cocoa sounds so good right now...

First.

Never mind

aww man, it's snowy here too and I love it. Hot cocoa sounds good I think I'll go make some.

and by the way, epic failure "L"

lolz.

I think a lot of people (like me) are sad that you guys still haven't gone into the selection committees...

so, you guys are still doing preliminary reading, eh? lol

hot cocoa sounds good :) and snow too... here it's just cold

So that's what snow looks like :O

So... any idea when we'll be moving to selection committee?

kinda scary to think that you might be reading my app right now...meh..it's cold and I need some hot cocoa too

Hey Matt. Do you have any idea at all of when decisions will come out? I know Ben said definitely not the 9th, but any more hints.. ?

Matt:

Ok, I know you and several other admission officers have said this like infinite time but, seriously about SAT scores.....

Is a 1940 in SAT I (V-560, M-700, W-680), 28 on ACT (34 in Math :)...my GC was happy about that score) and 1460 on SAT II (Math2-750 + Chem-700) even close to PLAUSIBLE....is there any chance tha tthese scores will be even considered in SOME context...

I know applications are graded holistically, and within a applicants context, but still...

Thanks!!

p.s. If you are unable to answer my question, or are not "allowed to" for some reason, thats ok, seriously, I won't hate you for any reason, no hard feelings dude :)

Snow! SNOW! We didn't get that much snow in NYC =(
Last night (I think) it rained and most of the snow melted away.... =(

But there'll be more snow soon... hopefully (it IS winter)! =D

I am horribly jealous of Boston right now, we only got ice storms and about half of an inch of snow that didn't stick in Chicago! My best friend and I have to wait until January to freeze the blocks to build our authentic iglo...

Also chai tea is the tastiest of all the teas. You should consider buying some to stock your cabinets with.

I pitch the notion that the applicant pool donate copious amounts of instant hot cocoa to our dedicated and beloved admission officers. And I also notion that you drink about five cups and get the endorphins nice and flowy right before you read my application... ;)
Happy reading, and may the best candidates win!
PS- the campus looks much akin to our current weather status in Garrett County, Maryland. (*Checks outside window*) Yep, still a blizzard.

I hope you enjoy my application amongst the many others. As I asked on Ben's entry the other day, any idea, at least, when the committee will convene (looking at old blog entries, it seemed that December 3 was a popular date, but clearly the crazy influx of applications of this year is taking longer)..?

As hard as I am trying to focus on other things in my life (over which I still have more control), the anticipation is still something that creeps back in and distracts me from homework. Still, as anxious as I am, I'm excited ...

Good Luck with finishing up reading everyone and good luck with selections.. cause I know with how amazing you all describe us, the applicants, that choosing just less than 400 must be a really taxing endeavor. Once again, best of luck, and get back to us when there is more information

~Donald Guy

Any information about selection committees/notification dates would be amazing. I'm so nervous right now.

@vader1990 the inner-programmer in me is screaming at the extra close parentheses after "that score". Some sort of compiler error. j/k

I personally like cinnamon water, which is basically just a ridiculous amount sugar and cinnamon sticks in water. Trust me, it's yummy.

In NJ we got an inch or two, but by the end of school today it was gone. *tear*

@Matt L. Rest assured. HIs parentheses are fine. I think you may have mistaken his smiley as a parentheses.

yo Matt L, I'm a fellow programmer, and I will have you know i do NOT have an "extra parantheses"...after the word math I have a ":)" = smiley face, the ")" part is a "smile" NOT a close parantheses, so the actual "close parantheses" is infact after the word score....lol....

I know I'm weird, you may now proceed to make fun of me....lol...

I have soooooo many spelling/grammar errors though in this post

Sorry for the double post, but just wanted to gently bug you with the question on lots of lips- When are the EA Decisions due to be out? If you honestly can't say at the moment, being buried under mounds of pink and white near-novellas, we understand, but the suspense is awful!
Good luck, everyone!

sorry for the triple post, but I had a 1470 in SAT II's....720 in chem, NOT a 700.....lol...

^^^^^ You have no life.

yes... a release date would be very nice!

To answer the question about decision date, I'd like to quote a recent blog post by my awesome colleague at the University of Chicago, Libby Pearson. It isn't exactly how things are here, but gives you a sense of how things are in many admissions offices.

