Skip to content ↓

Please note:

The MIT Welcome Center (E38) will be closing at 2 PM on November 27. MIT and the admissions office will be closed November 28–29 for Thanksgiving break, and will open on December 2.

MIT staff blogger Matt McGann '00

Early Action Decisions by Matt McGann '00

Details for retrieving your EA admissions decision on Monday evening.

We have just sent out this email to early action applicants:

Subject: MIT Admissions Decisions Online Monday
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008

We are pleased to announce that MIT Early Action admissions decisions will be made available online on Monday, December 15 at 9:00PM EST.

Q. What is the process for receiving my admissions decision?

A. When decisions are released Monday at 9:00PM EST, 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 are ready to receive your decision online before logging in to decisions.mit.edu.

Admissions decisions will be available exclusively online.

To ensure that you will receive a decision online, please visit https://decisions.mit.edu and enter your username and password. Decisions.mit.edu will be available this week for applicants to confirm their login ability and decision eligibility.

Q. What if I’ve forgotten my MyMIT password?

A. You may use our automated system to reset it. Simply visit https://my.mit.edu and click on the lost password link in the¬†orange log-in box on the left. If you’re having trouble using our¬†automated username/password recovery process, or if you’ve¬†forgotten your username, please email [email protected] with¬†your full name and mailing address. We’ll use this information to¬†locate you in our system and reset your password within a few days.

Q. What if I don’t have a MyMIT account?

A. This year, we will only be announcing decisions online, so if you¬†haven’t created a MyMIT account, make sure to create one so you can¬†find out your admissions decision. ¬†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. If you register¬†without your MIT ID, your username and password may not work on¬†decisions.mit.edu.

Best wishes!
— MIT Admissions

To reiterate: don’t wait for decisions to arrive via email or snail mail, as we do not plan to send out admissions decisions in this way this year. However, following the release of admissions decisions, we will be mailing necessary materials to admitted students, cylindrically.

Also, be sure to go the the Decisions site to ensure that you know your username and password.

I wish you all the best.

100 responses to “Early Action Decisions”

  1. Richard says:

    Thanks so much Matt! I’m nervous! Can’t wait until Monday night. I’m a little upset that refresh (F5) doesn’t work. Very clever!

  2. Randy says:

    TUBES! YES!!!

  3. Sam ('13?) says:

    It’s nervewracking to think that there’s a chance may be accepted to MIT in just five days. I’m excited, even though the prospect of being deferred is statistically high.

    Also, I haven’t heard of the tubes before… maybe I’m just not good enough of an MIT nerd… yet. :D

  4. Anonymous says:

    Should I be worrying if I haven’t received the e-mail? My e-mail is usually quite fast…

  5. Tubes!!! Oh, thank you so much Matt M!! I was, honestly, quite concerned about losing out on an MIT tradition. Thanks again for the reassurance. smile

  6. Alim says:

    It has been a lot of fun! The entire process, the application, the waiting, the stress, the laughing…regardless of the decision, I would do it all over again in a femtosecond.

    Don’t forget to open a bag of Rofls!

  7. Anonymous says:

    I read that part with ever widening eyes and sadness at the thought of no tubes (provided I got in) but then I saw that they were coming and I was happy again.

    *takes deep breaths*
    *hides all time-telling devices except to set them to ring at 9 on monday*

  8. Snively says:

    @Sam (’13?)
    The tube is what admissions decisions came in for several years. Apparently now they’ll just contain everything but the letter, but I talk more about it here:

    Click

  9. Timur says:

    You know — the days before decisions are all so surreal. Things are out of your hands, you’ve done all that you could, and the outcome is uncertain.

    You’re certain you studied for all the right tests and did all the things that you wanted to do. You jumped higher than your own head, and maybe admissions will recognize that. Or maybe they won’t.

