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Waitlist Update by Decisions

The Waitlist Committee has finalized decisions and has emailed all waitlisted applicants.

We are writing with a quick followup to Matt’s recent entry. The Waitlist Committee has finalized decisions and is currently emailing all waitlisted applicants.

A brief overview:

  • Of the 629 students currently on the waitlist, the committee has chosen to admit 35, to keep 64 on the waitlist, and to not admit the remaining 530.
  • Unfortunately, the committee was not able to admit any international students from the waitlist. Because the yield for international students admitted in Regular Action was quite high, the international student quota was met prior to any waitlist activity.

Please check your email account for your individual waitlist decision (it should be there soon!). Thank you for your patience throughout this process.

Best wishes,
MIT Admissions Waitlist Committee

86 responses to “Waitlist Update”

  1. Udbhav says:

    International. You get the gist. Anyways, Congrats to everyone who got selected!

  2. Eric says:

    *waits for e-mail to arrive*

  3. Anonymous says:

    Still waitlisted. Darn…

  4. Anonymous says:

    ugh. i’m one of the lucky 64 :(

  5. Anonymous says:

    rejected! but i got caltech…so it just sucks for mit. Caltech = good weather and more emphasis on physics. so good 4 me.

  6. Anonymous says:

    sour? im not sure he/she’s being sour (at anonymous). maybe he or she just wanted to see mit for more options? who knows. anyway. university is n00b. community colleges ftw!

  7. HADLEY'12 says:

    I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I almost deleted the email because I thought it was spam…

    Congrats to everyone and I’m so sorry for everyone else but if you were waitlisted you should know you’re AMAZING and you’re going to do amazing things no matter what and I hope to meet you one day and we can hang out or something. You’re amazing!!

    THANK YOU MIT!!!!!!

  8. Mujtaba says:

    deffered ,waitlisted and finally rejected after a span of 6 months. Too diapointing…

  9. Dima '12 says:

    Congrats to the 35 who made it, the class of 2012 is officially complete, the facebook group awaits you all! And to those who didn’t make it, best of luck wherever you choose to enroll grin

  10. Ben P. says:

    Does anyone know when us 64 still on the list will find out?

  11. 2010 says:

    Wow…new college ranking shows MIT as number 17.

    http://www.forbes.com/opinions/forbes/2008/0519/030_2.html

    All Ivies are ranked above us and Cal Tech is ranked 7.

  12. Anonymous says:

    i’m one of the 64 as well. i called admissions today but they said that they had no clue. they did tell me that the 35 admitted had until may 30 to make their replies and that the number admitted in a potential second round would be dependent on the number of people who took their spaces from the waitlist.

    good luck to those who are still waitlisted :]

  13. Pinxisimitu says:

    Well, I said it from the beginning, I will be the last kid to get into MIT. First deferred, then waitlisted, and now waitlisted again.

  14. Paul says:

    I’m in the same boat. Sure it prolongs the agony, but there is always the chance of getting in.
    Congrats to the 35.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Forbes used Ratemyprofessors.com and Who’s Who in America to rank colleges. I don’t think their ranking can be very accurate if they measure a school by how students rate their professors and how many students end up belonging to Who’s Who in America.

  16. Piper says:

    Congratulations to all those who got in!

    For those still waitlisted, they have to go through another round of who’ll-accept-the-place-off-the-waitlist before they can update you. I don’t know what dates are involved and such, Matt can probably answer that =). Hang in there!

    As for those of you who didn’t get in, the fact that you were waitlisted meant that you are an exceptional student and will kick butt wherever you go. Good luck with everything, you’ll be great!

  17. Danny '12 says:

    @Hadley

    Congratulations!!! I can’t wait to meet you in the fall!

  18. Hi.

    I don’t want to sound like I want MIT prospects to leave, but I need to be realistic (though I loathe being realistic… ah MIT Committee, you’ll probably be able to deduce who I am. Thanks for another chance, though.) about my chances. I’m one of the 64 still on the waitlist, but I’m wondering if MIT has already taken into account Harvard, Princeton, and Yale’s expansive use of their waitlists. Will those affect the decision to admit one of the 64?

    Thanks.

  19. Tanmay '12 says:

    Congratulations to all you people who got in! :D

  20. Anonymous says:

    anyone know if it’s still possible to visit MIT and be hosted by a student overnight?

