Don’t believe everything that you read by Matt McGann '00
Someone emailed to me a funny post from one of those rumor-filled college admissions discussion sites; this one made me laugh out loud:
I found the secret on guarenteed [sic] Admissions to MIT
This comes directly from someone who has a friend that goes there and knows the admission council very well. They have a criteria of 5 things, and if you achieve 2 of the 5 you are in.
1. USAMO
2. ISEF
3. 1600
4. 4.0 (unweighted)
5. I forgot what the last one was, but it was some weird national award.So if any of you think getting the perfect score isn’t important, it is, you’re half way there. My friend acheived all 5 things, and he’s mad as hell because he didn’t need to waste 2 months on ISEF research and he could’ve already gotten in with his 1600 and USAMO qualification. They told him AFTER he was admitted.
Let me emphatically state for the record:
There is no guaranteed way to be admitted to MIT.
Certainly, it is true that students who have achieved a national or international degree of excellence in math, science and engineering will tend to fare well in MIT admissions. But do any of the above things, or anything else, guarantee admission? I think not.
We admit people, not numbers or achievements.