    The race to get into college encourages everyone “to get As, to get good SAT scores, to join clubs”. Is it stressful and artificial? Hell yes — Marilee Jones certainly thought so. Unfortunately the message is malinterpreted as numbers, letters, and club names on your application — that’s not what it’s about. It’s about growing up. Every day we reach for the “green dock light” that’s always out of our reach. And every day we get a little bit taller.

    I hope Monday’s lonely letters on decisions.mit.edu aren’t as important to you as the process you’ve taken to get there. You’ve been striving for nearly two decades of your life to discover yourself, your interests, and to develop your passions. Accepted, deferred, and rejected are only 8 byte words. You are not an 8 byte person.

    Congratulations to all of you on Monday!

  10. Bah…I got the e-mail and all I saw was “We are pleased to announce that MIT…” and freaked out :(

    But it’s okay…in retrospect, it was an amusing thirty seconds in which I scrambled to my gmail.

  11. Dane says:

    Got my email, but I have a question about an email that I, rather than MIT, sent, in regards to a letter sent by MIT, rather than myself.

    Two weeks ago, I received a letter asking about my Native American heritage (although admittedly there isn’t much; in “normal terms I’m 12.5% Cherokee). Two days ago, realizing that the letter response probably wouldn’t make it in time, I sent an email off to MIT with what the letter would have contained; I meant to send it sooner, but I have been extremely busy, and Yahoo ate my letter several times. I then checked this site the net day (yesterday) and realized that the admissions results were already decided. I’m curious, will not having gotten this form in negatively affect me? I mean, to have gotten it in in time I would have had to sent it off the day after I received it in order for it to not have been late, assuming it wasn’t delayed in the mail, which seems strange. Did I get the letter late, or were they not really expecting it to arrive on time?

    Anyway, good luck to everyone… Well, that’s the nice thing to say, although since only a limited amount of people can get in, wishing you good luck is also wishing bad luck upon myself, and wow I am overthinking this. Good luck, don’t die from wait-induced stress, hope to see you at MIT, as that means that both I and you have gotten in, whoever you are.

  12. Cam says:

    @Timur — Nice writing, I agree. Maybe you’ll get a blog if you get in haha.
    However, was the F. Scott Fitzgerald reference really necessary?

    I wish people would stop caring so much about decisions. You’ve (hopefully) honestly represented yourself; that’s all that you’ve got to worry about, let admissions officers from schools everywhere take care of the rest.

    That being said, best of luck to everybody.

  13. Reena says:

    Haha, Timur, I hope you do get in and get a blog. I’ll be happy for you smile Thanks for that.

    I basically spilled my possibly incoherent, quite likely melodramatic soul onto my app, so we’ll see what happens.

  14. Sarliman says:

    Good luck EA peeps. May the force be with you.

    No but seriously, don’t stress, just enjoy the weekend. Happy holidays to everyone.

  15. Rebeca says:

    Like everyone else I went “D8 No tubes?????” Then I saw the last sentence. XD

    Only 4 days, 23 hours, and 6 minutes to go!!!!
    (Like my excessive punctuation?)

  16. Tiffany says:

    Count down to the rest of our lives.

  17. Angela says:

    @Timur

    Regardless of what may come on Monday, you just made my day a little better. smile
    Thank you.

  18. Alex '13? says:

    I think that everyone read the email and exclaimed “NO TUBES???” Good luck all my fellow EA’ers!

  19. Lexy says:

    Timur – I really hope you get in.

  20. Sam ('13?) says:

    @Snively

    Haha, thank you very much. I hope I’ll be getting my own ‘sexy blue’ or whatever color it is this year in the mail in coming weeks. :D

  21. Sam ('13?) says:

    Of course, I’m referring to the poster, heh.

  22. Matt A. says:

    @Snively
    Wow, I feel dumb now *fail*…I know someone mentioned it to me. Guess MIT has a little mythical aspect to it or something…

  23. deng says:

    I’m RA and reading this is getting me way to excited…

  24. deng says:

    uhm.. yea.. my 3rd grade teacher told me that should have been spelled “too” not “to” raspberry

  25. JieMin says:

    *refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh

    Seriously, ctrl and ‘r’ keys are going to be worn out come Monday evening.

