My Application Story

I have an interesting MIT “story.” It wasn't my first choice school until very, very late in the game.

I first started researching colleges to build my list in August of my senior year. We had done the campus visits—the Eastern seaboard trip to hit the Ivies, the midwest trip to hit the Chicago and St Louis schools. Nothing really stood out to me. Then I did more research on the University of Chicago. Man, they are weird. I liked it a lot; it stood out to me. Plus, I was confident I could get in, so I decided to apply early action.

My dad was not happy about this. Not one bit. He went to MIT for undergrad school and was convinced that it was the only institution I should even consider attending. At that point, there was nothing wrong with MIT. It was just my dad's school, and he was pushing me, so naturally, being a teen, I resisted his influence. He made me promise to apply EA there, too (thankfully both schools have non-binding policies).

I put off the MIT application until the very last minute. Tried to rehash as much of my Chicago essays as possible. But man, did I perfect the UC application. I knew I would get in. I was almost certain that I would get rejected from MIT, and I let my dad know. He got mad at me. “You should have more confidence!” “Well, they should accept more than 13% of their applicants then, thank you very much.”

I got accepted into the University of Chicago early action, and life was set for me. Two days later, I was deferred by MIT—no big deal, wasn't even considering it. I even sent my deposit and housing application to Chicago.

Except then I got into MIT in March. This complicated matters considerably. It was family meeting time, and I realized how brash my decision was. My dad didn't force me to go to MIT, don't get me wrong. He just had me reconsider.

So I did. I compared lots of things, made a checklist. We visited both universities (again). The schools were pretty much tied in terms of campus culture and workload. I want to major in economics on a pre-med track, and the schools are numbers 1 and 2 in the country in terms of their econ departments. So another tie there. In retrospect, I don't know why I was so gung-ho about Chicago. Every quality of that school is duplicated at MIT, from the sense of humor to the academic rigor and prestige. A coinflip would have been a worthy judge. At this point I went to my teachers and counselors, trying to find an unbiased opinion (obviously could not trust my dad). I learned that MIT has an acceptance rate to medical school one and a half times that of Chicago. Looking over the course requirements, it became clear that Chicago is a liberal arts school with a strong science department, while MIT is a science school with a strong liberal arts department. I liked the MIT approach better. And I guess in the end, it's pretty cool that I'm going to the same place as my dad. I have the chance to room in the same dorm, as well. That means a lot to our family. In the end, I'm extremely pleased with my decision, and Chicago was very nice about my rescinding the decision. They even gave me a refund on the deposit.

I guess at this point it may become clear that this is not the typical MIT application story. From what I've read/heard, everyone has been living and breathing it since freshman year of high school. Is it ironic or fitting that I, a legacy admit, wasn't enamored until two months before the response deadline?