MIT, or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may well be the most famous schools in the United States and one of the most well-known globally. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 4.6%, and has held steady between 3% and 5% in recent years.
It is even harder, though, to get onto the MIT waitlist than it is to get into MIT. Whereas many other top schools stack their waitlists high with as many as twice the number of students they could ever admit, MIT doesn’t. For the Class of 2029, 1,334 students were admitted to MIT. Only 561 were offered a spot on the waitlist. We know that doesn’t make being waitlisted feel any better. Unfortunately, the likelihood of getting in off of the waitlist doesn’t help either. The same year that 561 students were extended a waitlist offer, only 10 students were accepted off of the wait list.
The MIT wait list is their way of addressing “the uncertainties” of the admissions process. They don’t know how many accepted students will pick MIT, so the waitlist fills any gaps. It is not, however, ranked. There is no top of the waitlist and no one is sitting on the bottom. Instead, MIT turns to the wait list to fill in gaps strategically, addressing if there are not enough students with certain passions or interests who have committed to attend. That doesn’t mean they are granular about it, sifting through the waitlist for a student hoping to pursue a specific major, but they are working to create a diversified class. No matter what, most students on the wait list will not get in — and some years no one is accepted from the wait list at all.
Who gets into MIT off of the wait list is not, ultimately, a fluke. There are things that can improve your chances of admission, and things that you can do to hurt your chances of getting in. In this post, we’re going to break down what you need to do to increase your odds of acceptance, and what to avoid to prevent tanking your application.
We are experts at helping students overcome a waitlist decision. Contact us to learn more.
The MIT wait list isn’t like most schools. They don’t practice the same process, and they don’t follow the same protocols. The rules for MIT are different, so read closely.
Step One: Join the Wait List
MIT requires that students who want to remain on the wait list submit a “wait list confirmation” through the applicant portal. Do this as soon as you are certain that you would like to remain in consideration, but remember that the MIT wait list is not ranked. The speed with which you submit the confirmation does not impact your likelihood of acceptance to MIT.
Step Two: Commit To Another School
Once you have joined the wait list for MIT, you need to make a hard decision: where to go to college. Of course, MIT is the dream — but it’s also a dream that, statistically, is unlikely to come true. So, you need to enroll in your favorite school that you’ve actually been accepted by. This will probably be where you go in the fall, so pick carefully.
Deciding to not commit to a school and instead reapply next year is a terrible plan. Don’t do that. It is much harder to get stronger outcomes after reapplying than to transfer ‘up’ in schools after a year or two of exceptional coursework.
Step Three: Breathe Deeply
Normally, step three is to update the college that you are on the wait list for. We coach you through writing a Letter of Continued Interest and give you a play-by-play on submitting supplemental materials. MIT is different, though. It’s a totally unique monster.
MIT does not want to hear from you after you have submitted the wait list confirmation. They are very blunt about this, so we’re going to let them speak for themselves:
“Here are some things you should NOT do: Submit additional documents or a whole new application. Fly to campus to make the case in person. Send us ridiculous things (or “things” in general). Bombard our office with way too much stuff. Be pushy. Be sketchy. Let your grades drop. Not choose another college to attend by its reply date if you don’t hear from us by the time you need to make an enrollment decision.”
However, MIT may call your school to check in on your academics. This opens the door for what is called an “advocacy call.” Before we get into that, though, there is one other route you may be able to take.
If you have connections to MIT, use them. This could be a relationship with a professor, a legacy link, or previous communications with an admissions representative. If you don’t already have this connection, though, don’t try to create it now.
If you do have a connection, send them a brief (less than 200-word) email sharing the status of your application, stating your continued interest in MIT and intention to enroll if accepted, and providing a small handful (1-3) of updates to your application. This needs to be extremely succinct and decidedly non-pushy. You aren’t asking them to do anything with this information, just passing it along.
Whether or not you have an MIT connection, you need to speak with your school college counselor about the possibility of them making a call on your behalf. This is the “advocacy call” we mentioned earlier, and your counselor is not required to do it. They do not owe it to you, and pushing hard for an “advocacy call” would be as bad of an idea as dancing in front of the admissions building in a bathing suit. Instead, have a friendly and hopeful conversation about how they may be able to support your application and leave it there.
Step Four: Move On
Finally, you need to let MIT go emotionally and enjoy your senior spring (while keeping your grades sky high). MIT asks for you to be patient. Embrace the opportunities that you have and make the most of the end of your high school career.
MIT will begin extending offers the second week of May at the earliest, but the waitlist process can extend into summer.
Getting into MIT off of the waitlist is extremely difficult — even harder than it is to get onto the MIT waitlist. You can’t win a game you don’t play, though, and we love beating tough odds.
We help outstanding students get into exceptional schools, even after being waitlisted. Email us to learn more.