The Selection Process: Application Reading, Committee, And Decisions

After you click the submit button, it's easy to feel as though your application has entered a black hole - what really happens between when you apply and when you receive your decision? We understand that not knowing the details can add a lot of stress to the waiting period, so we're happy to shed some light into that black hole.

Once your application is complete, it will first be read by a senior admissions officer who will consider your application in a holistic manner, within its proper context. Strong applications will then be evaluated by another admissions officer who will summarize it at length for the committee. Next, members of the admissions committee, which may include a faculty member, will do additional evaluations and summaries of the application.

These summaries, along with your application, will then go to the selection committee, where multiple groups of different admissions staff and faculty members will weigh in. At least a dozen people will significantly discuss and debate an application before it is placed in the admit pile.

This is all very intentional; committee decisions ensure that every decision is correct in the context of the overall applicant pool, and that no one individual's bias or preferences or familiarity with a given case has any chance of swaying a decision unfairly.

Our process is a student-centered process, not a school- or region-centered process. This means that we do not read your application along with other students from your school or region to compare you against each other; each applicant stands on their own. We have no quotas by school, state, or region. You are not at any disadvantage if other excellent students from your school or area are also applying.

This process of carefully reading applications and discussing them extensively in committee takes months. It's not something we ever rush - these decisions are far too important.

In other words, your application is in good hands - so please try not to worry. We'll also give you regular updates on our progress through the blogs at mitadmissions.org.

As we go through this process together, Dave, Matt, Kim, Quinton, Mikey, Stu, and others will do our best to keep you updated on the selection of MIT's next class. You'll find our recent updates and stories in the blog entries to your left.

At MIT, we try to be as transparent as possible - so if you have a question, just ask.