MIT EECS Fall 16

[notperry]

I looked up previous posts about MIT EECS PhD applications. It seems in previous years MIT asked applicants to choose a specific area, i.e. Area II: AI etc. 

This year seems to be different: MIT asks applicants to choose 3 areas. I personally chose Theory and ML. 

Does anyone know about the selectivity and competition among these areas? I'm applying to do a theory-flavored ML so I'm not sure which applicants I'm competing with. I heard Machine Learning is the most competitive area at this moment: it'd be very tough to get into MIT, Berkeley or Stanford without a first-author NIPS or ICML paper. Is that true?

 

[Icydubloon]

On 12/15/2015 at 3:33 PM, notperry said:

Machine Learning is the most competitive area at this moment: it'd be very tough to get into MIT, Berkeley or Stanford without a first-author NIPS or ICML paper. Is that true?

Unfortunately, yes. There are way too many people applying to artificial intelligence and machine learning these days.

[csphdcandidate]

Has anybody heard anything from them? The waiting is so difficult.

[csphdcandidate]

Will we hear something from MIT EECS some time this week?

[Edotdl]

58 minutes ago, csphdcandidate said:

Will we hear something from MIT EECS some time this week?

Based on previous years, that's what I'm expecting. Getting kinda nervous.

[aksiksi]

So if we don't hear anything this week, assume a rejection? That's what happened last year it seems.

[Yav Friendly]

On 2/2/2016 at 5:27 PM, aksiksi said:

So if we don't hear anything this week, assume a rejection? That's what happened last year it seems.

Well you need to first hear somebody else hear it. Based on last year if you hear a massive amount of people accepted then I think it is a rejection.

[Yav Friendly]

On 12/17/2015 at 7:21 AM, Icydubloon said:

Unfortunately, yes. There are way too many people applying to artificial intelligence and machine learning these days.

And many of them have conference papers.

[csphdcandidate]

When are we going to hear anything from MIT? Today? Tomorrow? Already got rejected by Stanford.

[Yav Friendly]

5 minutes ago, csphdcandidate said:

When are we going to hear anything from MIT? Today? Tomorrow? Already got rejected by Stanford.

Last year was Feb 4th Wednesday. So technically we should hear yesterday :). But the year before is much much later. 

[ender wiggin]

I've been seeing a few acceptances today... Getting a bit nervous.

[aksiksi]

14 minutes ago, ender wiggin said:

I've been seeing a few acceptances today... Getting a bit nervous.

Me too...

[Yav Friendly]

55 minutes ago, ender wiggin said:

I've been seeing a few acceptances today... Getting a bit nervous.

People start to panic.

[ChrisT123]

I wonder if they send all emails at the same time. 

If it is the case, I guess I was not offered an admission.

 

 

[voices]

If we have a look at the results from previous years, then I think that it's safe to assume that all of us who haven't been offered an admission have been rejected. 

[ChrisT123]

10 minutes ago, voices said:

If we have a look at the results from previous years, then I think that it's safe to assume that all of us who haven't been offered an admission have been rejected. 

It looks like some people got an email on the 4th and some people on the 5th last year.

[Yav Friendly]

How many do they recruit every year? Based on the amount of admission posted it starts to feel like that was it.

[aksiksi]

1 minute ago, ChrisT123 said:

I believe about 700 postgraduates? I am not sure where I read this

700 total, right? No just EECS.

[Yav Friendly]

2 minutes ago, aksiksi said:

700 total, right? No just EECS.

700 just EECS is crazy. However, I know they give acceptance first and then decide on fundings. And I heard stories that someone eventually could not go because did not get funding. Is it normal?

[voices]

31 minutes ago, ChrisT123 said:

It looks like some people got an email on the 4th and some people on the 5th last year.

Sorry, I meant to say "most of us"...

[csphdapplicant123]

27 minutes ago, Yav Friendly said:

700 just EECS is crazy. However, I know they give acceptance first and then decide on fundings. And I heard stories that someone eventually could not go because did not get funding. Is it normal?

This is guy compiled some admission stats for all the universities.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-admission-statistics-for-top-schools-in-computer-science-information-science-and-computer-engineering

[Yav Friendly]

27 minutes ago, voices said:

23 minutes ago, csphdapplicant123 said:

This is guy compiled some admission stats for all the universities.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-admission-statistics-for-top-schools-in-computer-science-information-science-and-computer-engineering

Sorry, I meant to say "most of us"...

OK, 180 is already very large number to me. But do they all get funding eventually?

[Yav Friendly]

38 minutes ago, csphdapplicant123 said:

This is guy compiled some admission stats for all the universities.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-admission-statistics-for-top-schools-in-computer-science-information-science-and-computer-engineering

And if you think about it, the concept of rate does not even make sense. They do not determine how many to recruit based on how large is the pool, they determine by funding. So if one year only a few people applied, you will think MIT's accept rate is very high. Am I right?

[svent]

Slightly OT (not about MIT), but based on the link: I think last year someone posted an email from UCSB saying their Master's program admitted 144/900 = 16%. UCLA (for Master's) admitted 212/1722 ~ 12% (similar rate for PhD). Much lower than the 22% that that page claims. Penn was around 12% for Master's last year. As for UCSD,

Quote

Acceptance Rate for MS: For fall 2015, 900 MS applicants, acceptance rate of 7.5%,
Acceptance Rate for PhD: 375 PhD applicants with an admission percentage of 19%

Does anyone know a source for this? 900 MS applicants seems very low when UCLA had 1700+ and even UCSB had 900. I find Georgia Tech's number of around 20-30% a little surprising, but I believe it. UCSD's page says they admit slightly less than 10%. Their admissions page says they get > 2700 applications each year (I assume MS + PhD). I assume this number is rising and wouldn't be surprised if it were to hit 3000.

Edited February 4, 2016 by svent

[George123]

Anyone accepted at the Theory of Computation group?