  21. carmen'12 says:

    congrats to the 35 of you out there, can’t wait to see you guys next year..=)

  22. Illai says:

    I wish all of you who got accepted best of luck and may you be great innovators, scientist and engineers graduating from MIT.

    I am wondering what could go wrong with my application. Although I am relatively old to be a freshman in a US university, I decided to apply to MIT because it was my dream and I was inspired by the great things MIT does with its minds and technology to change and improve our world. Last year I was rejected, and this year I was waitlisted and rejected again. A person who applies twice, is working as an engineer for almost two years in one of the leading bio-med companies in Israel with no engineering degree, is a co-inventor of 10 patent applications, was an officer in the military for 4 years and received several awards and commendations, speaks 5 languages, was captain of his basketball team and so on…

    I wander what could be the considerations in rejecting me, so I could understand a bit more and analyze this application issue and rejection. MIT is my number one choice yet I guess I will try to pursue my graduate degree there, or even transfer from Israel next year.

    I would like to thank all the undergrades, graduate, Phd. candidates and friends from MIT who supported me and helped me throughout this application process. I thank you and appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.

    I promise to continue inventing, creating and doing in the future hopefully in MIT one day.

    Illai.

  23. sid'12 says:

    @Illai
    WOW! I am very very sorry to hear about your result. I obviously cannot tell you what MIT didn’t see in you, but you do make me wonder why I got admitted. (panic attack)
    Good luck !

  24. LET ME IN!!! says:

    Cornell ’12 I feel you. I applied early, got deferred, then waitlisted, and now once again…waitlisted. And lets hope you’re right.
    P.S. MIT!!! LISTEN TO MIT parent ’11. He/She is wise beyond his/her years.

  25. :( says:

    It’s an incredible disappointment to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait… for 7 months… and then they say “you can’t come”

  26. :( says:

    congrats to those who got in tho, you deserved it, i just wish all of us who deserved it could get in

  27. Anonymous says:

    @2010, college rankings are USELESS. :D

  28. Helen '15 says:

    Well done to everyone who got in! To everyone who didn’t, well done for at least trying.

    How many international students were admitted for ’12?

  29. Karen '12 says:

    @2010: One of the major components of the Forbes listing seems to be ratemyprofessors.com. As MIT has its own internal rating system (to the best of my knowledge), students wouldn’t really use ratemyprofessors.com, and this would probably heavily contribute to the low ranking.

  30. hopeful says:

    one of the 64 :/ . hey, you guys who got in, some of those ivys are looking pretty good! do you reeeeally wanna go to MIT?? *wink wink*
    haha i know my chances are slim but you gotta dream! im hoping for a low yeild from the waitlists!

  31. Anonymous says:

    wow. it seems like a lot of the remaining 64 are active on these blogs. (i too remain on the waitlist. eek! good luck to everyone!)

  32. Paul says:

    I agree with Karen. Any ranking system, whatever magazine it is published in, is going to have some flaws and some bias. Moreover, I’d like to point out that the Forbes seems to use even fewer objective facts about a school than the U.S. News rankings do. (ratemyprofessors.com? Who’s Who in America? Interesting, but fundamentally incomplete.)

  33. Anon says:

    I totally but respectfully disagree that EA waitlistees deserve priority treatment. Just because a student didn’t apply EA doesn’t mean it hasn’t become their first choice in the past several months. MIT is a meritocracy, and those admitted off the wait list should be the ones who best exemplify what it is to be an MIT student, and who best fill out the current class of 2012.

  34. Chris '12 says:

    Rankings for “Best” colleges are dumb. All of them. The “Best” college is completely subjective for the people who apply. The “Best” is the one that fits you, how are you going to quantify the varying interests of all prospective college students in your list? you aren’t and therefore will come up short.

