school outreach program, and we are inviting YOU to be a part of it!

THINK (Technology for Humanity guided by Innovation, Networking, and Knowledge), is a national science competition intended to motivate high school students to think about problems related to human lives and how we might mitigate or combat them with science and technology.

We're offering amazing prizes - including a scholarship and an all-expenses-paid trip to MIT - to the top three winners.

To learn more about the competition, please visit http://mittechfair.org/think/.

We strongly encourage you to submit any past projects that you have worked on, and any ideas, through the ideas proposal format. In its first year, THINK is allowing many different formats for submission!

Good luck guys! If you have any questions feel free to email the organizers.

Let the ideas begin flowing... good luck everyone!

So sorry for the delay in posting this - we wanted to be very confident in the decision release date before announcing it publicly.

We're on schedule to release MIT admissions decisions online at 12:00PM EST on Saturday, December 15. (Decisions will also be sent via postal mail around this time, give or take a day or two.) If this date/time changes for any reason, I will announce it here, but I do not foresee that happening at this juncture.

Decisions will be available to those who meet all of the following criteria:

• You have applied for freshman admission (not transfer or graduate).
• You have applied Early Action and your intended entry year (as designated in your MyMIT account) is 2008.

-----------------------------------

What is the process for receiving my admissions decision online?

In order to check your decision online, you will need to have registered for a MyMIT account and you will need to know your username and password. When decisions are released, simply visit https://decisions.mit.edu and log in using the same username and password that you use to log into your MyMIT account. There are no interim screens, so you should be sure you wish to receive your decision online before logging in to decisions.mit.edu.

We will not be in the office on the weekend that decisions are released, so to prevent any delays, you should confirm your username and password well in advance by visiting https://decisions.mit.edu and following the instructions there.

What if I've forgotten my MyMIT password?

You may use our automated system to reset it. Simply visit my.mit.edu and click on the "lost password" link.

What if I don't have a MyMIT account?

If you applied using our online application, you already have a MyMIT account.

If you applied using our paper application, however, you might not. If you do not have a MyMIT account and you wish to receive your decision online, you will need to register for one using your MIT ID, which was sent to you via postal mail soon after receiving your paper application. If you have misplaced your MIT ID, or if you never received it, you may call our office (617.253.3400) to request it.

If you register for a MyMIT account without your MIT ID, your username and password may not work on decisions.mit.edu.

Will there be any indication of my admissions decision in my MyMIT account?

Admitted students will see the addition of the Admitted Student Portlet in their my.mit.edu account sometime during the week of December 17. (Deferred and denied applicants will not see a change.)

-----------------------------------

Less than 6 days! Hang in there everyone. :-)

I made you one. It will describe my life over the last few weeks better than any blog entry could. :-)

(I'll get to your questions soon - although most of them are about missing materials, and Matt already did a great job of addressing that topic.)

(Thanks to Christina for finding the picture for me.)

Here are answers to the questions posted in my blog over the last month or two. I apologize in advance to the folks who have asked chances-related questions - I don't have enough information to answer those without your entire application in front of me, in the context of the overall applicant pool. That's why chances-related questions are simply impossible to answer outside of selection committee.

To everyone who asked score/grade-related questions, here are the general answers:

I got 7xx on some test. Should I retake it?

Probably not, especially if the rest of your application is compelling. 7xx will make us confident in your academic abilities, at least as far as standardized testing goes.

I got less than 7xx on some test. Should I retake it?

Plenty of people get into MIT with some scores that are lower than 7xx. Consider your scores in the context of your overall application and use your best judgment. If you decide to retake one or more tests, you have nothing to lose, because we'll use your highest scores regardless of when you received them. But only you can decide if it's worth your time/money/effort/etc.

My scores are xxx and my grades are xxx. Should I apply EA or RA?

Again, totally up to you. There is no admissions advantage to applying in one period versus the other. If you're deferred, you can submit additional materials for RA consideration, such as your senior year first semester grades.

English is not my first language. Should I take the SAT I or the TOEFL?

Take whichever test you feel you'll do best on. Or take both - we'll use whichever score puts you in the most favorable light. Remember that regardless of which you choose, you will still have to take the SAT IIs - one in math, and one in science.

-------------------------------------

Vijay wrote: "How many international transfer applicants are generally admitted to MIT, and what is the usual admit rate for international transfer applicants?"

The admit rate for transfer students - both domestic and international - is generally quite low. MIT's retention rate is very high, so few spots open up for transfers each year. Last year several hundred transfer students applied; from this pool MIT admitted 16.

Any student who is thinking of transferring to MIT in the future should mirror MIT's freshman year as much as possible when selecting his or her coursework. Please see the General Institute Requirements page for further guidance.

-------------------------------------

Becca wrote: "I had my interview almost a month ago, and it's still not on MyMIT. I tried contacting my EC about it, but haven't heard anything back. Any ideas?"

You asked this awhile ago and I'm late in responding - sorry! Hopefully it has shown up by now, but if not, let us know.

Generally speaking, sometimes it takes awhile for things to show up on MyMIT. Remember that ECs are volunteers, and many of them are quite busy with work, travel, etc., so it's possible that the EC simply hasn't had time to file his/her report yet.

-------------------------------------

Dustin wrote: "By your post, do you mean that admitted students definitely can stay overnight in March, or just that the admitted have priority?"

Essentially both. Admitted students have priority, and if an admitted student gives our office enough notice, I can't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to accommodate him or her in March.

-------------------------------------

'Mangy' Matt, PSU '11 wrote "Might a prospective transfer participate in [the overnight program], or is it exclusively for freshman applicants?"

I'm fairly certain that the program is only open to freshman applicants. :-(

-------------------------------------

Milena '11 wrote: "Can freshmen host pre-frosh too? I want to host someone adventurous enough to want to give Senior Haus a try!"

Absolutely! :-)

-------------------------------------

Sanja wrote: "I'm taking 3 SAT subject tests (Math, Physics and Literature) and all three scores will be sent to MIT. Will my lower Literature score hurt application or you won't even look at it since MIT asks for only 2 tests?"

This won't hurt you, no worries.

-------------------------------------

Caitlin wrote: "Do you know anything about sending in essays separately? The MyMIT account sent my Part II before I'd attached the essay."

You can send anything you'd like to us at the address at the bottom of the screen. Just be sure to include your full name and birthdate. (And I liked your vegetable metaphor. :-)

-------------------------------------

Domenzain wrote: "What if I tend to write meticulously enough for a paper to seem déjà revised?"

As long as it's your true voice coming through, I wouldn't worry about it.

-------------------------------------

Eldrick wrote: "Do you mind to furnish me with more information about what kind of person MIT basically is looking for? And how can I actually get to catch the eye of the admission officer when i send in my application?"

Please see this page. It does a great job of explaining what sort of folks are best matched to the MIT community.

-------------------------------------

Sarthak wrote: "I would like to know whether the process of granting financial aid at MIT is the same, or different, for U.S. and international undergrad students... does MIT meet 100% of the need of international students?"