"So, when are decisions coming out? I we don't are not know telling. That is a mixture between 'I don't know' and 'We are not telling.' We have a goal date. Do we ever meet the goal date? No. So we're not even going to tell you the goal date, because we probably won't meet it. If we do, we'll be happy, and you'll get your decision in mid-December. If we don't, we'll be less happy, but you'll still get your decision in mid-December."

In the meantime, MIT (and Chicago) applicants, please be patient, and keep on enjoying your senior year...
-- Matt

*cough* sorry, my authentic igloo.

Hope that fixes your compiler error :)

haha im in san diego. We had rain for the first time in 4 months last weekend. Today it was 72 it's supposed to get up to 80 on Wednesday. *If* i get into MIT the weather will probably be the hardest thing to adapt to :P

^ ah it is a FREEZING 62 degrees right now

@vader1990 - Hahaha, try typing a smiley face in your code sometime and see if it doesn't create a compile error... =P

@Matt - Have fun reading! I think I belong in EC...

I never seen snow before ! cant wait ! *eager*

68 at 9 AM on December the 2nd, 35 at 5 PM. Saint Louis weather...

@Hawkins - I do Java...

class whatever {
....//code
String vader1990 = "I hope I get into MIT :)";
System.out.println(vader1990);
...//other code
}

//output
I hope I get into MIT :)

I just kidding Hawkins.....lol....I'm at school RIGHT NOW working on a project for MESA, there's only so much robot building I can take before I crack...lol...

Aw I wish we got snow more in Dallas...

I hate the weather here so much, it was 80 degrees yesterday, and then 35 this morning.

Matt I might suggest warm/hot smoothies. I blend up fruit and juice and stuff, then I heat it up in a pot, and pour it into a cup. It's like really thick apple cider, but with your own choice of fruit!
(Plus it's HEALTHY!)
(and way tastier)
(but you don't want it scalding hot)

My guess is prolly before Christmas/Hanukkah/Quanza/Ramadan/X-mas/Holiday break guys when we get to know about EA. So I'd say like December 14th-19th. Hooray for political correctness and the woes it brings to society!

at least I think Ramadan is around this time, if I remember correctly.

The snow yesterday was beautiful!! I was at the student center and I just had to walk outside and see the snow falling. I've seen snow before, but something about this being the first *real* snow falling on campus since I got here, it just feels really cool. (We really haver no such thing as "Seasons" in PR; it's just "hot" and "hotter".)

And since you're into tea... Have you been to Teavana, in the Pru? it's just simply awesome. I got this really good earl grey (I'm a hardcore fan of earl grey) and a maté, and they were great. And I also got a cool mug you can brew your tea AND drink it in.

Enjoy reading those applications!

ah woe is us poor southern californians and our chilly 75 degree days :(

actually, a better way to get a smilie in java would be

public class whatever
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
String vader1990 = "I hope I get into MIT";
System.out.print(vader1990);
//***this is what is important***
System.out.println((char)1);
//for good measure, throw in a system beep
System.out.println((char)7);
}
}

//output
I hope I get into MIT☺

*beep*

snow!!!!! i love the snow. first saw it earlier this year in denver (yay first regionals!). can't wait to go there, if i get in.

no snow here in los angeles, but the weather's getting chilly now (at least, for the land of no seasons). i'm gonna need a new wardrobe if i move east.......

also, i, too, can't wait to find out when decisions will be announced. aaahhhhh!!!!! the suspense is killing me.

*ahem*

It will definitely NOT be before Hanukkah, since Hanukkah starts tomorrow at sundown. And Ramadan was about two months ago. So unless you're saying we'll have Hanukkah, then acceptance (please?) letters, then Christmas, then nine months, then Ramadan, and then Hanukkah again, you're wrong. Not to put too fine a point on it.

And here I'll add the Smiley Face of Compiling Doom to show I'm not trying to be mean: :)

ok, so i'm in AP comp sci now, but its my first year of programming ever (if you don't count my year of calculator programming way back in 7th grade.) i understood most of that code (yay) but I dont know what (char)1 and (char)7 are. Someone want to explain? Hope this doesn't effect my chances of getting in.

