Can you tell us why MIT is so appealing to you? We might be able to help you select other schools to apply to. If shear prestige is a big factor to you, then why don’t you look at the Ivy League, Stanford etc. They would all have great biology departments. I went to Dartmouth for graduate school. I absolutely loved it. Talk about gorgeous. The campus seems like one big country club. It is the smallest of the Ivy’s and students get very individual attention and programs for undergraduate research fellowships are common. If you want to go to MIT because of the Boston thing and the prestige, then you might as well apply to Harvard too. In case you don’t know already, their campuses are right next to each other and Harvard is MUCH prettier although the two schools tend to appeal to very different types of students.
Some people have a strange notion of “right next to”. The main campus of MIT and the main canmpus of Harvard are about 2 miles apart, separated by the densely-packed neighborhoods of Cambridge along “MassAve” (Massachusetts Avenue). It’s not all that far, but you wouldn’t want to walk it several times a day. Not through Masssachusetts drivers.
I used to a couple of times a day when I worked in Cambridge. Are you sure it is 2 miles edge to edge? It never seemed that far to me.
Unathletic and elitist. You’ll fit right in.
To quelquechose. . .
To an extent, a lot of undergraduate educations are the same(*) (Vector Calculus is still Vector Calculus wherever you go). Major differences show up when you get to the graduate level.
I entered applied mathematics graduate school with two guys from MIT and they were no further ahead than the rest of us who went to liberal arts schools, and they were a lot further behind socially. FWIW, I got through my quals and coursework before either of them.
Fuck M.I.T. Go to a school where you have a snowball’s chance of getting laid. I remember that stuff a lot more than any of my math courses.
(*) In full disclosure. . .I think it’s true that an undergraduate education at a “good” university is pretty similar to an undergrad education at a “poor” university. HOWEVER, M.I.T. is one place where I think they do get a more interesting technical education than anywhere else. But, I also think that the education it offers with the drawbacks that it offers make it a poor choice for anyone who isn’t 100% sure that they’re dedicating their life to engineering at the age of 18. And the fact that it attracts these people is what makes it a poor choice for every one else.
I think you meant to say that an education at an elite university is pretty similar to a good one. If you didn’t mean to say that then you are not familiar with how far down the ladder some “poor” colleges can go.
Hey fuck MIT. I work for a management consulting firm that hires half of it’s consultants from there. I usually ask them “why the fuck are you working here counting replacement parts for pumps and valves instead of designing robots and shit?”
If your objective in college is to hang out with dorks and never get laid, and you think the writing computer programs is the apex of intellectual achievement, go for it.
Class of '73 here, and all the above is bull.
First of all, MIT these days is more than just course. People have the chance to work on real projects with real professors - not just the chance, it is pretty much mandatory. This was just beginning when I was there, and is standard now. In large state schools only the rare undergrad even sees a real prof up close. Having a Nobel Laureate teach a small quiz section is not something you’re likely to find there - it happened to me.
Second, don’t let anyone fool you about what being from MIT does for you. Businesses recruit from places like MIT first. You will never, never, have to tell anyone where your school is. And MITers sometimes stick together. When I went to grad school I got a good RAship partially because there was no doubt about my qualifications. MIT alumni clubs have a lot of top people in them. It can help.
Third, I can personally testify that there is sex at MIT - probably more now than when I was there, with the 50-50 ratio, rather than 9 to 1. Sterotypes are bad.
Fourth, believe it or not there are other majors besides the traditional one. Most of my friends changed at least once. One went into economics, one went into political science (he was a McGovern delegate in 1972 and got credit for it) and one became a folklorist. The biggest advantage of small private schools over big state schools is that you can switch majors easily.
Now for the OP: I’d say apply. What they are looking for changes from year to year. They were looking for more than just the plain old tool my year and a few years after, and they got more than they bargained for! I got the impression during my interview that my being in the debate team meant more than my 800 on the Math SAT. There have been some articles in Technology Review how the professors find the current crop smarter but less interesting than my class. I don’t know if this will help you or not, but it doesn’t hurt to apply. Don’t worry about your grades - I was nowhere near valedictorian (80 / 1500) and the people who were didn’t do all that well - it was a shock not to be the smartest.
I had fun and never regretted going for a minute. Give it a shot.
Seemed that way to me. Seems like 10 miles in January. 
When I went, you could still hitch without taking your life in your hands.
There was not a lot of interaction when I went. I did go to one party there, and a kid from Harvard (who really belonged at MIT) was involved in MITSFS. If I knew what I know now, I would have instructed him to do something terrible to one of his classmates, a certain Mr. Gates.
My dad’s an MIT grad. His big complaint was profs who were there for the research facilities and considered undergrad students to be way down in their priorities. This is obviously a good while ago. Can you ask current students their opinions on it?
I don’t even know how to defne “edge” for either school – they both tail off into Cambridge. With a flexible enough definition you might even get them to touch.
But Harvard Yard to 77 Mass Ave is a two mile slog. I’ve done it often enough. Not bad in summer, with a bike. But a real bitch in winter slush.
My nephew starts at MIT this fall. Yes, he was a good student, with great SAT’s and a high GPA. Yes, he got to claim minority status (but I don’t think being an Asian-American helps much in getting into MIT.)
