MIT Media Lab: Fall 2019 Interviews

[Warsaw]

Applied to Lifelong Kindergarten, Opera of the Future and Object-based Media.

No interview request yet...

Let's hope for the best everyone!

[kmm27]

@Caroler I also applied to Personal Robots and Fluid Interfaces! Have you heard anything back yet?

[civitas]

I heard someone got an interview with Personal Robots two weeks ago, but she said that was only because the PI was to travel soon... So they accelerated the process. For other groups, no information yet.

[-dom-]

7 hours ago, civitas said:

I heard someone got an interview with Personal Robots two weeks ago, but she said that was only because the PI was to travel soon... So they accelerated the process. For other groups, no information yet.

Oh my... Has Personal Robots finished all the interviews.   This is depressing

[civitas]

28 minutes ago, -dom- said:

Oh my... Has Personal Robots finished all the interviews.   This is depressing

I have no idea if they finished every interview... Don't lose heart!

[rayito]

Applied of LLK. FI and PR

Even though the time is running i am having a good feeling.
Lets be optimistic.
All the best everyone.

[-dom-]

This thread is awfully quiet this year. It is strange there are so few interview posts. ?

[civitas]

I am embarrassed by the fact that no portfolio visit from MIT was recorded until now. Seems that they still filter applicants with some ways - even though they repeatedly promise that GPA is unimportant.

Edited February 11, 2019 by civitas

[gldstrrbt]

This is an assumption, but it's likely that they've been keeping tabs on all applicant portfolio sites over the months, and are now going through their decision processes. Since applying, my server logs have been showing hits from IP addresses that resolve to MIT. Not full on visits though, as most of the time only the landing resources are fetched and sometimes there is no fetch just, what seems to be, pings to see if the site is up. On few occasions, a headless Chrome driver was used to scrape the sources/dependencies for my site. 

This started with ~25-30 hits a day after applying and providing then the url to my site, then ~40 for most of January, and finally a dead stop around January 29-30. Haven't seen any since then. 

Analytics services that don't have access to server logs will not show this. If you have access to your hosting server space, check the 'logs' folder for your log files. Then search for IPs within the files that begin with '18.' and look them up here https://ip-address.us/lookup/<ip_address_here>

Don't be embarrassed. I'm in the same boat. If they can't see past our GPAs to see our work and concepts for what they are, then it's on them really. We can't lose confidence as a result of another's opinion

[civitas]

3 hours ago, gldstrrbt said:

This is an assumption, but it's likely that they've been keeping tabs on all applicant portfolio sites over the months, and are now going through their decision processes. Since applying, my server logs have been showing hits from IP addresses that resolve to MIT. Not full on visits though, as most of the time only the landing resources are fetched and sometimes there is no fetch just, what seems to be, pings to see if the site is up. On few occasions, a headless Chrome driver was used to scrape the sources/dependencies for my site. 

This started with ~25-30 hits a day after applying and providing then the url to my site, then ~40 for most of January, and finally a dead stop around January 29-30. Haven't seen any since then. 

Analytics services that don't have access to server logs will not show this. If you have access to your hosting server space, check the 'logs' folder for your log files. Then search for IPs within the files that begin with '18.' and look them up here https://ip-address.us/lookup/<ip_address_here>

Don't be embarrassed. I'm in the same boat. If they can't see past our GPAs to see our work and concepts for what they are, then it's on them really. We can't lose confidence as a result of another's opinion

Thanks for your kind reply! I tried to examine my CDN log; never did I see a MIT IP. However, the methodology for every group may be slightly differentiated. I host the website in China; however, all of my overseas friends told me they were able to visit it (since the CDN provides the service). Anyway, it won't hurt! 

[Doomnometron]

So... would it be unheard of for the groups to NOT do interviews?

[entropomorph]

1 hour ago, Doomnometron said:

So... would it be unheard of for the groups to NOT do interviews?

Imagine you are a PI at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, essentially hiring a lab member you are going to work very closely with for a duration of no less than two years, very likely more. AND you have at most 1-2 positions to fill. Very, very, very unlikely they would not interview the candidate they admitted.

[Doomnometron]

5 hours ago, entropomorph said:

Imagine you are a PI at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, essentially hiring a lab member you are going to work very closely with for a duration of no less than two years, very likely more. AND you have at most 1-2 positions to fill. Very, very, very unlikely they would not interview the candidate they admitted.

Yes. I assumed this much, but I would like to know if it has happened.

[Bazinga!]

I got a lot of profile views during the month of January from MIT when I checked on Google Analytics. But each profile view was less than a minute or so!

[Lalaland7]

Anybody heard back from MIT?

[aliceinbinary]

Update: my friend I mentioned who got an interview weeks ago applied to PJ and LLK - the interview was for PJ. PI heavily insinuated he wasn't ready to have grad students join his group and offered her research position instead. She's having a think on it.