Yes, MIT is committed to meeting 100% of the demonstrated need for each student it admits, whether domestic or international.

-------------------------------------

Emma wrote: "I've recently been getting frustrated over the MIT essay topics because they do confine you into choosing one topic or the other, thus ruling out an essay that I wrote for my other top choices that I'm really sure represents me well. So I'm just curious - why did MIT choose these two topics specifically, and do you know how the admissions at MIT would review essays differently than, say, Harvard, which does give you the option to choose 'A topic of your choice?'"

We find that our essay choices work well for us in bringing out a student's character and personal qualities. Having said that, if you're proud of an essay that you've written for another school, by all means submit it to us in the "optional essay" field (yes, we do read those just as carefully!).

-------------------------------------

Self-Advocator wrote: "MIT Office of Admissions, will you hate me if I send in a resume listing my community service? Because I've done so much more than just 5 activities during high school. But I won't send it in if it will give you guys an automatic reason to reject me!"

You are welcome to send in a resume, just not in lieu of our application question that asks you to choose up to five things that meant the most to you in high school outside of the classroom.

-------------------------------------

Ginger wrote: "I was at MIT and was told by a tour guide that my teacher recommendations need to come from a teacher who's known me for at least a year and has had me in junior or senior year. Is this true, or can I submit a recommendation from a sophomore year teacher?"

There is no requirement that the rec come from a junior year or senior year teacher. Choose teachers who know you well, that's really all that matters. Having said that, my advice would be to choose a teacher from sophomore year only if you've maintained a relationship with that person since. I imagine you've done a lot of growing in the last couple of years, and your rec writers should be able to comment on that even if they haven't actually had you in the classroom since 10th grade.

-------------------------------------

Ally wrote: "I have a question for you regarding the optional 'Tell us about something that you have created' essay. Does this have to be something unique? Say, for example, that I really love to bake apple pies (I don't, but use your imagination). Could I write my optional essay on a pie that I'd made, even if it had been from a recipe in a cookbook and had little or no relation to math or science?"

Absolutely, and people do this all the time. The question is intentionally left open to your interpretation.

-------------------------------------

Akshay wrote: "I have a question about length of the essay. My essay is around 550 words. Are the admissions counselors going to get mad over that?"

and

Anon wrote: "It took me 25 words extra on the long essay to say what i needed to say. Bad? Good? Indifferent? These have got to be the most stressful 25 words of my life. :P"

Definitely not a problem. We don't actually count the words, so if your essay is a little bit over the limit, no one will notice. If it's significantly over the limit, however, it will be fairly easy to tell.

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "There doesn't seem to be an area for the required-but-not-core-classes section of the self-reported course work and there wasn't enough room in the Additional Classes for all the art/computer/PE/Health/Theory of Knowledge classes I took. Should I just fill them in other spaces?"

You can simply add them to any of the optional-info parts of the application. We'll find them. :-)

-------------------------------------

Haya wrote: "Why doesn't MIT accept the National Merit Scholarship money?"

I asked Daniel to respond, and he wrote: "We do accept National Merit Scholarship money, but we do not match it. Some colleges choose to match the amount National Merit awards to students, but these are mostly colleges who do not meet full need. Since we do meet the full need of every applicant, there is no room in the budget to add a 'match'; it is already contained in the MIT Scholarship award. We do allow students to reduce their loan/work amount by the amount of the outside scholarship, however, which means that a student who receives a National Merit Scholarship has to work or borrow less than someone who doesn't."

-------------------------------------

Tina wrote: "For the first essay prompt about overcoming a situation that seemed like "the end of the world", does the situation have to be serious? Or can it be something that was discouraging while I was a child but seems funny now?"

It's intentionally left open to interpretation - so your idea is totally fine.

To everyone - remember that all of the prompts on our application are simply there to help you tell us a lot about yourself - so we're not terribly picky about how you interpret the essays and short answer questions, as long as your answers help us get to know the real you.

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "could i know that approximately how many applicants to MIT were there from India and how many were accepted?"

I'm not sure of the breakdown by country, but the statistics for international applicants are here.

-------------------------------------

Chris wrote: "I am a transfer student who switched his major. On one MIT admissions site it says that I am ineligible for transfer if i've been at my current college for more than 5 semesters (which I will be upon my applying for transfer), the other site says that I need to spend at least 4 semesters at MIT to be eligible (which I will be upon applying). Are they both correct?"

I'm not involved with transfer admissions, so I just walked over to their office to ask them about this. The official answer was "if the student is within a year and a half of graduating from his or her institution, then he or she would not be eligible to transfer to MIT." So if I understood correctly, it's not so much whether or not you've been there for five semesters, but whether or not you could graduate in three more.

-------------------------------------

Taylor wrote: "Would it be best to include an essay that demonstrates my love of math and science or an essay that talks about something unique that I do? I want to make myself stand out, but I also want to make sure MIT knows that I love Chemistry."

The essay is really about personal qualities and character - giving the selection committee a window into who you are and what makes you tick. Sounds like either of your choices would do a good job!

-------------------------------------

Kate wrote: "I just sent in my application online - and it completely ruined the format of my essay - taking out all quotation marks and making reading it very confusing. I uploaded a plain text file as my essay that was formatted with indentations and spaces between the paragraphs, but on viewing it in PDF, all the formating and quotation marks are gone. Is there any way to fix this or will this just be a hard-learned lesson?"

and

Zhexi wrote: "I just have a quick question on submitting the essay. So basically, when i try to preview my application everything up to the essay looks fine. However, when i get to the essay it looks like someone was beating me over the head with a skillet as i wrote it (which is NOT that case ;). Do you know what i should do to correct this problem?"

I know that formatting is an issue with our PDF generator, and I apologize. If formatting is important to your essay, please print out a copy and mail it to us with a brief note explaining that you wish for that version to replace the one you submitted online.

-------------------------------------

Applicant wrote: "Do 3-letter words count in the word counting process. My English teacher claims they do not."

Yes, three-letter words count. :-)

-------------------------------------

Jacob wrote: "Hi im a sophomore at cass technical high school and am striving to go to MIT. but i know my english has always been a challege for me and have never done real well on standarized tests and was wondering if you could give me tips on writing better and for my vocabulary skills as well."

I'd talk with your teachers about this - they'll be able to give you much better advice than I.

-------------------------------------

Dan wrote: "I was planning to write an essay, which would describe a particular day of my life, but is not exactly the answer to either of the prompts. Once I started writing it, it became quite obvious that 500 words is definitely not enough to say what I want to say. On the other hand, I feel that I could write a 500 word essay that described one particular side of me. I know that the first essay is way too long (1000 - 2000) words, but the smaller one would not show all of what I want to show about myself. I have been trying to make decision about what to do, but I just keep going in circles about it. Any advice?"

and

Anonymous wrote: "What about 800ish words... ack, i have no idea what to cut!"

You should definitely try to stick to the word limit (going a bit over is okay, but 1000 words would not be). If your current topic is really giving you trouble, I'd advise you to cut all but your favorite paragraph and build an entirely new essay out of it.