But I think what actually got him in in was his drive. It wasn’t just that he was well-rounded, he excelled in the things he did. He was an Eagle Scout, he starred on a select soccer team and is a damn good violinist. Plus he doesn’t just like math, he’s passionate about it. I think his drive is what got him accepted over other applicants.
Apply. Just make sure they know how much you want it.
However, that’s only half the battle. MIT offered my nephew damn little in the way of financial aid, so now he’s joining ROTC to get his tuition paid.
I’ll be sure to tell my two 28 year old virgin friends, who didn’t get laid once during 4 years at COLLEGE, that it’s just a stereotype.
I won’t deny that M.I.T. opens a lot of doors for people. I also don’t think that’s necessarily something a kid going into college should give a crap about. Of all the people I know who went there, most are professors, one is unemployed living at home with his parents as a 30 year old and one is making big bucks at an investment firm after studying math. I think there are companies where you won’t get through the door without having something like “M.I.T.” on your resume.
That is closer to what I meant. I DON’T know how far down the ladder “poor” can go. I went to a mediocre liberal arts school for undergrad. I got just as good a math education as guys who went to more elite schools. I didn’t have all the options they had math-wise, but had a lot of options other-wise.
Back to the OP: don’t let some blowhard on a message (like me) influence your decision. It is a great school and you can never hurt yourself by having more options. Make sure it’s for you, though. It’s not for everyone.
Excellent scores. I got 800s on all my achievement tests (the old name for SAT IIs,) and I think that helped me a lot. I think you’ve got a real good shot.
I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It might make a difference in a borderline case. Interviews are done by alums, and I’m sure the admissions office knows that not all interviewers are equal.
I did mine in the Harvard Club in NY. My daughter did hers for the schools she applied to in people’s houses, and I’m pretty sure the MIT alums I knew in Princeton (town) did it in their homes. I suspect the questions are different. My interviewer was very interested in my debating experience. I don’t think they’ll ask about your SAT scores - that up to the admissions office, so I would schedule it without regard to your testing schedule.
You get more than one, right? Assuming it will be a good recommendation, one from a college teacher will stand out. Good luck!
Or the four years after, I see. 
The basic stuff is the same everywhere. I despised calculus. (still do) so I got nothing more out of my 18.02 class than I would have in about any school - except it might have been two terms in some places. On the other hand I did like computers. Back in 1969 this was a big differentiator. I had gotten into Cooper Union also, which had the advantage of being free and being down the street from my favorite used bookstore, but it only had an old IBM 1620 and a link to a mainframe. When I visited MIT there were IBM 1130s around every corner. It was a good move - I got to play with Multics and I took a class in programming the PDP 1 on which the first Spacewar game was developed. Tha advantage of a top school in a field is that you can go as far as possible into a field. If your goal in college is to take enough classes to graduate, I agree it probably doesn’t matter where you go.
Ok, from my own experience, which would have been in the fall of '89 (I got deferred early and accepted in April, but went elsewhere):
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Dunno, but probably less important than your grades and extracurriculars. Probably also less important than your recommendations.
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I don’t think the test scores will make a difference in the interview, since it’s more about finding out things about you that aren’t measured in a standardized test. It more like meeting your new neighbor than interviewing for a job. Schedule it for a time that works for you, and mention what your intentions are with retaking any tests.
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Mine was pretty informal; mostly just making conversation and talking about my experiences in school, expectations about college, interests and whatnot. He did give me a few thought questions (ex: helium balloon inside a closed car, when the car accelerates forward, which way does the balloon move?), which I didn’t do too well on.
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My MIT one was held in the evening at the guy’s house (he was an alum living in the next town over from me). The Harvard interview was done just sitting outside near the Science Center. In both cases, they were one-on-one. I was living near Boston, so it was probably easier to set up interviews. If you have to meet with somone far from where you live, it may be in a more formal setting.
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My guess would be that you should go with the teacher you have the closer relationship with. They’re looking more for an evaluation of you as a student and a person from someone who sees you every day and has plenty of other students to compare you with. If you’ve been working really closely on a project with the professor, you could go with him, but otherwise one of your high school math teachers would probably be better. Remember also that the school teachers write these recommendations every year and have a good idea what the colleges are looking for; the professor might not.
Hi, there!
I would like to hear your opinion about my circumstance.
I’m an international student from Indonesia.
I got 800 for SAT Math 1, Math 2 and Physics.
I got 1900 for SAT Reasoning Test.
And 89 in TOEFL iBT.
Last year, I applied to my dream university - MIT but wasn’t accepted.
On the other side, I got full scholarship to a university in South Korea.
Now, I’m really thinking about taking a gap year, making up my iBT and SAT Score, and re-apply as an undergraduate at MIT.
I didn’t have many great achievements as what students there usually did.
I only got Gold Medal for Math Olympiad and Silver Medal for Physics (both of them are national level) and I also participated in International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) without getting any medal.
I also join a futsal and basketball team, music group but I’ve only won regional competitions and don’t have any certificates to prove it.
My long-term mission is to fight against poverty and have a company to financially support that mission. So, should I reapply or just go to Korea?
I think that’s all I can say. It would be nice to hear from you guys.
I don’t think a lot of people here can give you specific advice since you’re an international applicant but I’m sure many will tell you that there are many, many OUTSTANDING schools of engineering in the US that would be worth your while to apply to - not just MIT. Georgia Tech, Stanford, Purdue just to name a few but there are much more than just MIT.