  35. Disha says:

    Congrats to all those who made it from the waitlist!!
    Even though I couldn’t get in, I would cherish applying to MIT my whole life. I want to thank the admission staff and all the bloggers from the bottom of my heart for adding that personal touch to the entire admission process, which is indelible. Staying in a small city and with no one to guide me, one year ago, I had not an iota of knowledge of applying to US colleges. I am happy I followed my dreams and now I come out of the process enlightened and more confident. Seeing the enthusiasm of all the talented MIT aspirants, I have been inspired greatly to never to cease striving for excellence. Thank You all!:)

  36. Judy '12 says:

    I think that college ranking page shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Like Chris said, much of the ranking is very subjective. Also, people would grade the school over a span of things, and science MIT is a tech school, you have to admit that our humanities may not be as strong as that of competing schools (no offense to Humanities ppl, though, MIT Humanities is still really really great). And of course, there’s so many other factors that I won’t bother getting into. So even though we may have a overall lower ranking, our academic ranking is world acclaimed.
    As long as you are happy with it, that’s all it matters, right?

  37. Anonymous says:

    @ Illia,

    Where are you going in Israel? I applied to Technion, and I know some people there who love it. Good luck!

  38. Aditi says:

    Congratulaions to all of you who made it. Welcome to the class of 2012 smile (join the facebook group already)

    I feel for those who didn’t but its pretty obvious that you guys are beyond brilliant (MIT was reluctant to let you go after all) and will kick ass wherever you go. All the best for everything.

  39. Abduhu says:

    @ Disha:

    I’m in the same boat as you. Small town, small school, hardly anyone had applied to big-name universities.

    But yes, I’m an international so the fact that they hit the quota and had to automatically reject me was (a bit of) a consolation.

    To all the others who made it this far, you’re really great students.

    Keep in mind that MIT wanted us badly but just didn’t have enough space for all of us. Whereever you go, be successful and remember that Grad School Research is what makes MIT great!

    So long, then. I’ll really miss these blogs!

  40. Congratulations for those who will be here (and the 64 who may yet be here) this fall.

    @Illai,

    I’m sorry, and I honestly don’t know the particulars, but I do want to congratulate you on sticking with it so far. I hope you have the chance to walk these halls as a grad student or undergrad some day. Good luck in college, wherever you go.

    You’re probably aware of this, but at some level the waitlistees are the people who MIT badly wants. The limited space means they have to make tough choices.

    Again, best wishes in life.

  41. Snively says:

    @MIT Parent ’11
    People who applied to MIT early don’t necessarily feel like its their first choice. Many apply early because they don’t want to fill out 15 college applications all at the same time. They apply early to as many colleges as will let them.

    I think MIT’s process of re-evaluating waitlist positions is probably slightly preferred to just picking the EA applicants.

  42. Anonymous says:

    This seems like cruel and unusual punishment. The crime? Working hard in high school and then applying to MIT.

  43. Isshak says:

    Well, goodbye MIT. I will not forget about the journey, it was wonderful. Now it’s over and it’s time to look forward to the future. Adios ! You are still my dream.

    Isshak

    P.S.: I may still stalk you, but as an anonymous…

  44. Jim says:

    Well, we gave it a good run.

    Who’s going to Cornell with me next year?

  45. kraloyun says:

    Good news

    Thank you for the informations.

  46. Evan says:

    Since I was 13 it’s been my dream to go to MIT. I guess that’s over now. I’ll still apply for my graduate work there, as Princeton doesn’t really have graduate schools. I shouldn’t be so disappointed with Princeton, but when one has built up MIT in his mind for 5 years, being rejected after applying EA, being deferred, then being waitlisted is just an overall bad feeling. Oh well. Thanks for the journey. I do hope to one day walk your halls.

  47. Cornell '12 says:

    I was deferred from EA, waitlisted, and waitlisted again. As it stands now, I am enrolled at one of the Ivies, and still am hoping for MIT.

    The other top-tier universities are taking A TON of students off their waitlists. I’m thinking that means that us remaining 64 are going to have the best odds of admission thus far in the admission process. An admission of 10 after this is a 15.6% admission rate, with each additional student adding another 1.56% to that percentage. I think that with the other schools taking very large numbers from their lists (do I remember correctly that Harvard is in the upper 100-and some range?), MIT is going to lose some of their enrolled students, and possibly some waitlist offers too. It would not surprise me if they took 20 or more after all is said and done. I’m hoping they take 64, as it never hurts to dream.

    This has been a rough time for everyone who has had to wait this long. I would bet most of those still waitlisted will have graduated before being accepted/denied at MIT. I have waited over 6 months to hear back, and know I am not alone.

    To those still who were removed from the waitlist: do not despair. You would not have made it this far had you not been a first-class student in the first place. MIT is always an option for graduate school, should you choose to go, and most of you probably have other excellent universities to go to, outstanding scholarships at lesser-known colleges, or both, and you will do great wherever you wind up.

