Class of 2017 By The Numbers by Chris Peterson SM '13
Here at MITAdmissions we try to be transparent as possible about our process. This includes publishing admissions statistics beyond those contributed by MIT Institutional Research to the Common Data Set (i.e. what powers the US News & World Report and other rankings systems).
Now, I’ve blogged before about how the dangers of reading too much into admissions data as being predictive or revealing:
What’s happening here is a fundamental confusion between our admissions process and the results of that process. When we say that the admit rate for students with a 750-800 was 15%, it does not mean that the chances of a given applicant who scores between 750-800 if 15%. It means that those students whom we chose to admit included 15% of those who scored within the 750-800 range. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one in understanding the agency of admissions.
Think of it as the difference between a living thing and its fossil. A fossil isn’t the plant or animal itself: it’s the mineral imprint of the stuff that’s left behind. Or think of it like a shadow. A shadow is not the thing which casts a shadow. It’s the contours of where the light isn’t.
That’s how our admissions data work. It shows you where the decision wasn’t. It shows you the shape of our decisions, not the basis on which they were made. Admissions data are an accretion of the the sediment which dropped to the bottom of the decisions delta, and not the moving river where the actual action happened.
and this all remains true! But with that said, our commitment to transparency still holds, and since we just updated our admissions statistics and freshman class profile, I thought I’d blog them here too.
So, without any additional throat-clearing, here are some numbers which characterize our admissions process and incoming class:
Admissions Statistics for the Class of 2017
General
| Freshman Applications | 18,989 |
| Freshman Admits | 1,548 |
| Percentage Admitted | 8.2% |
Early action
| Early action applicants | 6,539 |
| Admitted early action | 650 |
| Deferred to regular action | 4,477 |
| Deferred applicants admitted during regular action |
190 |
Regular action
| Regular action applicants | 12,450 |
| Total considered during regular action (including deferred students) | 16,927 |
| Admitted regular action (including deferred students) |
898 |
| Offered a place on the wait list | 708 |
Wait list
| Applicants accepting a place on the wait list | 658 |
| Number admitted from the wait list | 0 |
US citizens/permanent residents
| Applied | 14,626 |
| Admitted | 1,433 |
International students
| Applied | 4,363 |
| Admitted | 115 |
Middle 50% score range of admitted students (25th and 75th percentiles):
| SAT Reasoning Test – Math | [750, 800] |
| SAT Reasoning Test – Critical Reading | [690, 790] |
| SAT Reasoning Test – Writing | [700, 790] |
| ACT Math | [34, 36] |
| ACT English | [33, 35] |
| ACT Composite | [33, 35] |
| SAT Subject Test – Math | [760, 800] |
| SAT Subject Test – Science | [740, 800] |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Math)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 8,215 | 1,051 | 13% |
| 700-740 | 3,011 | 231 | 8% |
| 650-690 | 1,749 | 60 | 3% |
| 600-640 | 821 | 2 | 0% |
| < 600 | 661 | 1 | 0% |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Critical Reading)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 4,005 | 611 | 15% |
| 700-740 | 3,431 | 376 | 11% |
| 650-690 | 2,722 | 205 | 8% |
| 600-640 | 1,995 | 116 | 6% |
| < 600 | 2,304 | 36 | 2% |
Distribution of SAT Reasoning Test Scores (Writing)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 750-800 | 4,320 | 706 | 16% |
| 700-740 | 2,924 | 311 | 11% |
| 650-690 | 2,912 | 208 | 7% |
| 600-640 | 1,930 | 85 | 4% |
| <600 | 2,362 | 34 | 1% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Composite)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 2,914 | 384 | 13% |
| 31-33 | 2,347 | 178 | 8% |
| 28-30 | 1,037 | 47 | 5% |
| 25-27 | 456 | 2 | 0% |
| < 25 | 305 | 0 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Math)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 4,163 | 507 | 12% |
| 31-33 | 1,357 | 87 | 6% |
| 28-30 | 900 | 16 | 2% |
| 25-27 | 462 | 1 | 0% |
| < 25 | 177 | 0 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (English)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 34-36 | 3,153 | 390 | 12% |
| 31-33 | 1,821 | 137 | 8% |
| 28-30 | 989 | 57 | 6% |
| 25-27 | 571 | 26 | 5% |
| < 25 | 177 | 1 | 0% |
Distribution of ACT Scores (Writing)
| Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | |
| 10-12 | 1,690 | 199 | 12% |
| 8-9 | 4,023 | 342 | 9% |
| 6-7 | 1,079 | 57 | 5% |
| < 6 | 49 | 0 | 0% |
Class of 2017 Freshman Class Profile
Some facts and figures about the 1,116 members of the Class of 2017:
Gender
| Male | 55% |
| Female | 45% |
Citizenship & Ethnicity
| US Citizens & Permanent Residents Number of US states represented: 48 |
92% |
| African-American | 7% |
| Asian-American | 29% |
| Caucasian | 39% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 15% |
| Native-American | 1% |
| Other/No Response | 1% |
| International Citizens Number of countries represented: 52 |
8% |
Geography
| New England | 11% |
| Mid-Atlantic | 21% |
| South & Puerto Rico | 18% |
| Midwest & Plains States | 10% |
| Southwest & Mountain | 10% |
| West Coast, Alaska, & Hawaii | 20% |
| Abroad | 10% |
Schooling
| Public School | 67% |
| Independent School | 15% |
| Religious School | 8% |
| Foreign School | 9% |
| Home School | 1% |
| Number of different high schools represented: 848 |
Just For Fun
| Most Popular Boy’s Name | David (17) |
| Most Popular Girl’s Name | Emily (10) |
| Greatest Distance Traveled | Melbourne, AUS |
| Least Distance Traveled | Cambridge MA |
| Most Represented US State | California |