MIT EECS 2014

[zerothorder]

Hope is the poor man`s bread, but stay firm against the expected

[roll]

are the candidates that are accepted had any interviews or just a email confirmation ??

[hikaru1221]

are the candidates that are accepted had any interviews or just a email confirmation ??

 

I did not have any interviews, nor did I contact any professors beforehand. Only 2 emails: one was an unofficial advance notice, and the other was official. I'm EE by the way.

[roll]

Dat means I have to make peace with d obvious Reject... anyways congrats wats ur profile...

[jazzcobaz]

Somebody just got admitted today. Also, I called up the admissions office. They said that not all decisions have been made and that the committee is still handing over some files. Things have been a bit slow because of the snow and stuff. So, wait until ~Tuesday/Wednesday next week for possible admits. They said they hope to post all results by Feb 15th. 

[someone123123123]

It seems like all acceptances have been sent on 5 Feb. After that almost nobody got something..

I guess it's over :'( ...

 

Edit: To the poster above: I didn't see your message before I sent mine. I'm really hope that's right.

I saw on the forum that last year they said that results would be on the 15th, and eventually results posted only on the 1 March.

Edited February 7, 2014 by someone123123123

[jazzcobaz]

To poster above: If you look at the results page, 3 people have heard back after 5th Feb. Like I said, more are pending and will be known. A major difference between this year and the previous years : massive snow that is affecting the operations of all universities on the East Coast and the Midwestern region. 

[jeffleung1992]

To poster above: If you look at the results page, 3 people have heard back after 5th Feb. Like I said, more are pending and will be known. A major difference between this year and the previous years : massive snow that is affecting the operations of all universities on the East Coast and the Midwestern region. 

 

I wonder if they are posting results by Area? So maybe that explains why a lot of CS results have been posted, but not so many of the other areas? Just speculating. I still think most results that have been posted have been for international students.. 

[quantumlight]

will all the rejections also be posted by 15th? or is it going to be the rejection by not receiving an acceptance?

[Dr_JohnDoe]

I'm not giving up, but honestly I think there's only a very slim chance.

 

According to my own statistics (based on the result pages), most results are issued on Feb 5 & 6. Among the 20 posts, 65% are from Internationals, 20% are from domestic, and 15% are from Internationals with US degrees. Note that this is only a small sample.

 

My advisor once told me about how top-tier universities admit. It seems that they aim at applicants with particular strengths or skills, just to form some research groups, or to fulfill other specific purposes. Maybe this explains how MIT handles our applications so efficiently: we just don't have what they wanted. Hopefully this'll make you feel better.

 

BTW, anyone heard anything from LIDS? The only reason I applied to EECS is I wanted to join LIDS. Besides, anyone applied for Control & Decision systems?. Guess I've chosen the wrong area.... Farewell, MIT. Good luck, everyone.

[jazzcobaz]

Although I mentioned in a previous post that the admissions office mentioned that not all decisions have been made, I seriously doubt that now. I just found this link that shows that January 31 was the date the admissions committee wrapped everything up: http://eecscal.mit.edu/Pages/CalendarViews/MonthView.aspx?RoomId=3&Date=1%2f29%2f2014+12%3a00%3a00+AM

I think it's more of just hoping against hope now. Any thoughts or comments from anyone who might be able to substantiate any more?

[Kleene]

Why would they wait with updating the website if they finished January 31? Perhaps if they wanted to send everyone acceptance mails first. Still, why would they wait with updating the website if they have sent all acceptances out? Some people had interviews after January 31. Either way it does not make sense.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Kleene

[complexbongo]

Why would they wait with updating the website if they finished January 31? Perhaps if they wanted to send everyone acceptance mails first. Still, why would they wait with updating the website if they have sent all acceptances out? Some people had interviews after January 31. Either way it does not make sense.

There may be Professors who want a certain number in their group but are waiting for the initial offers to accept. If those offers decline they may want to extend an acceptance to another applicant. They wouldn't want to reject a candidate if they are a strong alternative.

[UFanny]

There may be Professors who want a certain number in their group but are waiting for the initial offers to accept. If those offers decline they may want to extend an acceptance to another applicant. They wouldn't want to reject a candidate if they are a strong alternative.

Let's hope for the best.

[Kleene]

There may be Professors who want a certain number in their group but are waiting for the initial offers to accept. If those offers decline they may want to extend an acceptance to another applicant. They wouldn't want to reject a candidate if they are a strong alternative.

Good point. I strongly suspect all first-choice admissions have been sent out last week.

[jeffleung1992]

Good point. I strongly suspect all first-choice admissions have been sent out last week.

Agreed. Btw, just wondering, does MIT accept into each area, or do they first accept you generally into EECS, and then you can do w/e you want?