When I wrote my own college essay, I had the same problem - I was writing about a day in my life, and it was way too long, and a very helpful teacher chose one particular 2-minute moment and said "write your whole essay about this moment - forget the rest of the day." It worked beautifully.

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "I just submitted my application BUT I found one mistake... I put 2007 instead of 2006 :[ Do you think if I call the admissions office, they can change it for me?"

Definitely. :-)

-------------------------------------

Taylor wrote: "Is there a deadline for the midyear grade report? It says to turn it in as soon as the grades are available, and says that you realize some won't be available until January 1st. But I can't get my grades until January 21st. Should I turn in first quarter grades instead of first semester?"

You're welcome to turn in quarter grades and then follow up with the midyear grades when they become available. Many students do this.

-------------------------------------

Brian wrote: "My school does not provide any AP courses, but I took the AP exams. In question 8, Should I write the name of AP exams instead of the AP course names, or should I just leave everything in blank and only send the AP scores through College Board?"

I would list the AP Exams you've taken (and your scores) in #8 and then use #14 to explain why the courses do not appear in your self-reported coursework or transcript.

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "when it says "application materials" can be turned in a few days late, does that include the essay?"

No.

-------------------------------------

Inshaf wrote: "I am an international student hoping for the class of the 2012. I need to know whether January test scores (TOEFL) are accepted without any penalty imposed on the applicant."

No penalty, but please see Stephanie's question for more detailed information...

Stephanie wrote: "The next test date for SAT2 is in January. I found out that MIT accepts January SATs on a case by case basis. I would like to know how and to whom I could send my explanation for this so that I am considered as one of those case by case bases."

What we mean by that is that we'll use everything in our possession to make a decision when the time comes. The reason we say "case by case basis" is because we can't always depend on the various testing services to get us January scores in time (although often it works out just fine). But you certainly don't need to apply for consideration or anything like that on our end. If we have the scores, we'll use them!

-------------------------------------

Jacob wrote: "Regarding the following - 'If we are missing required scores at the time of EA selection, we'll simply defer an applicant to Regular Action (with no penalty, of course) and consider him/her at that time, once the scores have reached us' - does this mean that we automatically get deferred if you don't have our test scores?"

Unfortunately, yes. We cannot make an admissions decision without the required test scores.

-------------------------------------

Molly wrote: "How do you attach a resume to an online application? Should I just mail it in?"

That's probably the best way to do it.

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "Is it still alright to send in the second part online on Nov 1st? Like can I send it an hour before midnight before Nov 2nd?"

Definitely. A lot of people do just that. :-)

-------------------------------------

Anonymous wrote: "It has been more than 3.5 weeks that I sent my Secondary school transcript but MIT has not yet recieved it. Should I wait for more time?"

and

David wrote: "Regarding deferring EA applicants if scores aren't in: Will the same happen if a teacher recommendation is sent later? The teacher I asked to write the recommendation is swamped with other students as well, but would like time to write more than just a generic recommendation for me. If she turns it in late, will they wait, defer my application, or reject it?"

and

Sad wrote: "Its been 2 months since I gave the Toefl (25 August) and MIT hasnt yet recieved it!!!!! What shud I do????????"

Please see Joanne's message about deadlines. No worries!

-------------------------------------

BB wrote: "Is it ok if i submit BOTH part 1 and part 2 on oct 31st? Or did part 1 have to be submitted earlier?"

Nope, that's fine.

-------------------------------------

Andrew wrote: "I am a International student from Jamaica. This is now my second year in college in the US and i am strongly cosidering transfering to MIT for fall 08. My last SAT score was not strong and i'm scheduled to retake them December first. Also, I will take the SAT 2s (math and physics) In january. Will the SAT 2 scores be accepted at the end of January? It will take a while for me to go back home and get my secondary school transcripts from jamaica. How flexible is the due date for these transcripts? My secondary school GPA is not very strong, but i have excelled in the leadership and co-corricular activities. Also, since my college experience in the US, I have performed superbly academically and have done summer projects and research. Will MIT consider my average high school performance a problem, or will they consider my current performance more heavily?"

See a few answers up for info on January scores, but since the transfer deadline is later, I can't imagine it would be a problem. You should have plenty of time to get your transcripts in prior to the March 15th transfer admissions deadline (the only one available to int'l applicants). For transfer applicants, your current performance in college will certainly be more important than your performance in high school, but without seeing your entire application, I couldn't tell you for sure how much of a factor your high school performance would be in the transfer committee's decision.

(You guys know how I feel about the thousands of vendors who bombard you with useless stuff - so rest assured that the folks I feature have been screened carefully by yours truly. :-)

My first interviewee is Michael Epstein, who graduated from MIT with a Masters in Comparative Media Studies and then went on to create Untravel Media with three other MIT grads. If you visited MIT in early September, perhaps you even used one of their mobile media tours to explore the Stata Center.

I enjoyed talking with Michael about his vision for the next generation of college campus tours, as well as his MIT experience.

What led you to MIT?

I went to grad school for a Masters in Comparative Media Studies. Basically, there is no other. It's a unique program where I could pursue sociological questions around media development while learning how to craft cutting edge media.

What kind of student do you think makes a good match to MIT?

MIT students always have a really cool card in the hole. I.e., a theoretical mathematician who has memorized passages of 13th century Sufi poetry; a shy digital designer who can really break dance, a philosopher and tennis star. It's always great to see the layers peel back when you meet people here.

Tell us a bit about your experience as an MIT student. What did you do outside of class? Who were your favorite profs?

My program involved a lot of untraditional coursework at MIT - "Interactive Narrative" class, anthropology, Literature of Melville and Toni Morrison, Interactive Museum design at Harvard. The humanities at MIT are what you make of them. World class professors, experts in their field. One area that seems to be taking off right now is video game design and social media. Many "wicked smaht" programmers and engineers are jumping on board heavily-funded projects to make video games education and create digital applications that involve community.

Tell us a bit about Untravel Media - what it is, how it began, etc.

I had to write a thesis for my program, and the profs - from day 1 - tend to scare the sh*&$ out of you, telling you that you have to work a lot to finish it (not like a science thesis, this is 100-200 pages of individual research).

I wrote a thesis about bringing a literary voice to mobile technology development. It turned out to be a job description for what I've done for the past three years. I realized that this theoretical idea had practical applications in the tourism industry, in which you have many people walking around with portable media devices looking for the stories of the places they visit. I developed a mobile narrative technology and production technique in Venice, Italy after I graduated and then entered a business plan in the MIT 100K competition in 2006. We got to the semi-finals and then started this company, Untravel Media that creates interactive mobile tours for cultural organizations and is beta testing a publishing tool that allows anyone to create mobile narratives on live Yahoo! maps.

The core mission is still humanities-based: tell complex stories on mobile devices that deepen travelers experiences and understanding of the places they visit.

How has your MIT education influenced/helped you in regard to Untravel Media? Do you feel that MIT prepared you well to be an entrepreneur?