FYI Ishii is (unofficially) not looking for anyone to join TMG this year, according to my advisor who works very closely with him. She mentioned this back in Nov for what it's worth. Hope any of this info helps.

This all being said, who knows of anyone's chances! Anything is possible and it's still so early on, so I'd hold out on fretting or checking IP addresses... don't psych yourselves out and make sure you're practicing lots of self-care xx

[000000001]

2 hours ago, aliceinbinary said:

Update: my friend I mentioned who got an interview weeks ago applied to PJ and LLK - the interview was for PJ. PI heavily insinuated he wasn't ready to have grad students join his group and offered her research position instead. She's having a think on it.

FYI Ishii is (unofficially) not looking for anyone to join TMG this year, according to my advisor who works very closely with him. She mentioned this back in Nov for what it's worth. Hope any of this info helps.

This all being said, who knows of anyone's chances! Anything is possible and it's still so early on, so I'd hold out on fretting or checking IP addresses... don't psych yourselves out and make sure you're practicing lots of self-care xx

Congratulations to your friend! You mentioned she had a hefty wikipedia page- would you mind sharing? PJ is the only group I applied to so I'm curious. Think you're right about relaxing and taking care of ourselves. Great advice.

[civitas]

Update: the PI of Viral Communications gave me a very common response - they are still reviewing applications; they will contact if it is needed. I think it means an implied rejection... 

[Lalaland7]

3 hours ago, civitas said:

Update: the PI of Viral Communications gave me a very common response - they are still reviewing applications; they will contact if it is needed. I think it means an implied rejection... 

Oh no...:( I got the same response...

Edited February 16, 2019 by BaeHH

[entropomorph]

6 hours ago, civitas said:

Update: the PI of Viral Communications gave me a very common response - they are still reviewing applications; they will contact if it is needed. I think it means an implied rejection... 

Well hey, if they are still reviewing applications there is still a chance.

[Kakolibit2bit]

On 2/15/2019 at 4:10 PM, aliceinbinary said:

Update: my friend I mentioned who got an interview weeks ago applied to PJ and LLK - the interview was for PJ. PI heavily insinuated he wasn't ready to have grad students join his group and offered her research position instead. She's having a think on it.

FYI Ishii is (unofficially) not looking for anyone to join TMG this year, according to my advisor who works very closely with him. She mentioned this back in Nov for what it's worth. Hope any of this info helps.

This all being said, who knows of anyone's chances! Anything is possible and it's still so early on, so I'd hold out on fretting or checking IP addresses... don't psych yourselves out and make sure you're practicing lots of self-care xx

Hey aliceinbinary, thanks for sharing. I find it quite disappointing that they would accept people's application and money when they are not ready to take students. So much for "Poetic Justice". 

Also, based on previous years' timeline, if we have not gotten an interview request by now, chances are it's a rejection. Last year's rejections and admissions were sent out starting on Jan 26th. 

Good luck to all in your future endeavors! remember you can do cool and great things elsewhere too. 

 

 

[crazycheese8]

46 minutes ago, Kakolibit2bit said:

Last year's rejections and admissions were sent out starting on Jan 26th. 

 

Do you mean Feb 26?

Also – the Admissions Timeline website (https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/admissions-timeline/) says decisions are emailed on March 1. Does anyone know if that means on March 1 or by March 1?

[gldstrrbt]

In the past answers were given more towards February 26th than January 26. 

Regarding the Poetic Justice interview, it was insinuated that they're not looking to add grad students, not confirmed. This is one person's interpretation of what was said. Should it be the case that they aren't accepting students, then shame on them for not letting that be known prior to the application deadline and taking our application fees. In any case, we'll likely never know whether or not this decision was made, so it makes no difference. 

Regardless, I'm remaining optimistic until they send their acceptance/rejection confirmations in the coming week.

Edited February 20, 2019 by gldstrrbt

[Kakolibit2bit]

29 minutes ago, crazycheese8 said:

Do you mean Feb 26?

Also – the Admissions Timeline website (https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/admissions-timeline/) says decisions are emailed on March 1. Does anyone know if that means on March 1 or by March 1?

Yeah, my bad. I meant February 26th.

 

4 minutes ago, gldstrrbt said:

In the past answers were given more towards February 26th than January 26. 

Regarding the Poetic Justice interview, it was insinuated that they're not looking to add grad students, not confirmed. This is one person's interpretation of what was said. Should it be the case that they aren't accepting students, then shame on them for not letting that be known prior to the application deadline and taking our application fees. In any case, we'll likely never know whether or not this decision was made, so it makes no difference. 

True, we will never know.

[Warsaw]

Has anyone had an interview with Lifelong Kindergarten group?