And I WISH it were snowing here. it snowed 1/4" once about 8 years ago, but thats it. but cocoa sounds god anyway

For the record I would like to mention that thanks to one measly snow day on Saturday, Seattle is flooding big time from record rainfall as a follow-up. Now how much nicer wuold it be to simply have that nice snow day to stay at home and study for IB Physics? :)

Ahhh! I went to a hot cocoa party when I was visiting MIT overnight!!!!!!!!!

Killian Court looks so gorgeous with snow...

ahhh AP comp sci i took both of those already in 9th and 10th. what a joke those were. java.... the good old days.

Hawkins, what is your full name?
I think I might know you. :)

(char)1 and (char)7 is how you cast primitive int numbers in primitive chars. The result of that particular one (char)7 i believe, its been a while, is that the it passes \7 to the output prompt which is like \a in ascii-code which tells the mother board to sound an alert. (char)1 and (char)2 are smiley facs in ascii i believe.

Here in Central New York, we only got freezing rain that left us with a nasty, slushy, partially frozen mess 2-3 inches deep everywhere. I wish we had snow instead, but oh well. At least we won't have a green Christmas here like we did last year.

(char)1 in ASCII is actually SOH (start of heading), but the console displays it as a smiley face for some reason. Similarly, (char)2 is STX (start of text).
I was just experimenting with non-text ASCII chars in DOS prompt, and inadvertently scared myself because my system beep is really loud, ha ha.

They are definitely not smiley faces in ASCII proper .. 1 and 2 are well in the range of C0 control characters .. they are ^A and ^B .. meaning Start of Heading and Start of Text, respectively.

That said, however, in DOS .. they do print as smileys .. I believe 'BLACK SMILING FACE' (U+263B) and 'WHITE SMILING FACE' (U+263A).. respectively \

as for why it does this .. I couldn't say

^_^
~Donald

I love snow...
and hot cocoa is the best after putting up the Christmas lights for several hours.

Hot cocoa is the best after anything! :]

Speaking of cocoa...did I hear rms mentioned? :D (rms = Richard M. Stallman)

Just one of the many reasons MIT is so cool...

And as for the whole smiley face printing thingy, yes, \7 is the bell ASCII character (Ctrl-G). I remember this because I used to have an old Apple II where typing Ctrl-G actually beeped. If you enter 'echo ^G' (that's Ctrl-G) into the DOS prompt, it should do the same thing.

According to Wikipedia, control characters can be represented by "the Unicode characters from the area U+2400 to U+2421 reserved for representing control characters when it is necessary to print or display them rather than have them perform their intended function," which would be in line with what donaldGuy was saying.

Here are some other odd "substitute" characters DOS uses for control characters (I got them by entering 'echo ^A', 'echo ^B', etc. into the DOS prompt):

^D = diamond
^E = spade
^F = club

hey matt...how'd u type the last character in ur "hope i get into mit(thingy)"?
i'm referring to the "thingy"!!!!!

#include
int main(void)
{
char lang[10];
scanf("%s",lang);
printf("Bah... %s... the child of a child of a fun language to use :D\n",lang);
return 0;
}

gcc lol.c && ./a.out
Java

(gets back to testing his Scheme Othello AI)

Gah, I guess HTML doesn't like me trying to trick it into printing inequality symbols :/
<>

Haha...I'm from CA and I go oogle eyed at snow :) Though I have lived in the northeast before (in China) but still...haven't seen snow that thick in a loooong time.

Freezing cold 40 degree weather in Northern California, (That is cold for us.) I wish we got snow, we've had like no rain in months.

@Anon - my first name is Daniel. I linked my name to my Facebook profile this time, so if you know me, holla. =)

Wow, you guys are gettin' old school with the beeping and such... I'm thinking to myself, "I want to be Course 6... Should I know this stuff??" lol

I love the chip-head-y content of this thread. It just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside (even though Chicago, too, is FREEZING).
I am eagerly awaiting decisions--whether they bring more warm fuzzies, or the burning sensation of shame(jkjk-I'm chiller than that). Either way, though, it might help to defrost my fingers.

org 0000h
mov p0,#20h
mov p0,#4Dh
mov p0,#49h
mov p0,#54h
mov p0,#2Ch
mov p0,#20h
mov p0,#68h
mov p0,#65h
mov p0,#72h
mov p0,#65h
mov p0,#20h
mov p0,#49h
mov p0,#20h
mov p0,#63h
mov p0,#6Fh
mov p0,#6Dh
mov p0,#65h
mov p0,#21h
jmp @a+DPTR
end

8051 asm, works on any 8051/8052 compatible microcontroller, ASCII output in a loop on port 0 :D
btw I'm flying to Boston in 18 hours! w00t

Hey from sunny Florida; our cold front hit today -71! Seriously, I love MIT and would love to play frisbee in that snow next winter. Good luck to all.

