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Admissions Update

Class of 2002: Outstanding and Diverse

Marilee Jones

We in Admissions have just a few days left in our calendar to enjoy the fruition of our work – the Class of 2002 – before we begin the recruitment and selection of next year’s freshman class. This small window is the perfect opportunity to share with the faculty a profile of the Class of 2002 as well as to provide a briefing on the challenges ahead for MIT Admissions.

The primary goal of the Admissions Office is to identify, recruit, select and enroll the most outstanding students – those best matched for MIT – in the world. This is not as easy as it might sound, because as the overall quality of the top students has improved, it has become increasingly difficult to select the best among them. Applicants today present a staggering array of activities and accomplishments unheard of a decade ago. For example, nearly 20% of this freshman class have been involved with a research project in the last two years of high school, an activity that would have been rare to see in 1985. The Admissions Committee must evaluate these profiles to determine which applicants have not only the preparation, but also the drive and ambition to be successful here. We want to admit students who will take full advantage of the MIT experience, who will participate fully in their own educational experience and who will ultimately use their MIT education to benefit society as a whole. Even with the most professional and effective admissions staff in the business, this is no easy task.

We believe we have met our primary goal with the new freshman class. Table 1, which compares the most commonly requested metrics of the entering class over the past five years, illustrates the increasing quality of the enrolling students with respect to test scores, applications, etc. A different perspective on the Class of 2002 is provided in the MIT Numbers table, which offers views of a more personal nature. It is particularly interesting to note that while a full 97% of the freshmen listed a significant co-curricular activity in their last two years of high school (math team, science fairs, research, etc.) 60% of them have earned distinction in the arts during that same period (not interest or involvement in, but awards at the state, regional or national level!) and 44% were varsity athletes in at least one sport in high school. A full half of this class held the highest level of leadership we’ve seen in their clubs/activities in high school. So much for the "narrow Techie" stereotype. Table 2 takes a historical view (‘82 - ‘98) of a few metrics judging quality from an admissions perspective. I hope you will reflect upon these statistics during that student slump period between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving when the freshmen are struggling to meet their own internal expectations. If you begin to wonder how-the-heck some of them got admitted, remember that most will be fine in the end. (Besides, admissions NEVER makes mistakes....) We should all consider ourselves quite lucky to be at MIT because, frankly, students don’t come much better than this – anywhere.

Currently, MIT Admissions is in an excellent position vis-a-vis our competition. We have the second highest mean SAT scores in the U.S., have the 4th or 5th highest yield of admits, have a 23% selection rate in 1998, down from 39% in 1993. But there are signs that we will face a few significant challenges over the next decade. First, demographic patterns of 18-year-olds are changing nationally and this will place pressure on all colleges as they compete with each other for the best students. Currently, 30% of high schoolers are students of color. That percentage will increase considerably over the next decade, and, unfortunately, this group has historically had low interest in science and technology. Indeed, interest in the overall 18-year-old population in math/science/technology has been decreasing steadily and is now at an all-time low of 5%.

Finally – and most significantly for us – we have more competition from our direct competitors (Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, etc.) as they fight to attract our kind of student (middle/working class techies), offering more lucrative financial aid packages and other "value added" perks such as special housing or Jr. Year Abroad at places like Oxford. MIT has been able to compete well in this market environment to date, but the pressure will continue to increase over the next few years.

Admissions is a member of the Financial Aid Task Force. Headed by CUAFA Chair Professor Hal Abelson and Director of Financial Aid Stan Hudson, the Task Force convened this past summer to evaluate the possible repercussions of this increased market pressure. This committee will make its recommendations to the Academic Council in November. In the meantime, I want to assure you that the Admissions staff has a well-organized and comprehensive recruitment plan in place to continue to both increase applications from the right students and to increase the yield of those admitted, a plan vetted by CUAFA. This plan involves not just Admissions personnel, but MIT students, alumni, ODSUE offices and faculty throughout the Institute. In fact, there were over 3,000 MIT people involved in the recruitment and enrollment of the Class of 2002.

Attracting the right students to MIT is most effective when it is an institutional process. We in Admissions organize much of the work, but ultimately students will enroll where they feel most comfortable, where they have had the best recruiting experience. I hope that in the coming years, we will all work together on opportunities designed to bring you the students of your dreams. In the meantime, there are small things you can do to help us find the right mix of students:

I look forward to another year of even greater success and to working more closely with all of you. Please continue to communicate any thoughts, comments or concerns you might have throughout the year. And I hope that you really enjoy this new class.

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