I was wondering if everyone is in the same boat, or you are only really competing in the area where you apply. 

[hikaru1221]

 

Agreed. Btw, just wondering, does MIT accept into each area, or do they first accept you generally into EECS, and then you can do w/e you want?

I was wondering if everyone is in the same boat, or you are only really competing in the area where you apply. 

 

Judging from the admissions letter, I think applicants are admitted to one out of 2 broad areas: EE or CS. It seems that this year they changed their area classification from like 7 or 8 areas, which are now sub-areas, to only 2. I would infer that the admissions processes for EE and CS are separated to some extent. However I think they also expect few people switching from, say, circuit design to image processing, so there should still be competition within one sub-area.

[jeffleung1992]

 

 

 

Judging from the admissions letter, I think applicants are admitted to one out of 2 broad areas: EE or CS. It seems that this year they changed their area classification from like 7 or 8 areas, which are now sub-areas, to only 2. I would infer that the admissions processes for EE and CS are separated to some extent. However I think they also expect few people switching from, say, circuit design to image processing, so there should still be competition within one sub-area.

 

 

Thanks for the information! So I guess they don't specifically try to ensure that they are admitting a specific number (non-zero) candidates into each of the areas. They merely attempt to ensure that they admit a certain number of people into EE and CS. 

[cs_dude]

Just called up EECS again - they said that we are trying for the 15th. but because of snow it could be as late as the 19th.

[Kleene]

Just called up EECS again - they said that we are trying for the 15th. but because of snow it could be as late as the 19th.

I was afraid so. Thanks for the update.

[quantumlight]

I am assuming MIT is admitting no more than 150 people? even if they only had one guy at work, does it really take 2 weeks to send out a simple "congratulations, you are accepted" or is the 15th deadline include all the rejection emails too?

[jeffleung1992]

I am assuming MIT is admitting no more than 150 people? even if they only had one guy at work, does it really take 2 weeks to send out a simple "congratulations, you are accepted" or is the 15th deadline include all the rejection emails too?

This sir, is a very good point. Even if there are a total of 1,000 applicants, it doesn't take longer than a few hours to update a website with either a Yay or a Nay! Especially since they already have a template for both letters. In fact, you could have a simple script running on the application website that does it, and you re-use that script each year. 

 

I think the likely scenario, as someone else pointed out, is that everyone who was going to get an invite has already gotten an invite. But there is always the possibility that a candidate may elect to not accept and go to another school. In such cases, I think they like to not reject everyone else so that they have back-ups, which for a school of MIT's caliber, are likely just as good as the "first choices."

 

Of course this is all highly speculative, and could be completely wrong!  

[akh07]

This sir, is a very good point. Even if there are a total of 1,000 applicants, it doesn't take longer than a few hours to update a website with either a Yay or a Nay! Especially since they already have a template for both letters. In fact, you could have a simple script running on the application website that does it, and you re-use that script each year. 

 

I think the likely scenario, as someone else pointed out, is that everyone who was going to get an invite has already gotten an invite. But there is always the possibility that a candidate may elect to not accept and go to another school. In such cases, I think they like to not reject everyone else so that they have back-ups, which for a school of MIT's caliber, are likely just as good as the "first choices."

 

Of course this is all highly speculative, and could be completely wrong!

 

Haven't they been known to issue waitlist responses? If so, why not just relegate that decision to the waitlists? 

I myself have already accepted defeat in this issue, but am interested in how the process works. 

 

EDIT: The point below is a good one. I would expect most people to decline in late March/early April anyways - which would lead me to believe that sending these top candidates to the waitlist would be a better decision. 

Edited February 14, 2014 by akh07

[heyo]

Do a lot of people really decline offers this early?

[Kleene]

Haven't they been known to issue waitlist responses? If so, why not just relegate that decision to the waitlists? 

I myself have already accepted defeat in this issue, but am interested in how the process works. 

 

EDIT: The point below is a good one. I would expect most people to decline in late March/early April anyways - which would lead me to believe that sending these top candidates to the waitlist would be a better decision. 

@ your edit: In the results search you can see that there is a formal waitlist as well. Apparently, they believe that they will 'need' another couple of admits after getting replies on their first round of admits (which is where we are now). Keep in mind that as soon as people are waitlisted they are likely to accept other offers, especially since not many people tend to decline MIT offers. If you would notify applicants of being waitlisted too early you might end up with third, fourth or fifth choice applicants rather than second choice.

I can also imagine there are probably a couple of those faculty members who linger on making decisions.

 

The process is taking time because not all final decisions have been officially made, not because updating a website is such a big deal. I just hope the wait is officially over tomorrow.