Yes, there are tons of people running around campus with business ideas, and most of these people are more doers than talkers. There is also a nice support network (venture mentoring service, business plan competition, Sloan business school, etc.) but there is a bit of a chasm from lab to running a successful company. That is, there is a lot of solid R&D, and even funding opportunities around campus, but getting something up and going is still pretty much an individual activity. My advice for entrepreneurs is to take courses, use IAP (January break) time to do externships with various companies, and start looking into grant opportunities (we have an NSF SBIR grant) and put together an experienced managerial team.

Tell us about some of the recent ways in which Untravel Media has worked with MIT.

I give guest lectures every semester to non-linear narrative and digital poetry classes. We built a tour of the EECS building, the Stata Center, which was delivered for Reunion weekend at MIT in June. We also have a group of MIT mentors from the Venture Mentoring Service. And, when you graduate, a lot of your friends are MIT folks. It will never completely go away!

Are you interested in feedback from prospective and current MIT students regarding Untravel Media? What sorts of questions do you have for them?

Imagine you could have amazingly good interactive college content on your cell phone that guides you around where you go to school or are looking to go to college. What would that content be like? Who would be speaking? Where would it take you? (Research facility tours, architecture, nightlife guides, Greek system guides, dorm room tours, famous hacks?) What is your preferred way to the get the tour: on your smartphone (video streaming), Ipod (iTunes), rental device (information office), etc.? What do you think of the concept of the business? What specifically is good/bad about it from your perspective? (If you respond, please also tell me whether you're a current or prospective student, and where you're from!)

Joanne writes:

Having worked in the admissions office for a million years, currently serving as the director of the freshman process (as well as Evie’s mom), let me share with you some wisdom surrounding deadlines and missing application pieces.

Let me say right off, don't panic! A decision on your application will not be made if we do not have enough information. While it is important to file your Part 1 in a timely manner (as close to November 1 as possible), materials received after that date are accepted and will catch up to your file.

Around the deadline, our office assistants are processing, with tremendous care, thousands of pieces of mail a day. Between the US mail and processing delays, please be patient and allow two weeks, from the time you think something was mailed, for the tracking system to be accurate. If on November 14th the tracking system still shows missing items, fax the materials to 617-258-8304. Again, be patient, as faxed materials take a day or two to process. As you know, November tests are acceptable for Early Action, but the scores will not reach us until late November. If by December 1, the tracking system doesn’t reflect your test history, fax your score report to the aforementioned number.

Easy for me to say "relax," I know - but truly, materials received a week or two after the deadline will be reviewed and will not make or break an admissions decision. Rest assured we have your best interests at heart and will treat your case with great care.

While we're on the topic, let me clarify something I said on the road about December test scores and Early Action. I mentioned that the November 1 application deadline doesn't apply to scores, as we begin selection committee around December 7th, and any scores we have at that time will be considered. While this is true, I'd optimistically thought that scores from the December 1 testing date might be able to reach us in time, but I've been told recently by the data entry folks that the testing service traditionally can't turn things around that quickly. So unfortunately, it sounds like my hope that scores from the December 1 tests would reach us in time for EA selection committee was a bit too optimistic.

If we are missing required scores at the time of EA selection, we'll simply defer an applicant to Regular Action (with no penalty, of course) and consider him/her at that time, once the scores have reached us.

This trip will conclude my fall travel season, so I'll get back to blogging more frequently in November. In the meantime, here are a couple of links to tide you over:

• First, The Human Factor is a video that MIT has developed for its new Campaign For Students, a big fundraising campaign that will take us through the years leading up to our 150th anniversary. The video was designed to remind alums of all the reasons they love MIT, but I thought you guys might enjoy it as well. I definitely did - I think it's pretty brilliant.
• Second, I recently came across this contest that Brian Greene put together, to see who could best explain string theory in two minutes or less. (Note that one of the people in the viewer's choice winning video is wearing an MIT sweatshirt. :-)

Only a few more days remain before the EA deadline. Best of luck to all of you who are finishing up your EA applications!

Seemed harmless enough, so without thinking too much about it, I wrote the following in response:

Hi,

Essays are a wonderful way to connect with the selection committee on a human level, i.e. beyond all of the test scores, grades, etc - so we read them very carefully. Quite simply, we are looking for the applicant's true voice when we read his or her essay. Not some perfect piece of prose worthy of a magazine, or something that has been edited and edited and edited by a variety of different people. Just a voice, and therefore, a connection. We can always tell when an applicant's essay has been edited to be something other than his or her true voice.

Encourage students to write from the heart and to not have their essays edited by any counselor, service, parent, etc - I can't speak for all schools, but here at MIT, that's what we're looking for.

Best wishes, Ben

After sending the email I got curious about the URL in the recipient's email address, so I checked out the site. Turns out it's run by a "team of professional journalists" who will help you craft the perfect essay... for a price, of course. (Anywhere from a few bucks for basic proofreading to three figures for a full-blown rewrite - the irony being this: the more you pay, the less it will be your voice!)

Oooops. I guess my response wasn't very helpful to them. But hopefully it will be helpful to you.

The rules are simple: write your own essays. That's the best advice anyone can give to you. Your application is full of grades and test scores and teachers writing things about you and interviewers writing things about you and things inferred from your participation in clubs and sports and whatever else you do... the essay is the one place where you get to say "hey, I'm a human being, let me connect with you on that level, here is my voice, here is who I am." That's all we're really looking for.

To clarify, I'm not telling you to shut your parents or counselors out of the process entirely. It's always nice to have someone look over your writing and fix the things that spell-check doesn't catch, like when you spell "here" as "hear" or "their" as "there" or "they're." Or, if you're so close to an experience that you take for granted that the reader will know what you're talking about, it's nice to have someone say "don't take for granted that your reader will know what you're talking about." Stuff like that is fine.

But there's a big difference between those little things and the act of someone else rewriting your essay for you to the point that it's no longer your work - or, even worse, your voice. So don't go there.

To summarize: be yourself, and let your essay be a perfect window into that person. You're the best only person who can truly translate that into words.

There are a variety of details on this page, but here's a quick overview:

• You can request a 1 or 2 night stay
• Overnights are available Sunday - Thursday (we can't host Fridays, Saturdays, certain holidays, finals week, etc.)
• Please try not to request a visit less than 2 weeks in advance
• You can only select dates up to 60 days in advance
• During January and February, preference is given to seniors and to admitted students, and starting in March, the program is only open to admitted students

Please note: host-matching is done by people, not by a computer (it's an art!) so it can take up to a week for you to receive a response after submitting your ONP request. Thanks for your patience!

If you have any questions about the ONP, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

---------------------------------------

On a totally unrelated note...

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999. Because this entry is the 1,999th MIT Admissions blog entry.

Which means...

The next post will be #2000. Woot! Any bets on which blogger will get it?

I've spent a ton of time over the last week reading blogs, blogs, and more blogs. No exaggeration: you guys are amazing. Every year when the call for new bloggers goes out, I am reminded of both the breadth and the depth of MIT students and of each unique MIT experience. Not to sound cheesy, but you guys are doing not only education, but life right - and you should be really proud of that.

