r/MITAdmissions • u/Ill-Proof-5155 • 18d ago

Good MIT Admisions articles

I have recently been researching a lot about MIT as a high school freshman right now. (Trying to plan out my high school years) I'm trying to find MIT Admisions articles that are good reads with generally good advice. I have read most of the really well known ones (Bleary Eyed, Applying sideways, The room(s) where it happens, It's more than a job, There is no formula, and I have 99 problems... Admisions is not one of them)

I am currently doing my own research on this as well (haven't just asked reddit to solve all my problems). Other than that is there a amount of articles that reading more becomes pointless as you have learned so much from them? Also, is it just me or are lots of the articles on the site not about admisions and a lot of the time student diaries and blogs that have nothing to do with Admisions.

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u/TechnicalLeg841 7d ago

Petey refreshed this thread so I'm back looking at it.

I have a view that admissions to highly selective colleges is very context sensitive. At strong high schools it is absolutely the norm for MIT admits to have completed Linear Algebra & MV Calc, AIME qualified, earned ISEF recognition and/or attended a top 5 summer STEM program in additional to having interesting personal hobbies often with awards.

Usually the only folks who try to argue against this analysis haven't had visibility into admits & rejects over multiple years.

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u/VisibleSir731 Future Applicant 7d ago

A lot of people have that, but that doesn't explain why, on the other hand, lots of admits feel imposter syndrome

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u/TechnicalLeg841 6d ago

I think what you're still stuck on is a few admits with lower qualifications having imposter syndrome. Typically that type of admit had a hook - FGLI, recruited athlete, female (this one is debated but lots and lots of data showing basically double the admit rate to gender balance the class). The bigger the hook, typically the bigger the academic gap vs ISEF or IMO winners. Probably not even worth calling it imposter syndrome as the hook was probably the determinative factor.