Goodbye, Hope to See You Again by Matt McGann '00

This post is for those who are moving on from this blog today, May 1st…

First: thank you. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know you. We’ve spent the last year thinking about you, getting to know you, talking to you, your parents, and more. After a ridiculously competitive admissions process, we chose you from the thousands upon thousands of super-qualified applicants, because we truly believe in you. And, in the process, we grew very attached to you, and not just for what you’d bring to the MIT community, but also for the amazing persons you are. Like a wise man once said, for us, it’s more than a job. It’s hard not to get attached.

This college process, is, of course, a two-way street. You get to choose where to apply, then we (the admissions officers) choose whom to admit, but the final choice is yours — which school is the best fit for you? We knew coming in that approximately one-third of all of the students we admitted would choose to enroll somewhere else. That’s a statistic. But zooming in, there are 500 individuals who find a better match, and letting go of other options can be hard on both sides. That can be emotional.

To those of you who have written in with personal letters — some bordering on apologies (there’s nothing to apologize for!) — letting us know that you’re choosing another school that’s a better fit for you: thank you for your letters, thank you for your friendship, and congratulations on making a great choice for yourself. This isn’t the end of the road, and I hope you’ll feel free to keep in touch and talk about all the amazing things that happen in your life. In the end, wherever you ended up for college, you were going to be an awesome person. I truly and honestly wish you all the best for your next four years and beyond. You’ve got an amazingly bright future ahead.