Of course, all of the aforementioned makes blogger selection super difficult. The BSC, or Blogger Selection Committee (i.e. Matt, me, one senior and two blogger alums) met earlier today and had to deliberate for hours before reaching final decisions. In the end, we reached consensus without having to actually vote, which was a really nice conclusion to the selection process.

As with MIT admissions, I always leave selection committee feeling great about the successful applicants and miserable about all of the amazing applicants to whom we were unable to offer spots. To those of you in the latter camp: we really loved reading your applications and blogs, and we thank you so much for applying. Please remember that it's really not personal if you weren't selected - we had an 11% "admit rate" for blogging this year which is more competitive than MIT itself - and there are many other factors that we consider, including overlap with current bloggers of class year, residence, and activities.

With the sad stuff out of the way, let's focus on the positive and introduce our new bloggers. In alphabetical order:

Paul Baranay '11 lives in Simmons, and 20 is currently the front-runner for his major. He's excited to find a UROP, join Assassin's Guild, rock Mystery Hunt, try out for varsity fencing, take his friends' money in Hold'Em, pursue training as both an EMT and a Medlink, and convince you to watch Notre Dame football with him on Saturdays.

Derrick Boone '08 lives in MacGregor and is majoring in 10B and 8. His activities include Navy ROTC (he's operations officer, responsible for planning all Boston ROTC events for 100+ midshipmen), a UROP at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MacGregor House Government, and the National Society of Black Engineers. Derrick, who will be applying to grad schools this year, looks forward to going through the application process with this year's MIT hopefuls.

Karen Figueroa '11 lives in Senior House and plans to major in 11 (she writes, "I know that my major is the same as Anthony's, but I won't be studying trains, or transportation at all. I'll be focusing more on international work and developing countries..."). Karen plans to join a variety of organizations related to international culture and issues (including Model UN, the Association of Taiwanese Students, MIT International Review, Societo Por Esperanto, and the Arab Students Organization) and focus part of her blogging on the work that MIT is doing globally.

Chris Su '11 lives in MIT's newest living-learning community, iHouse, and is trying to decide between 5, 7, and 20. He's going to do Mission 2011 this year (which means that he gets to go to Iceland over spring break!) and he hopes to get involved in a variety of public service and volunteering activities at MIT. Although Chris is technically a US citizen, he has lived in Taiwan for most of his life, so he'll be an especially great resource for those students applying to MIT from outside of the US.

Congrats to all four of you! I'll be in touch soon to get you up and running.

(A bunch of '11s have written to me advocating for Snively so I should address that here. Yes, we get it... we love Snively too. But unfortunately, Snively lives in Burton-Conner with Laura, Jess, and Evan. A long time ago when we were first creating the admissions blogging program, we made a rule that no more than three bloggers could live in the same dorm, regardless of the consequences. We debated this rule again today - for quite some time - and came to the conclusion that to break it, even once, would be a slippery slope. We have to protect the integrity of the program at all costs, even if it means passing on some incredible bloggers. You'll recall that we extended an offer to Evan last year but made him wait until Sam and Mitra had graduated - we've extended the same offer to Snively. We'll hire him when someone moves out of BC or when Laura graduates - whichever comes first. :-)

I've blabbed enough. Once again, thanks so much to everyone who applied, and keep blogging!

I'm sure some of you will be able to relate to the sentiments expressed below - I just work here and I know I've felt this way from time to time. :-)

I am also publishing this because (a) I really miss Mikey, who has left us to attend grad school at the university down the road, and (b) because I've been longing to post this picture of him, which always makes me think of The Matrix. (It's shamelessly borrowed from Mikey's page over on the Logs site.)

So, some context: Mikey received an email from a student who had been admitted to MIT and was concerned that everyone else would be much better prepared than she. Recognizing her concern as a very common one, Mikey asked her if we could publish their correspondence. Here it is:

So, mainly at this point I am very excited for MIT, but I am having some second thoughts. Concerning my peers. When I applied, I was well aware of the fact that MIT attracts the best and brightest... and I'm a bit worried that I'm not as bright and shiny as the others. For example, almost all the people I've talked to have been to the IMO or at least the USAMO or have won some science competition or another (Westinghouse, YES, Intel, take your pick) or have patented something, or have taken their school's science club to nationals. And I've never done any of that... I'm basically a kid who likes math, cats, plants and some plumbing and thought MIT seemed like a cool place because everyone was always building one thing or another, all the time.

But now I'm worried that I won't be able to catch up to these kids and as a result, coming in with no research experience or major math competition experience or etc. will pull me far behind my classmates and I'll struggle to get good grades (I know grades aren't everything, but I'd like to get decent enough grades to apply for graduate school) or find research opportunities or basically show professors that I have something to offer... when in fact I'm not sure I have anything to offer in comparison to the rest of the class of 2011.

I was really psyched to go despite the notoriously huge workload because I was pretty sure that I'd love doing the work, no matter how much there was (I really enjoyed, for example, doing stoichiometry problems and math problems... they're fun for me, but I don't have any true talent for them... I'm a "peasant" of a student, not a "poet" if that makes any sense at all), but now I'm more worried than anything. Please feel free to be honest... if you think that my sort of person can still do well at MIT, that's great... but if not, be as brutally honest as necessary!

So how was your experience at MIT? If you don't mind, can you tell me a bit about yourself? Like, were you one of those USAMO kids?

Thanks again for your time, and I hope I don't sound too hysterical :)

And here's Mikey's response, which I love:

Don't worry.

I had never heard of "Intel", "Westinghouse", or "IMO" before coming to MIT. I did not know a USABO, USNCO, or USPhO existed. I didn't even know science fairs and research competitions existed. No joke. I took the "pre-AMC" (back then it was called the AJHSME, and the AMC was called the AHSME - American (Junior) High School Math Exam), did okay on it, and never went any farther (I had heard of the AIME but wasn't even close to being considered for that test). And I felt exactly like you even before I applied to MIT. "MIT students are way smarter than me... I must've gotten in by accident... I'll be like the dumbest one there" is what I seriously told myself. And I totally get your "poet" vs "peasant" analogy... people would talk about how "elegant" a math proof was, or how "neat and interesting" the solution was to that physics problem, while I would just sit there and say "heck, did I at least get the units right?" or use brute force to solve the problem in a way that took 20x longer than it should have and said "hey, I still got it right in the end, who cares if it took 2 hours instead of 2 minutes?" Haha.

But anyways, back to the original point. I came to MIT, and seriously, I probably had way more fun than I was supposed to. (Hanging out with friends in my living group, going on road trips, having spontaneous parties, watching TV shows and movies, playing video games... Not all the time, but most of the time. Don't tell my parents.) Over my four years, I sang with an a cappella group, helped record and produce 2 CDs, sang in a classical group, was part of a religious club, did a UROP, and made many lifelong friends and memories.

But wait... what about the academics?? I graduated with a 4.8 GPA (out of 5.0) - and I honestly had a blast. (I hope that didn't come off as arrogant - I just wanted to let you know that you can have a lot of fun and still get good grades in your classes!)