Wow...a white Christmas. The closest thing my area (North Texas) ever got to a white Christmas was a frosty-ish Christmas, but my friend said it didn't count because it didn't actually snow. I say she's just too picky with her precipitation.

For all of you people that want the snow and ice, you should've been in Colchester on Saturday. We didn't get hit as bad as Chicago, I don't think, but we had frozen roads, sidewalks, power outages, the hold nine yards. It was an awesome time, lol, but by midnight it was all melted, too bad...

Great to see the snow photos...do they still bury "Transparent Horizons" (the "sculpture" in East Campus)?

Do admissions decisions show up online, via email, or only via snail mail?

@ WTBS Alum

I believe the admissions decisions will show up online first, with follow-up snail mail arriving shortly after.

snow: fun to watch, uncomfortable to walk through.

oh the things i've learned at MIT...

For any one who was curious .. Sh1ftys program outputs (assuming the right hardware) " MIT, here I come!" (without the quotes). As a point of computer nerd pride, I would like it noted that I did all of the letters and spaces from memory and only looked at an ASCII table for the "," and the "!". (Before you are too impressed or judge me too harshly .. its not that hard to memorize ASCII in hex .. I did it by accident while taking the class ... 0x20 is a space, digits are 0x30 + the digit, capital letters are 0x40 + the alphabetic offset of the letter ( 'A'=0x41, 'B'=0x42... 'J'=0x4A... 'Z'=0x5A ), and lowercase letters are 0x60 + the alphabetic offset ..)

... anyway .. in case you wanted to know such things ...

back to non-computer related homework ..
Peace \u262e,
~Donald Guy

Yeah, early decisons come out in 11-12 days...see they said "MID-DECEMBER" which is december 15.5, so 15.5- today's date (december 4th) = 11.5 days...

YAY!!!!

First person to identify the movie from which I got the quote below...gets brownie points...
--
there is no "right" or "wrong"
There is only POWER!!!

I'm gonna play the devil's advocate and mention the fact that I'm kind of hoping for a later decision date.
I've read before that the results are posted online at midnight after they're shipped out, which means at 6AM here. That would be a good enough pretense to hold an all-night (is there any other type?) LAN party.

I suppose that's selfish, but then, isn't that what the Christmas Season is all about? (Code-friendly version: Doppelpunkt D)

(char)7 only mae squares when i tried it...

its really nice to see people getting excited about snow
If you live with it every year, you kinda just wish it would go away after the first week or two...after its pretty.
Brown slush is gross.

...harry potter...
11 days... I'm already having trouble sleeping at night.

the snow was slushy and then turned icy... it wasn't very good snow :(

I don't have snow. Never do. And now? Now I'm jealous. I'd suffer through any amount of applications for some snow. Especially because, y'know, I could maybe give myself better odds at getting in that way. And I'd get snow!

@Sh1fty (or donaldGuy): Why does the output start with a space?

...I need to learn assembly.

Needless to say, every moment is just the mixture of anxiety and anticipation. I can only hope that the admission result turns out happy..

Don't worry too much about it. I'm willing to bet that almost half of the people who read the blogs would get in, mainly because anyone who's willing to hang around the blogs has quite a bit of interest in MIT.

Haha, that's easy for me to say since I haven't finished my applications yet. Just have to get through the interview tommorrow and the most difficult essay I've ever come across.. :P

It's good to read all the great posts on the blogs, but sometimes, I think we attach too much importance to the college we want to go into. That said, I would love to go to MIT, and a few others. Very much.

But, it really isn't the end of everything; on the contrary, it's really just the beginning. So, why are we getting so stressed with all the anxiety and agony?

