How can I request a copy of my MIT application from the admissions office?

Answered

If you got deferred from MIT, I do not recommend contacting their admissions officer for a copy of your application.

First of all, they are not going to give you a copy, and second of all, they are not going to share with you their comments, notes, concerns, and recommendations for you. And third, if you make such a bold move to request something like this, you will hurt your chances of being considered for Regular Decision.

This is not HS school where you get an 87 on AP Calc BC and argue that you shouldn't be docked 3 points for question 11. since your work shows you understood the concept but made a simple error on the calculation. Those kinds of attempts to tweak your grade are not met with disdain and judgment. But if you decided to pull something like this now, you will lose points or lose your spot. Do you actually want to risk the admissions office to write something else on your file like "contacted AO office for application advice/notes!!"

In a typical year, MIT accepted about 8% of REA applicants because they don't really care if you apply early or not since there is no bump for being a legacy, development, or recruited athlete. So applying early is really only to give their best admits the flexibility of choosing to apply to other schools.

This year is completely different.

1.) Applications to REA went up 62% over last year from 9291 to 15036. YIKES. That more than the 57% bump at Harvard and more than the 49% bump at Columbia.

2.) The admit rate went down to 4.78% for REA which is the lowest in history for any American college. Harvard only accepted 7.4% vs 13.9 last year.

MIT only accepted 719 students. It was equally disastrous for Questbridge applicants as well. They only took 10, while even Caltech a school that is 6 times smaller took 25.

So what's driving this?

a.) More kids applying to top schools without test scores.

b.) fewer spots because up to 20% of a top school class of 2024 admits took a gap year and now they want to matriculate.

c.) the kids with the very best ECs, essays, and evidence of intellectual vitality had a clear advantage of this cycle.

Therefore, you need to ask yourself, what do you think RD is going to look like?

So last year they got 10782 RD applicants so this year they are headed for something like 16,173 (+50%) - 17467 (+62%)

So last year 8% of the class deferred so 117/1457 deferred which means that this year there are only 1340-1350 spots available.

That means that if they already accepted 719, there are only 621-631 spots left for regular decision.

So the acceptance range for RD is going to be brutal like 621/17467-631/16273 or 3.55%-3.88%.

Therefore you have to re-focus and re-evaluate. What you thought MIT was going to be like this admissions cycle is no longer reality. It is now nearly twice as hard versus last year to get in.

Between now and 3.14.2021 Pie Day (minus say their final round of decisions so let's say 2/28/2021 you only have about 2 months to change something on your application.

1.) You can't change your essays, but you can change your grades unless they are already perfect.

2.) You can't change your leadership, your personality, your character, or your ECs.

3.) But maybe you can get someone like a STEM teacher to advocate for your intellectual curiosity with a letter of support, and who knows if they would accept it or not?

4.) Maybe there is something you can do in the next 2 months which is a new act of service that will get you some points?

It's time also to go over your list of Reach, Targets, and Safeties and to think strategically. Every high profile, high-value school is going to be much harder to get into so you either have to add more schools or adjust your expectations.

BTW MIT was originally my number 1. But I got into Columbia ED and I'm extremely grateful for that. In the end, I'm going to a school that wants me and I am a better fit for, especially since I'm not a STEM person even though on paper I could be.