Believe me, there was definitely hard work involved (it was not ALL fun and games) but really, you wouldn't have been admitted if you we didn't think you could not only survive but THRIVE here academically, socially, emotionally, physically, mentally (and every other "lly" way). MIT is about educating the entire student, not *just* the academics, and the college experience is not *just* the classes - it's EVERYTHING. You literally passed through *at LEAST* 5 different rounds of screening before you were definitively admitted to MIT; we said "not only can she do the work, but she's going to have fun, she'll add to the campus community, she'll be able to make great friends, and above all, she's a great match for MIT." Or something to that extent.

Yes, there are geniuses at MIT, even for MIT standards. I met plenty of them throughout my four years. But you know what? I couldn't even tell for most of them - I had plenty of friends where I didn't learn about their special and unique talents until after having known them for 2-3 years (examples: I didn't learn until junior or senior year that some of my friends consisted of: California State Nintendo Champion... a child TV show star... placed in the Putnam for more than one year... went to Africa to help vision-impaired children... worked on the Human Genome project... owned his own design company... etc... etc... etc...). But when people get here, everyone pretty much leaves a lot of that at the door (unless it comes up specifically). They're all students just like anyone, eager to meet new people... and it was incredibly exciting to have friends like them.

So don't worry. I know exactly what you're going through, and as someone who's been through it all and is on the other side now, I know you'll be juuuuust fine. :)

Mikey speaks the truth! So if you're nervous about your forthcoming arrival on campus, don't be. Really.

(And Mikey: we miss you! COME VISIT US.)

The Infinite is essentially a 4-lane road with 2 lanes going in each direction. Of these two, the one closest to the wall is the lane for slow people, or people who wish to check out the bulletin boards. The other lane is the fast lane, or passing lane.

I drive defensively, but I still manage to get into accidents pretty much every day because of the surplus of amateurs on the road. People, really - it's not that hard. Read and learn.

• If the Infinite is crowded, consider the center line a double-yellow line. Do not merge into oncoming traffic for any reason. You will get run over.
• If the Infinite is not crowded, consider the center line a broken yellow line. Merge into oncoming traffic only if you need to pass someone who is driving in your own passing lane (which is aggressive, but hey) - and yield to oncoming traffic if it should appear.
• People already on the Infinite have the right-of-way, so you must imagine that every hallway leading into the Infinite has a stop sign. When approaching the Infinite, first stop, then look both ways, and then make your right or left turn onto the Infinite. Running a stop sign will frequently lead to a collision.
• Bathroom exits have stop signs too.
• If you are traveling with a group, do not, under any circumstances, use all four lanes to travel in the same direction. You will cause amazing gridlock and your Infinite Corridor karma will be damaged for weeks, resulting in parking tickets whenever you stop to use a water fountain.
• There is no carpool lane on the Infinite. I don't care how big your group is. No carpool lane!
• Hang up the phone and drive.
• Lobby 7 and Lobby 10 can be considered rest stops. When stopping at a rest stop on an interstate highway, do you park at the rest stop itself or just stop in the middle of the highway? The Infinite is no different!

I'm sure there are things that I'm forgetting, but these should get you started.

Anyone know where I can get a portable horn? Now that would make driving on the Infinite a whole lot better. ;-)

As of this afternoon, mitadmissions.org is living on a new (and much faster) server. You'll probably notice better performance in page rendering right away; commenting is still slower than I'd like, but a forthcoming software patch should (hopefully) fix that.

I think the migration went fairly smoothly, but if you notice anything weird, let me know.

I'll be back with a real entry very soon! Hope your summers are going well.

-B

All current MIT undergraduates are welcome to apply. In the interest of full disclosure, however, you should know that we will be looking to hire almost exclusively incoming freshmen to maintain a balance between new students and upperclassmen. That said, as Melis is currently the only '08 blogger, we may consider hiring another senior (and we've already received five inquiries from '08s, which is awesome!).

To be considered for a blogger position, you should email me (benjones at you-know-the-rest) by August 31st, 2007 and:

• Provide a link to your "portfolio" - in other words, your current blog. This will be the single most important part of your application. Most of our current bloggers had been keeping a personal blog for years prior to working for us, and from that we could evaluate voice, writing style, frequency of publication, etc. If you don't have a current blog and still wish to be considered, you have the rest of the summer to be incredibly prolific. Better get started. :-)
• If you post regularly on any admissions forums such as College Confidential, please provide URL's and username/screenname/etc.
• Tell us your major or intended major (list all possibilities), and what activities you hope to become involved with at MIT (or what you already do here if you're an upperclassman).
• Let us know which dorm you get temped in, and as soon as REX is over and you have your permanent housing assignment for the year, send a followup email and let us know where you'll be living.
• Short answer #1 - Write a paragraph telling us why you want to be an admissions blogger and what unique things you feel you'll contribute to the program.
• Short answer #2 (required for '11s, optional for upperclassmen - please choose one of the following). Option A: Who is more addicted to Facebook, you or Jess Kim? Prove your theory in 100 words or less. Bonus points if you can present Jess with a question that she can't answer using Facebook. Option B: Once, during a slow week, Laura bit through her own lip so that she'd have something to blog about. Do you think you can compete with her dedication to the program?

Please note: Short Answer #2 (regardless of which option you choose) is all in good fun. Please don't take it seriously.

To all of you who have already emailed me to express interest - please send me a supplemental email answering any of the above questions that were not addressed in your original email. Thanks!

Any questions? Just post 'em in the comments and I'll update this entry accordingly.

Thanks!

-B

My friend took this picture with his cell phone last thursday and sent it to me. The text that accompanied it said simply:

There's no one in the driver's seat. Just a guy in the passenger seat. With a laptop.

For the record, that's on 93 South - a major highway. Okay then!

And then this morning, McGreggor sends me this, which is pretty awesome. (I feel like this may have been posted in the blogs already but I can't find it, so sorry if it's a repeat.)

Happy Monday!

Wow - just noticed that my last entry was published over a month ago. Sorry guys, I apparently thought I was Nance for a second there... my bad. Meanwhile Mr. Prolific has logged 43 entries so far in 2007 - I think he deserves some sort of trophy, don't you?

Before I tell you about my travels over the last month, I just want to take a minute to thank our senior bloggers Bryan, Sam, Mitra and Jessie. They've been a huge part of building this community, and I'm really, really going to miss them. Thanks guys, for sharing so much of yourselves over the years and for simply being awesome.

With four bloggers graduating, we'll definitely have some openings in the fall and I'll post the application details soon. I'm also happy to announce the arrival of a new blogger, Evan Broder '10. Evan was actually hired last year, but we made him take a gap year because he decided to live in Burton Conner and we already had 3 bloggers living there (no longer the case with Sam and Mitra graduating). Look for Evan's blog to launch later this month.

So where have I been?

The last time I wrote, our office had just received some really bad news and the fallout kept me pretty busy for the following couple of weeks (happily, the dust has settled quite a bit since then).

