did you miss the EA deadline? by Victor D. '27

For all of you that missed the Early Action deadline (November 1st), that’s fine! I didn’t apply EA either, mostly because of 1) procrastination 2) I was already feeling stressed with the UC⁠01 University of California application that was due late November. I decided to take more time with my MIT application and ended up submitting in early January (around the deadline lol).

I found out about MIT⁠02 i probably had already heard of it but this is my first recollection of MIT during quarantine in sophomore year of high school when our AP European History teacher had us think about our long term plans, including college. That’s when I stumbled upon a web page about Course 11-6, Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science, and realized that was what I wanted to do! I even emailed to ask more questions about the course and application process.

When I received a response⁠03 i was happy to be acknowledged! to my email a couple months later, I was just starting junior year, and the college admissions process was now less than a year away. By this point, I had a better idea of what MIT was and just how competitive admissions can be, which felt daunting. Why go through so much effort to do an entirely separate application from my UC application and the Common App?

Despite some doubts (and anxieties) here are some reasons why I applied:

1. Course 11-6. Most universities don’t have undergraduate urban planning degrees and no other school in the country offers a degree that combines computer science and urban planning in this way (to my knowledge). I applied as a civil engineering major to nearly every other school because I knew I was broadly motivated by infrastructure systems and cities, which would’ve worked out, but Course 11-6 was an ideal fit for my intersecting interests in urbanism, spatial analytics, and transportation. MIT has a lot of other cross-disciplinary majors too if you’re curious about interleaving different subject areas.
2. Humanities! I was excited about the HASS requirement (8 humanities subjects to graduate) because I didn’t want to be in an environment of exclusively STEMlords. Luckily, there are a lot of people here that study the humanities—I have friends who like film, music, sociology, anthropology, linguistics… etc. I still haven’t decided on my concentration⁠04 every MIT student has to take 3-4 subjects in a single humanities subject to graduate though…
3. Living in an urban center. I had lived my entire life in Southern California up to that point, in the same suburban city of around 70,000 surrounded by strawberry fields. I knew I wanted to live in a more dynamic urban environment for college, especially one where a lot of walking and biking would be part of my routine. Since I was fortunate to have visited Cambridge before applying, I knew it’d be the perfect environment because of its cyclability and walkability.
4. School size. MIT has the smallest class size of any school I applied to. It’s definitely nice to be in a more intimate environment when getting to know your professors, find research opportunities, and get individualized support (both academic and personal).
5. Nearby institutions. There are many other colleges in the Boston Metro Area so it’s relatively easy to escape the MIT bubble, which was also a draw for me while applying especially since MIT students can take classes at Harvard, MassArt, and Wellesley .⁠05 even though i have yet to cross-enroll :( but stay tuned for next semester (hopefully i realize my dreams)
6. Working with friends. Some of my friends in high school were also applying, so it was fun to discuss the application and read each other’s essays. I enjoyed working on my application largely because I was co-working with friends :)

Lastly, if you’re feeling hesitant about applying because of admissions anxiety… I definitely sympathize. I was worried that my SAT math score wasn’t high enough, that I wasn’t valedictorian, that I hadn’t taken a gazillion APs, etc. When the narrative is that even being a valedictorian “isn’t enough” to get into MIT… it’s intimidating. The Blogs were really helpful to calm my anxieties, since the narrative about “stats” is pretty misguided when it comes to admissions .⁠06 these decade, two decade old posts I read while applying in 2023 still hold true, imo... also it's kind of surreal reading some of this admissions lingo like 'hooks' and 'stats' after being tapped out for the past 2 years

So if something about MIT resonates with you, why not throw your hat in the ring?