    To those who were admitted: Congratulations! You have fulfilled the dreams of many and gained acceptance into what is arguably the best engineering school in existence.

    Finally to the 63 others with a place on MIT Waitlist 2.08: Best of luck to you. Keep your grades up, keep being amazing, and don’t give up. We are all so close to entering MIT as class of 2012. I hope to see each and every one of you at orientation in the next couple months. No matter what happens, higher education is more what you make of it and less where you go.

    My final piece of advice before ending my post is to make your last summer before college one that you will never forget, MIT or not.

  48. To the admissions committee:
    I see that there are some students on the final waitlist who applied EA. These are the ones who have always had MIT as their first choice. This should count for something. They have waited longer than others, and I hope that MIT admits these students first.
    Just my two cents.

  49. Ram says:

    Congratulations to those of you who were admitted! Please come to MIT. It will be nice to know you.

    MIT’12

  50. Anonymous says:

    God knows whats the secret to admission..

  51. CONGRATULATIONS HADLEY + 34 Others!!!
    I know I found out on the last day of AP exams…did it end up that way this year too?

    MIT is so fantastic you have no idea.

  52. Harvard '12 says:

    Well those who got into MIT….Congrats…..
    But those who got rejected, you are lucky that you will not become nerd and boring…….

    I have already rejected MIT…………….

    Here I come HARVARD!!!

  53. Anonymous says:

    harvard ’12 is sorta creepy

  54. Anonymous says:

    does anyone know how many spots theyre looking to fill?
    like what are the realities here for us 64?

  55. Gabi '12 says:

    Won’t become “nerd” and boring?

    Maybe Harvard can teach you the difference between a noun and an adjective, Harvard ’12.

    Anyway, to all those accepted, congratulations! I was admitted RA, and I cried like the silly girl that I am. And to those of you still waiting, I can’t imagine the emotions you’re feeling, but I truly admire you. Going through that must build quite a bit of a character, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck. You all sound like incredible candidates.

  56. you guys make me wonder why i was admitted…
    all of you sound so amazing to me! i’m sure one day you’ll soar with flying colors: P

    (btw, lower case looks so nice – also one of the many reasons i picked mit XD)

    all the best!

  57. Good luck to the 64 still on the waitlist as at least one spot is opening up. I was accepted off the waitlist and decided to decline the offer. I found a better overall fit at Olin College than MIT.

  58. Nawaz says:

    Hey! Congrats everybody who are selected and wish you all goodluck who are waitlisted,,,,,well i dont know how i am going to react after 5 months because i will apply for the class of 2013 which i have been waiting since 5 years and as a matter of fact i dont even know weather i am elligible or not to apply at mit,,,but still i have 5 months so why to worry lemme enjoy 5 months that i have….And folk you all who got rejected dont worry life is fun, enjoy you might achieve something better or good….Once again all the best to all of you… Love ya…

  59. Nawaz says:

    Hey guys forgot to mention my english is not so good and i am sorry for that…and i am trying to improve still i got 5 months so plz dont be suprised or be shocked about my fascination towards MIT….

  60. Anonymous says:

    Thank you so much Xavier. 1 in 64 is better than 0 in 64. Good luck at Olin!

  61. milena '11 says:

    At Illai…

    I’m so sorry you didn’t get in. Seems like you’ve worked hard for it, and I feel bad because it looks like you have the drive needed to succeed at a place like this. There is not a day when I think about all the people I know that go here and just waste their time and don’t do their work and fail classes and just overall complain all the time. It makes me angry to have classmates like that, when there’s people like you (and many others) out there that would kill to be here. I guess some people here take for granted the fact that being here is not a right, or even a privilege; it is an HONOR. I feel truly honored to have the opportunity to go to a school like this, as cheesy and uppity as it might sound. I hope all of you who truly deserve to be here make it one day grin

  62. milena '11 says:

    **I meant to say “there is not a day when I don’t think about all the people that go there blah blah blah.” I’m not very articulate today lol

  63. Eric says:

    That actually is kind of uplifting.

  64. Anonymous says:

    Xavier Ziemba…I love you.