Mid-May found me on a plane to California for the Ivy-Plus conference. This conference happens every other year and is attended by admissions people from the 8 Ivy League schools, Stanford, and MIT. (Basically we share ideas and concerns and try to work together to make everything a little better in the field.) This year was Stanford's turn to host, and they did an amazing job - big thanks to Rick Shaw (Stanford's Dean) who kept us entertained and well-fed at every turn.

Even though I lived in Berkeley and Oakland for over a year after college, I somehow never made it down to Stanford during that era, so this was my first time seeing the campus. What a beautiful place! Mad props to Stanford students - if I lived in a place that cool I'm not sure I'd ever be able to get any work done.

I went on a student-led tour and our guide was refreshingly honest. Response to "the earthquake question" (which I gather is fairly common on their tours): "yep, no doubt we're overdue for the big one, but no one really thinks about it too much." :-) (As you guys know from these blogs I'm a big fan of college reps just being real and not trying to sugarcoat things... so bravo.)

Post-California, I had about 12 hours at home before getting on another plane to attend my college reunion (I won't say which number, but you can stalk me on facebook and figure it out). That was an absolute blast, and also the first vacation I've had in as long as I can remember - it went way too fast.

After Memorial Day, I had a whirlwind four days in the office before leaving again for Waitsfield, Vermont, where I spent a week hiking (and eating... a lot) with my family. To those of you who call Vermont home: I am jealous. What an amazing state you have! (And I honestly didn't mind how hard it was to find cell phone service and internet access!)

(P.S. you may think Ben & Jerry's is good when you eat it out of the pint, but that pales in comparison to tasting it right off the production line - trust me.)

So now I'm back and making plans for the summer. I have a bunch of behind-the-scenes upgrades to do on this site, some print redesign projects, a bunch of new copy to write, and a lot of planning meetings to attend. We're also moving a significant part of our reading and selection process online this summer, which involves a lot of learning and testing. Should be an interesting few months.

If you guys have ideas for things you'd like to see on mitadmissions.org or MyMIT, drop a comment into this thread and let me know. I'm not promising we can do all of them, but we'll sure give it a shot.

Hope your summers are off to a great start!

-B

P.S. In response to Greg's comment about the server taking forever to post comments, I totally agree and that's at the top of my list of things to address this summer. We'll be moving to a new server and hopefully upgrading the software, so the slow comments should be fixed before the busy fall season kicks off. Sorry for the inconvenience!

This story will likely be all over the news soon, so we wanted to write to you as soon as possible. It's a very sad day for MIT, and especially for our office. We'll write more about it in a few days when we've had the chance to digest it further, but right now we're really in a state of shock at the loss of our leader.

To make a long story short, Marilee Jones, our Dean of Admissions, misrepresented her credentials on her resume 28 years ago in 1979, when she applied for her first job at MIT. What started as a mistake in her youth was compounded over time, which she addresses in a personal statement.

We know you're going to have many questions around this, and we'll try to address them in the coming days. In the meantime, there are a few things we wanted to say.

First, as many of you know, Marilee has built her career around trying to make college admissions better - with more compassion and less anxiety. Many are understandably concerned that the momentum of this mission will be compromised by these events. But we pledge to you that as we recover in the days ahead, we will continue to celebrate and uphold all of the good that Marilee has brought to our office and to our field, and we hope that others around the country will do the same.

Second, many are asking why MIT didn't accept Marilee's resignation quietly. The answer is simple: transparency and openness, as you know from reading these blogs, are the backbone of our culture. People needed to know the specifics to avoid the rampant speculation that would undoubtedly follow otherwise. You need to know that this was a lie on a resume - not some big scandal surrounding our selection process.

Frankly, this is what it is, and there's nothing more to say about it that will be productive. We need to acknowledge what happened and move forward.

As we're sure you can understand, our office is quite shaken by this. Until we've had a chance to individually process this more, we don't want to host a big public thread on the topic, so please give us a few days to get back on our feet before we restore comments. In the meantime, you can always email us with questions and concerns.

Fondly,
Ben and Matt

No deposit required! Just be sure to return the MIT Reply Form by May 1st.

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The schedule looks fantastic - for the kids. There don't seem to be many activities for the parents other than a reception and some financial aid meetings. Not complaining, just want to get the facts straight so that we can plan. Are we free to roam after we've dropped off Junior?

You're free to be just as busy and have just as much fun as Junior! Here are my recommendations for parents:

Thursday
9:00am-5:00pm	Come meet yours truly at the registration desk! I promise to entertain you!
3:00pm-4:00pm	Intro to Housing and Dining. This will be a great overview of the variety of options your son or daughter will have.
4:00pm–5:10pm	Learning Abroad Panel. Everything you ever wanted to know about study-abroad (and research-abroad and internship-abroad) opportunities at MIT.
5:30pm-7:15pm	Minority Parent Reception. Nance runs this show, and as you all know, Nance never disappoints.
7:30pm–8:45pm	Official Welcome for Parents. Perhaps one of the more important things to show up for. ;-)
Friday
9:00am-10:30am	President's Welcome and Faculty Keynote Lecture.
10:30am-11:30am	Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Panel. If you (or your son or daughter) are interested in research opportunities for undergrads at MIT, you should definitely check this out.
10:30am-1:00pm	Careers Office Open House. Worried about whether or not Junior will be employable with an MIT degree? Fear not after attending this.
10:30am-1:00pm	MIT Medical Reception. Come learn about our excellent medical staff and facilities.
1:00pm-3:00pm	Student Life and Learning Panel for Parents. This is another one I'd put on my "must do" list. Academics are only one part of an MIT education - and this will tell you about much of the rest.
2:00pm–4:00pm	Academic/Arts Fair and Athletics Fair. Pretty self-explanatory.
3:00pm-4:00pm	Financial Aid and Financial Services Session for Parents. Also pretty self-explanatory.
3:00pm-5:00pm	Overview of Campus Dining and TechCASH. You give Junior money (in the form of TechCASH), Junior spends your money. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Come learn the details.
4:00pm–5:00pm	Freshman/Alumni Summer Internship Program Panel. Come learn about FASIP!
4:00pm–5:10pm	MIT Learning Abroad Panel. (Same as 4PM Thurs.)
4:00pm-5:15pm	Introduction to Project Interphase.
5:00pm–6:30pm	Parent Reception with Parent Connectors & Alumni Association. Future MIT Parents interfacing with Current MIT Parents. Always a huge success every year.
8:30pm-10:00pm	Meet the Bloggers. Come meet these guys! I'll save you some ice cream.
Saturday
8:30am-10:00am	Insights for Parents by Parents.
10:00am-11:00am	Panel on Freshman/Alumni Summer Internship Program. (same as 4PM Friday)
10:15am-11:45am	Residence Life Advising Panel for Parents.
11:30am–12:30pm	Careers Office Pre-Health Panel. Is Junior thinking about a career in medicine? This would be a good one to attend.
12:00pm-2:00pm	Housemasters' Brunch. Come meet all of the faculty and staff who are brave enough to live in the dorms with your kids! You'll get a sense of what great hands they'll be in.
1:00pm-3:00pm	Activities Fair. We have almost 350 student groups! Come learn about them. :-)
2:00pm-5:00pm	Residence Open Houses / Tours. MIT's various housing options are unique and diverse - this is a great way to explore some of them.
5:30pm-8:00pm	CPW Closing Remarks and A Cappella Concert. This is where we tell you how much we love you, followed by some of the best a cappella in the country.
8:00pm-11:00pm	Marilee and Ben rock the house @ Battle of the Bands. Need I say more?
Sunday
Whenever.	Tear child and/or spouse away from MIT with the promise that she/he can return in the fall.

