MIT Mechanical Engineering Waitlist. lets all gather

[Fall2014_applicant]

All MIT waitlisted people lets gather here so we can have some idea how many!

[Plainview]

I am on the waitlist at MIT. Btw, why do they not call it a waitlist, they just say 'decision pending'. 'Waitlisted' would be a decision, right? Just wanted to get that cleared.

[Sangin Park]

I am also curious why MIT is pending some applications and don't call that wait list.  

[Plainview]

Assuming most admitted applicants at MIT would have conveyed their decisions by now, there should have been some activity, I haven't noticed any yet. Anyway, I hope they make the decisions by the end of this week.

[Fall2014_applicant]

anyone has any idea how many are wailt-listed? 

Someone I met got into Berkeley in June, way past April 15th deadline...

I got wait-listed at Berkeley as well. 

[ideepaks]

I don't think that we can call it a waitlist as it's still with admissions committee and they may be genuinely reviewing applications rather waiting for some backouts and giving us admissions.

[hami9293]

I am also from those "pending" application.
I think you are very optimistic here. This is, for sure, not a waiting list. They are just reviewing applications and once in while they announce the results. We just happen to be the last applications to be reviewed.

Myself, generally does not have any hope of getting in. Already started looking for a job.  

[Plainview]

@hami9293: Although I do think they are only pending applications, I think it is more than 'just the last applications' to be reviewed. And I am not being optimistic. I think most decisions were made late-February, early-March, when most admits/rejects were sent out, the borderline cases left out for further debate within the admissions committee. There has been no activity since early-March (at least on gradcafe, except maybe a couple of posts), which wouldn't be the case if they were merely reviewing the applications, and there still were clear admits/rejects in the pile. They also wouldn't have kept the applicants waiting if there were easy decisions to make.

 

Well, this is just my understanding of the situation.

[Fall2014_applicant]

Hmm I guess we will never find out. But since we are engineers lets focus on numbers. Someone on gradcafe results said 40 pending application. Anynody heard anything?

Edited April 8, 2014 by Fall2014_applicant

[hami9293]

Plainview: I hope you are right, but does not seem so. A friend of mine got rejected in early march. he was better than me in everything. It totally does not make sense to reject him, but keep me for further discussions.

 

[hami9293]

Another scenario could be they are just waiting until those who got admission accept their offers, and then they send the rejection letters to the "pending" list.

I guess there are still a handfull of applicants wondering to go to Berkeley, Stanford or MIT.

[jingtian]

I don't think this pending email count as waitlist notification. MIT admits on a rolling basis, this can simply mean they have not finishing viewing our files. After all, one of my recommenders turned in his letter really late (mid Jan). According to the result section, quite many applicants got these emails. I don't think they would have so many people waitlisted. 

[Fall2014_applicant]

Jingtian, where did you hear they have rolling admission? Nowhere in website nor in the application states rolling admission..

[Plainview]

Also, I remember seeing a post in the results section which said the person called the grad office and was told the admissions committee is "still debating over a few applicants". Although I am not too optimistic, I don't think it is a trivial "still haven't viewed the files".

 

hami9293: you never know what went into the decision (friend's reject).

 

Numbers, someone said an email from MIT contained this information (40 applicants on the 'waitlist'). BTW, would it be safe to assume most such applicants would have taken to gradcafe in anxiety? That could give a sense of the numbers, though numbers may be irrelevant in a waitlist context, applicants who've applied to different areas may not be in direct competition, atleast for PhD.

[woshiyizhizhu]

The professor I contacted told me he could see my materials only if I could be admitted or recommended by admission committee. This might suggest two rounds of admission process within MIT-ME. In late Feb, the admission committee made the first round of decisions, and a lot of offers/rejections were sent out. These guys were offered fellowship. After this, the committee recommended several "debating" applicants to the faculties for further review. I guess these decision will be made by faculties, and different from the first round, they'll be granted RA/TA positions or partial funding. This might be the situation we are in. 

 

The committee cannot push professors, that maybe the reason why we have to wait. I know a guy who applied to MIT two years ago, and he got acceptance quite late in April. Stay positive guys, but had better have the back-up plans.

Edited April 9, 2014 by woshiyizhizhu

[Fall2014_applicant]

I really hope they will let us know this week as the deadline for April 15th is approaching... 

any admission letter after we accept offers from other university is as good as rejection letter. 

[jingtian]

I have been in good contact with one of the professors, so I got some feedback from the officer.

She said very clearly in the email, that MIT admit on a ROLLING basis.

As far as I know, the committee make all the decisions. Professors rarely write back unless you get admitted. I don't think there is this second round. As my target professor told me "if you get admitted, we can continue this conversation". Certain professors surly would have huge influence on the committee's decision, but it is mainly done through the committee. The so-called second round, where you need find a RA or TA to get funded happens after you get admission.

I assume that MIT would let us know before 4.15. Let's just wait and see...

Good luck everyone!

[jingtian]

Also, since the application process is all about ranking, they might need to finish viewing all the applicants to draw a final rank of us, and then decisions.

Hope is still alive... But it would be better we prepare ourselves...

[Fall2014_applicant]

I got rejected so I guess it doesn't matter anymore lol. Did anyine get accepted?