    I’m seriously getting anxious. Four more days in 59 minutes! 4 days, 9 hours, 56 minutes (by my time) until decision time – unless I get deferred.

    G’luck to all of you as well!

  26. Chan-Hee Koh says:

    My heart almost stopped when I read read the title of the email in my Gmail. But, nevertheless, at least we have something to look forward to *cough*. Hopefully my finals will distract me from freaking out too much, which would have been ironic during my junior year. =P

  27. Brandon says:

    Congratulations Frittos.

  28. Wow, good luck to all EA applicants, includuing myself. When you get your decision, just make sure you keep yourself contained. WARNING: may cause mental as well as physical instability.

    GOOD LUCK!!!!!

  29. Anonymous says:

    JieMin, try F5. =]

  30. Jacob Herman says:

    My biggest regret? Not applying Early. My second biggest regret? Not sending in my regular application faster. What would have been my biggest regret? Not applying at all.

  31. Matt M says:

    Can I just say,

    “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

    Just had to let that out.

  32. Bethan says:

    Good luck to all EA applicants!

  33. deng says:

    do the internationals get tubes too if we are accepted? we can’t apply early..

  34. Steph says:

    @Dane: I got the same letter, but I got the impression that it was only meant to supplement your application. I doubt it would negatively affect you in any way. All the same, I was nervous too that mine didn’t get in on time. I only received the letter last Tuesday when I got back from Thanksgiving break, so I sent the letter and faxed a copy the next day.

    Anyway, best wishes fellow nervous EA applicants!!

  35. Anonymous says:

    4 days, 6 hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds

  36. Anonymous says:

    Do the transfer applicants go through the same procedure? Thanks!

  37. Ahana says:

    @Timur,

    Accepted, deferred, and rejected are only 8 byte words. You are not an 8 byte person.

    Hear, hear. I sincerely hope you get in. Good luck to all EA applicants!

  38. Brandon says:

    Just to make every other EA applicant freak out even more:
    http://www.DidIGetIntoMIT.com/

    smile Sorry.
    Best of luck to everyone.

  39. Dude, check this out: http://mabuhaynet.com/mitcountdown/

    it is much cooler than the one in the upper post.

  40. Charlie says:

    @timur that was a good post

  41. Sehreen says:

    “4 days, 6 hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds”

    hahaha..wowww good luck everyone!!! and those of you lucky ones who get accepted..please post your essays on a student blog or pleaseeeeee pleaseeeeee email me copies!!! email add: [email protected]

    im extremelyyyy nervous about my essays so plz help me! i wont copy them of course..just need to read them to calm my nerves =)

  42. Snively says:

    @Everybody
    Unfortunately, international students and regular action accepted students do not receive tubes.

  43. Anonymous says:

    I’m cheering for all of my senior friends who applied ED; I’m sure Tuesday will be fairly exciting. smile

  44. Narce says:

    The thing that bothers me most is that I have stuff to send in if I get deferred T.T I’d feel a lot better about how I presented myself in Early Action if I felt like I had covered everything important. On the other hand, that would make getting accepted feel that much better since I still had a little to add.

  45. Justin C says:

    AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  46. jm says:

    I bought my EA student the equation version of the MIT shirt from the Coop, to counter surprise should the news be favorable Monday night. You should all feel so proud of yourselves, congratulations on your many achievements.

  47. Vivi says:

    Best of luck to the ’13ers! You’ll be finding out your admissions decisions as I tackle the final of the hardest freshman class, so hopefully it’s a happy ending for both of us ;D

  48. Dhvanit says:

    All the best to all EAs! Hope you all make the right match..

  49. Frittos says:

    Hi Matt,

    To beat the anxiety of the big day, my daughter prepared a comedy skit that has turned out to be awesome! It’s about a security guard in the american prison who has the habit of sneaking into the interrogation room. I never knew mathematical minds have other shades too. It’s a great quality, when you can make others laugh in such trying times. May be I will try this when I get fired from my job.