  65. Everson says:

    OMG it is still amazing to me that I got acepted to MIT; I was not expecting it so much that when it came I hardly realized what it meant I had to do to go…
    That Forbes thing really sucks.. 17 is pretty low, not that that’s why i chose to go to MIT but I know if we had suddenly moved up to say number 1 I’d be extremely happy and wouldn’t dare criticize the way Forbes got their rankings. But it does seem very wrong especially with the yield of International students.
    You think their saying not enough MIT students are changing the World? Well if that’s the case the class of 2012 is going to have to change that.. I know there are a bunch of geniuses in this class I met many of you at CPW let’s give the MIT the rank it truly deserves!

  66. Anonymous says:

    haha, i love you too, xavier raspberry

  67. Harvard '12 says:

    Haha………

    Harvard is Number 1

    Go CRIMSON!

  68. Illai says:

    Dear Milena,

    Thank you for your kind words.

    Well… I can say that I was so eager and passionate about attending MIT and still am, yet I guess that the admissions office had a reason not to accept me, which I am trying to understand and analyze.

    Unfortunately, I received the same answer to the question “why?” – no specific reason. However as someone who wishes to be an engineer and scientist I know that every event and phenomenon has a rational explanation and I hope that the admissions office will provide me with this information so I could learn from it, maybe to be able to apply as a transfer student one day.

    I am a hard worker and if you knew how much effort, time, thought and hard work I put in order to apply to MIT you wouldn’t believe. And as I used to do in my entire lifetime (25 years heheh I am old ha? grin ) you wouldn’t believe.

    I can assure you that I would work even harder at MIT.

    I hope that the people who got in to class 2012 will work hard and bring results to their institution. I know I will do that wherever I go.

    With appreciation,

    Illai

  69. Anonymous says:

    @Illai
    I doubt there is any specific reason why you were not accepted besides the fact that MIT can’t take everyone they want to. If you made it to the wait list, then that is a clear sign that MIT wants you, but just can’t take you. Just take the drive and motivation that you would have used at MIT and put it to work wherever else you are headed. You’ll do great I’m sure.

  70. Anonymous says:

    Wow! I just got my green card and send it in – switched out of international student class – before the decisions were made! Waitlisted again… But I like this better than what it would have been had I not received my green card! =)

  71. Anonymous says:

    anyone know if any more spots were made available?

  72. Owen says:

    Dear all admitted students,

    I bet you are thinking to yourself right now:

    “Heh, I’m the man. I made it into one of the most selective institutions in America. Look at me! Only about 1000 other people around the world were given the chance that I have right now. I’m awesome.”

    Well I have something to tell you.

    You think you’re special being 1 of 1000?

    Imagine how it feels being 1 of 64.

    Best of wishes,

    From someone 15.625 times better than you.

  73. Anonymous says:

    hahahah yesssssss

  74. Anonymous says:

    …does that mean that owen got in?

  75. Anonymous says:

    doubt it. anyone know when we’ll find out?

  76. Anonymous says:

    nope, i’m calling admissions tomorrow

  77. Pinxisimitu says:

    So…does anyone know what’s up with the 64? Are they using the waitlist again?

  78. aine says:

    I called admissions like 4 days ago and they said that they are working really hard on letting remaining waitlisted people know so my guess is that they are going to admit someone. Also ivys have huge waitlists this year so hopefully if anyone gets accepted from those they will leave (not that I ever would)…

  79. I was very curious why there was such a huge list of people waitlisted (500+) when only a small number (20 last year) would be accepted. Could it be that MIT is sampling their yield, i.e. of the candidates they would consider acepting, how many would choose to remain on the waitlist? Anyone’s thoughts on this? Seems somewhat cruel to prolong the process for so many, and they should be allowed to move on for their own sakes.

  80. Anonymous says:

    Yes,it seems so & it is not pleasant being wait listed $ then again being on the extended list

  81. ugh!! says:

    i am soooo sick of waiting. watch them not take anyone now…

  82. Anonymous says:

    i know…had admissions said anything?

  83. Anonymous says:

    Cheer up everybody. The way I see it is that they have to take at least one person. Why would they be taking so long if they weren’t going to let anyone else in? They’re probably just trying to make sure that the people they let in now will def. decide to go. I mean, we have to find out soon right?
    Good luck to everybody and hey look on the bright side…WE’RE GRADUATING SOON!!!! WOOO CLASS OF 2008!