MIT Director of Admissions on Test Scores, AP & more

I found two interesting posts on the MIT admissions blog by Ben Jones, Director of Communications, making the case that 'the most', 'the highest' or 'the best' isn't what gets you into MIT. In Many Ways To Define 'The Best', he makes the point that what's important is the complete package of the student's skills and experiences. Since 70-75% of MIT's applicants are qualified to get in based on grades, test scores, etc., and since MIT admits 14% of those that apply, they have a lot of flexibility to create a well-rounded class by focusing on students that are "the right match" (see Ben's post above for what he means by this).

In Answers To Your Questions Dec 2006 Ben answers a bunch of applicants' questions that have piled up. Here are a few of his answers that reinforce "the right match" philosopy from above.

I'd recommend trying to get that score up (580 on SAT Math 1) if you can, but one score will not keep you out of MIT if the rest of your application is stellar.

A couple of B's will never be a deal-breaker.

Having said that, a 2100 (combined SAT) is definitely not going to keep you out of MIT if the rest of your application is competitive!

720 is a perfectly competitive score. DON'T RETAKE IT. :-)

We take great pride in the level at which we read applications holistically. Take a look in some of the recent threads for admitted students and you'll find lots of proof.

We just consider the best one, no worries. (student took SAT II Math twice and did poorly the second time due to illness)

From my recent research, Ben's attitude seems representative of at least some of the other hyper-selective schools, since they have similar large applicant pools from which to choose. I know I've read similar things from Stanford's Dean of Admissions and Fred Hargadon, former Dean of Admissions at Stanford and Princeton.

As a parent this is somewhat reassuring. Granted, my son still needs to make good grades, test scores and to stand out somehow. But there appears to be no rigid formula that he needs to meet. It's OK if he takes 'only' 5 or 6 AP classes. Or if he gets a B or a few, all is not lost. To a certain extent this frees him to follow his passions and to stand out in his own special way.