And hopefully you'll also find some time in there to explore Boston and Cambridge!

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Can I fill in YES on the MIT response sheet and accept a spot on another school's waitlist at the same time? Would this be a violation of the rules (and thus endanger my MIT acceptance)? Thanks!

Yes you may - this won't violate any rules. We know that some students will accept our offer of admission while remaining on the waitlist for another school.

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When will we know who our CPW hosts are?

Host matching is taking place as I write this and should be finished in a few days. Your host will likely contact you via email or telephone prior to CPW to arrange meeting up when you arrive, but please don't worry if you don't hear anything prior to arrival! Everyone will get a host. :-)

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Any last thoughts?

Hey, thanks for asking! My big thought of the day is: CPW IS A WEEK AWAY AND I'M PSYCHED OUT OF MY MIND.

Seriously, this is my favorite weekend of the year. You guys have no idea what you're in for. :-) Also, true story: more of you have registered to attend CPW than any previous class, and "the more the merrier" definitely applies to CPW.

It's gonna be awesome.]]> Process & Statistics, 2007-04-04T19:20:23+00:00 Ben Jones http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/cpw_registration_browser_issue http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/cpw_registration_browser_issue Hi folks,

I just learned from the folks who support my.mit.edu that certain browsers (i.e. Firefox) may not play nicely with CPW registration, which is likely why some of you have been having problems. We'll get to the bottom of that asap, but in the meantime, if you've already registered please check your MyMIT account to make sure your registration information still appears on the CPW registration page. If the registration page is blank, you'll need to re-register using Safari or Internet Explorer. (And if you haven't registered yet, please do so using one of those browsers!)

I'm so sorry for the inconvenience.

-B

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Campus Preview Weekend Registration Deadline

The deadline to register for CPW is Monday, April 2, 2007. That's in five days! I know you're all second-semester seniors, but procrastination is not your friend in this case. ;-)

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Shameless CPW Plug #1: Meet The Bloggers

Want to meet these guys in real life? Make sure to show up to our annual party at CPW on Friday The 13th (bwahahahahaha) at 8:30PM in the Mezzanine Lounge (Student Center, 3rd Floor).

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Shameless CPW Plug #2: Marilee Jones = Rockstar

She admits you to MIT and writes you nice letters, but can she ROCK you? Oh yes she can. Come see Marilee perform with my band at ZBT's fifth annual Battle Of The Bands on Saturday night (4/14).

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Facebook Group For Admitted Students

The facebook group for admitted students is lots of fun with a variety of interesting threads (this is my personal favorite). If you've been admitted to MIT and haven't joined yet, you should! Note that you'll need to sign the MyMIT Guestbook before requesting to join - it's how Emma and Michael (the admins for the facebook group) confirm that you're actually a member of the class.

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The Waitlist

I've gotten a bunch of correspondence asking about the validity of the Tech article's suggestion that we'll be taking 10 people from the waitlist this year.

From the horse's mouth: at this juncture, that number is entirely speculative. We don't have any idea yet, because yield (i.e. how many admitted students will accept our offer of admission) is affected by so many different factors. (Note to self: take Weather Machine out of storage for CPW.)

When I know more, I'll definitely let you know - but right now your guess is as good as mine.

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Affirmative Action

Each year I hear countless stories of admitted students having to suffer through others saying "you only got into MIT because you're a [insert gender or ethnicity of your choice]" - and this year has been no different, unfortunately.

I posted the following in the '11 facebook group, but I realize that many of you aren't members yet, so I thought I'd share it here:

I'm so sorry that some of you have been on the receiving end of the various negative affirmative action comments that seem to pop up every year.

I can tell you, having been through 12,500 applications over the last 4 months (and many more over the last 3 years), that no one gets into MIT "the easy way." There aren't different standards for different genders or ethnicities. I don't care what you look like - if you aren't the sh*t, you're not going to get into MIT.

Having said that, as an admissions committee we do believe strongly in admitting a class that is diverse in every way (gender and ethnicity are just scratching the surface). I guarantee that you will learn more in college from your peers than you will from your classes - and for that to happen, you must celebrate the differences between you, and we must ensure that there are differences to celebrate. (It's the fundamental pulse of the process through which we build the class each year.) What fun would MIT be if everyone looked and thought the same? How can we change the world with only one perspective at our disposal?

So from the many thousands of qualified applicants who apply to MIT each year, we try to build a class that represents as much of society as possible. People will always cry "affirmative action" in response to the fact that certain groups are underrepresented in our applicant pool, and thus appear to enjoy a higher admit rate than other groups. But please do not misunderstand what "affirmative action" means. It definitively does not mean that we lower the bar for anyone.

But your actions will speak louder than my words. And I can't wait to watch you change the world together and show the naysayers that each of you is an integral part of that mission.

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Your Personal Mikey

So the lovely and talented Mari sent the following email to the staff yesterday:

As you are probably aware, we have an unprecedented number of CPW events happening this year. I'm concerned that the events won't fit into the booklet considering its current size and saddle-stitch binding. Which of these options would you prefer?

1) Print the academic class schedule separately from the general program schedule

2) Use a spiral-bound booklet instead of a saddle-stitch booklet

3) Increase the size of the booklet to 8.5 x 11

Thoughts?

The resulting email thread quickly descended into chaos, with each member of the staff weighing the pros and cons of each option and arriving at different conclusions.

With no resolution in sight, I sent the following at the end of the day:

I think we should clone Mikey 1000 times after he's memorized the whole booklet. Then each prefrosh can have a personal Mikey and, at any given time, the prefrosh can say "yo Mikey what's going on right now" and his or her personal Mikey will be like "there are actually 29847596 things going on right now, but personally I'd recommend..." (and the recommendation would be based on the prefrosh's preferences, which would be established with his or her personal Mikey early on. Perhaps we could even frontload the Mikeys prior to CPW with each prefrosh's preferences?

Oh, and also each Mikey would sing its prefrosh to sleep at night with his or her favorite song (Mikey was a Log).

This option is clearly superior to #'s 1-3.

The reason I'm sharing all of this with you is to hopefully inspire you to take your CPW registration seriously. Some folks think that we ask you about your preferences and interests so that we can match you with the best possible student host for the weekend, but the truth is that we ask you these things so that we can properly program your Mikey.

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In Conclusion...

I feel like there's more stuff I wanted to tell you but I have to run off to a meeting... I'll add it later if I can remember it. ;-)