
MIT Admissions Office sets up forum for rejected applicants - echair
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/not_admitted_4.shtml
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bd
There is some comedy gold there:

 _"I can't believe this. this is so incredibly ridiculous!!!!!! i'm leader of
the debate team, the robotics team, the medical team, the card team, the
literary magazine team, the church team, the basketball team, the football
team, the science team, the math team, the environmental team, the foot
lover's team, the stripper team, the alcoholics anonymous team, the science
Olympiad team, the cross country team(i run a 13:30 5k and have placed first
in states for the past 3 years),

i speak 13 different languages fluently including Klingon, python, c++, d--,
oracle, I knit enough blankets for all the homeless people in quebec, in one
night last winter, my stomach can digest grass, i've played multiple concerts
in carnegie hall, i found the square of the circle, i have lots of friends(im
incredibly popular), my painting of mother teresa's exhumed body is on display
in MOMA, i communicate telepathically with my dog, my aunt the queen of
england keeps my photo-realistic paintings on her refrigerator,

i've actually attended classes at MIT for the past 5 years even though i live
in milwaukee, i tame unicorns on weekends, i worked for NASA for the past 13
summers, i've gone into outer-space, i got a 2600 on my SAT's, 5's on all the
AP tests, i have 6.0 grade point average, and i'm black, hawaiian, hispanic,
inuit, and native-american!

AND I RIDE A UNICYCLE!!!

i spent three years writing and perfecting my essays for mit: my interview
went well, my resume is perfect, i am perfect, i just don't get it!

how didn't i get since i'm obviously so wonderful????? why doesn't mit want
robots like me????"_

~~~
wallflower
Good and if you haven't read Hugh Gallagher's college admission essay:

<http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/essay.htm>

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Flemlord
My favorite, from an MIT administrator:

 _"Other imperatives might be the need for, say, a good bassoon player for
MIT's prized symphony orchestra, or people more likely to be interested in,
say, energy studies, as opposed to yet more computer science majors."_

So you founded your own startup at age 15 and sold it to Google? Impressive,
but we're more interested in your bassoon skills.

~~~
albertni
There's a difference between "yet more" and "the most impressive"....

As far as I know, MIT has always been good about admitting people who have
done things that, by definition, not a lot of people can do (such as place
highly in a competition).

But, would a bassoonist or energy-studies focused person be better for the
institution than compsci major #201? Probably.

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tokenadult
This has been done before. Yes, it's a blog post, not a whole online forum.
The blogs by the admission officers have become an integral part of MIT's
outreach to prospective students.

One of the most useful blog posts by a (now former) MIT admission officer is

[http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_...](http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_school_preparation/many_ways_to_define_the_best.shtml)

One example of important breaking news breaking on the MIT admissions blog was

[http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/messa...](http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/message_from_ben_and_matt.shtml)

which must have been a very painful entry to write.

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aneesh
I applied to MIT for undergrad, and I was thoroughly impressed by the openness
of their admissions office. They are miles ahead of most schools I know of in
terms of how reachable, responsive & transparent their admissions officers
are.

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tptacek
They should accept advertisements from CMU, UIUC, and UMich.

~~~
vaksel
better yet, they should setup an affiliate link with them. 4% of $40,000/yr
for a referral, is not that bad

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tsally
How about a direct link to After Credentials?

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chris_l
I'm surprised how soon they get a reply (for admission next fall, right)? I
applied for grad school there recently, does anyone know if the chances are
better or worse? :)

~~~
aston
Grad school admissions is basically just done by the profs in your department.
Also, these folks applied for Early Admission and get either a yes/no/deferred
to normal admissions reply before the end of the year.

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vlad
It's not a forum in a traditional sense, but a blog post.