    Regards,

    Frittos.

  50. Transfer says:

    As a transfer applicant for Spring 2009, when should I expect to find out about the admissions decision?
    Sorry if my question is not in the right blog. It is just the waiting…
    Thanks!

  51. @Ahana
    Well, that all depends on what type of encoding you use… smile

  52. I would think that the blog would be much more saturated considering that there are ~5000 applicants… I wonder what prompts the lack of blogging…?

  53. Mel says:

    And the agony is prolonged….

  54. Anonymous says:

    can you put my rejection letter in a tube? I paid $65 for it.

  55. Brandon says:

    @Navdeep (’13?)

    That’s a cool page.

    I was going for more simplistic, and I wanted it to work well on my iPhone. I also borrowed the color scheme from the MIT homepage for consistency.

    http://www.DidIGetIntoMIT.com/

  56. Derek M. says:

    I really hope the early admission rates are higher this year because there were so many early admission applicants. Best of luck to everyone who applied!

  57. Anonymous says:

    I’m kind-of worried as an EA applicant about my SAT score. I’m confident about my writing and criticle reading, but I don’t feel that a 710 math is very competitive. Does a 780 Math SAT IIC offset this? Thanks.

  58. Anonymous says:

    And argh, I meant to say “critical reading”.

  59. anonymous says:

    Any SAT score in the 700 range is competitive.

  60. Narce says:

    Well, MIT does care more about math than the other two, so while competitive, his concern is at least reasonable. But yes, I’m sure the SAT II score supplements that!

    My SAT scores are almost silly, though, like, “If you had 2200 points to distribute on your SAT, as a tech nerd, what would you do?” 800 math, 700 each in critical reading and writing. I know they’re “competitive”, but I still worry about my 700s ;.; I probably should’ve taken the reasoning test a second time, at least.

  61. Anonymous says:

    @navdeep

    yours isnt a dot com, and it doesnt have links to all of the useful pages… brandon wins

  62. ρ says:

    I can’t wait! And the tubes have not died! Good luck everyone!

  63. sleepy. says:

    yay tubes.

    that’s all i have to say.

  64. Robert says:

    First?

    Thanks Matt!

  65. Matt A. says:

    …wait…I thought we got our shredded application in a tube…or are you being facetious when you say “necessary materials” and you actually mean the shredded application…*head spin*

  66. sepideh says:

    @snively
    eeeh get the intl RD’s a tube to? in the case they get accepted.
    ***the tube is soooooooooooooo kawaiiiiiiiii!!!!!!***

    kawaii means cute in japanese

  67. eddie says:

    i’ll be taking my calc exam while the decisions come out… how fitting!

  68. Molly H. says:

    i’ll be studying for my calc exam when decisions come out.

  69. Ruth '13? says:

    i’ll be wishing I had a calc exam to distract me when decisions come out.

  70. Yay tubes, i can’t wait to freak out my mom by showing her the tube.

  71. Frittos says:

    Oh and by the way I forgot to mention, she will be going today to the Russell Peter’s show and I, will be watching Jodha Akhbar uninterrupted! Finally moi will be having the remote control for the entire evening.

  72. Tree says:

    Best of Luck everyone!!!
    I know that 5,000 people applied Early so the rates will be low as usual, but I hope most of you get in! And three months later, I hope I get in too smile

  73. Snively says:

    @Matt A.
    I’m pretty sure they don’t shred your app and send it to you. Wait, let’s rephrase that, they do not shred your app and send it to you.

  74. Anonymous says:

    I was about to exclaim “Aw, no tubes!”
    …until I saw that last line smile

  75. Tree says:

    Best of Luck everyone!!!
    I know that 5,000 people applied Early so the rates will be low as usual, but I hope most of you get in! And three months later, I hope I get in too smile

  76. AllisonAWE says:

    Yay tubes! Although I seriously doubt I’ll be receiving one, being the eccentric idiot that I am….

    Ah, well. Best of luck to everyone!

  77. Anthony says:

    I’m so glad we will never have to do without our tantalizing tubes. Thank the gods.

  78. Anonymous says:

    omg… I’m so nervous even though I’m not an EA applicant haha. EA applicants, try to relax..

  79. Tommy A says:

    Best of luck to everyone! It’s quite hard to believe that the day of reckoning is almost finally upon us wink An approximate 1000 applicant increase certainly makes me nervous….

  80. Nic says:

    Best of luck to everyone. I know this weekend will undoubtedly be stressful (at least it will be for me), but try to enjoy it. Just think, after Monday night, there is nowhere to go but up. Good luck and congratulations to all those who get in.

  81. Giroux says:

    i thought the comment:

    “There are no interim screens, so you should be sure you are ready to receive your decision online before logging in to decisions.mit.edu.”

    was excellent advice.

  82. Anonymous says:

    With all the people posting up their “own” MIT countdowns, it almost seems like a rickroll is in order =P Would relieve my stress a bit, anyway.

  83. Anonymous says:

    Well now nobody is going to post one, now that you’ve mentioned it. Any youtube link from now on in this blog entry is going to be suspect. raspberry

  84. My good friend got into Caltech today

    Don’t know if she will be going that way

    But now I have become oh so disturbed

    For Monday from MIT I’m deferred

    Nightmares this week have me made so dreary

    Springing from dreams I’ve long held so dearly

    Maybe come Monday I’ll be very sad

    Hopefully I won’t be feeling that bad

    Worst come to worst, reality I’ll take

    For worries – frowns don’t a sane person make

    I hope made you smile have these poor verses

    For on lips I’ve seen excessive purses.

    Good luck to the applicants one and all

    I do dare to hope, to meet you next fall

  85. jeff ('13?) says:

    I am insanely nervous.

    AHHH!!! Good luck to everyone!

    Cylindrically? I see that M.I.T. is still keeping it quirky. I like. smile

  86. Taylor says:

    Haha nice poem! It pretty much sums up the way I’m feeling right now.

  87. Anonymous says:

    @doihavetoentermyrealname?
    shakespeare would have been proud

  88. Sarah T says:

    i only have one thing to say, and that’s
    T.U.B.E.S!

  89. Samuel M. says:

    I just hope the SAT scores didnt factor in as importantly as the rest of the application since SAT stands for nothing and measures nothing.

  90. Justin says:

    I won’t say they stand for nothing, they’re not the best measure of ones success in high school, there i will agree. but if u do good its not luck, u actually have to perform. if u don do so well, it doesn’t necessarily mean u didn’t perform, there could be a whole other list of reasons why your scores aren’t what you want. its in inaccurate measure, but not entirely bad

  91. Tiffany says:

    I think SATs are rly useful. It provides a fair comparison between the applicant who attends a really good school and one who attends a mediocre school.

  92. Kevin says:

    Its incredible how much you rationalization this whole admission thing. You start to think that you have a good chance, and then u start comparing yourself to other people which makes you feel like garbage. This whole things is just one big roller coaster of the mind.

  93. Zeke says:

    It isn’t that “rly useful” because not only can you get the practice test and read it religiously from any school, wheter good or mediocre, but also, at least the math, only goes up to algebra two and maybe some trig. There are many people who take alg 2 in 8th or 9th grade so the SAT math really doesn’t measure how good you are at math, but how bad you are: if you get a low score (below 600) it means you have a hard time with math. The english is another deal…I personally didn’t do so hot in it raspberry

  94. Paige says:

    I am such a big dork that I had to get on here and figure out what this early action thing was. Alex, let me know when you find out! Good luck everyone!
    PS- Go tubes! smile

  95. I can’t wait..I have to say, I was disappointed when I heard the decisions wouldn’t come out this saturday, but now I’m OK with it and am really excited!!!

  96. oh yeah…MY FAVORITE SONG smile

    “relax, take it easy – mika

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be6jlCuMvVQ

    -Timur”