Chill! Yes, MIT is a great place and stuff, but, in the event of missing out, move on, because there is probably something much bigger waiting.

zzzzzz zzzz zzz ............ Avada Kedabra --- aah , i'm finally alive once more....thanks to whoever casted that spell...... o(-`|`-)o

oh god...so many posts within 2 days and 38 min. ........ Loads of jobless people around....ha...

i think that "snowing" thin is really cool... hope it snows here 2.

chow
Me---§unßAbaÞhu

OK .... since it hasn't yet started 2 snow let's talk something sensible - how many like playing comp. games ?? like cscz , dota , ut , aoe , ... etc

o(x'|'x)o

I actually want a later decision day, despite the anxiety and tension caused. I have finals starting this Saturday going till the 12th. If I find out before our during, I doubt I'll be able to concentrate, whether the news be good or ill.

Awesome, Matt! We love having cocoa every night and spawning new hacks. You should join us sometime to take a break from reading apps... LOL...

- 4E frosh

Agh I keep checking the blogs for the admissions decision date....

Patience... I'm trying...

@asm

I don't actually know why Sh1fty did it that way .. but I presume it's because he is looping it (so that it just outputs that until the contraption is removed from power or if using a software emulator, when it is terminated). Thus, without the space the output would be "MIT, here I come!MIT, here I come!MIT, here I come!MIT, here I come!.."(ad nauseum). Personally, however, I would have put the space at the end of the string.

Hope that helps.
~Donald Guy

Me too, Carolina. This somewhat torturous waiting is definitely trying my patience to the limit.

But hey, look on the bright side, 20 days until the best holiday (in my opinion) of the year!

And the MIT blogging community shivers with antici-
*SAY IT!*
-PATION!

Or maybe just channeling the classic Cambridge climate temperature...
Lol, apologies for the random Rocky Horror reference...

@donaldGuy

Ah, it makes sense now. Personally, I prefer your way. If I had done it in C, I would have done something like this:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)

{

    printf("MIT, here I come!\n");

    //printf("MIT, here I come ");  <-- if it's outputting to a device

    return 0;

}

(Yay, tags work! Although I think the text sanitizing routines have some minor flaws -- if you click Preview with &gt; or &lt;, it will display them as > or < in the text entry field again, and upon clicking the Preview button again, will attempt to render them as HTML. >_<)

Oh my, that didn't work out too well... Sorry for trying to use pre tags -- I didn't mean to screw up the page layout. *embarrassed*

y not make it void main() instead of int main (void)?? saves a few byts..doesnt it?

Matt, thank you for working on the admissions.

I applied early action, and am trying to remain calm
as the unannounced date of announcement approaches.
It's a bit awkward... Reading the posts of so many
others, I feel as if I should be worried... Did I do
this right, or that? Should I have mentioned this?
Did I use an apostrophe on the possessive "its" in
sentence X of paragraph Y on page Z of my essay?
Etc...

But I don't feel that. It makes me glad.

I have no guess as to whether or not I'm going to
be accepted, but I am confident that I tried. I
didn't worry over the application as I did it
either. I rewrote it about 5 times, each time
improving the last, and received opinions from
several close friends and teachers, but I was
never actually "worried." If I'm right for MIT,
I'll get in. If not, I won't, and why would I
even want to?

It's just awkward...
Anyway, thanks for reading.

- Patrick D.

(PS: Future posters, please enter line-breaks in
your posts. Having to scroll to the side is
annoying.)

@raphael: Technically, ANSI C requires main() to return an int, even though many compilers nowadays let you get away with using void. I guess the smallest function declaration for main would be just "main()", since the int is implied in C and (I think) in older versions of the C standard leaving the arguments blank was allowed. Interesting point, though.

@Patrick D: Heh heh, that was me trying to use some fancy formatting tags I shouldn't have...and it made the page scroll sideways as a result. *embarrassed grin* Anyways, I tend to worry about those kinds of things too. I reviewed my Part 1 at least 23 times and I still felt uneasy after I submitted it. But things will all turn out okay in the end (at least, that's what I keep telling myself).

@ asm: But Part 1 is supposed to be the simple half! :D

Matt you don't knowhow annoying it is when they yell for cocoa every night at 11pm.
it always scares the shit out of me.
maybe they can somehow automate some kind of messaging system along with their elaborate water heating system that automatically notifies 4E residents that it is time for cocoa at what? oh yeah 11 pm. just like every other night. that would really be something
yours truly
Larisa (1E proud) :.)

Hi Matt,

I'm an internaitional student from Dubai.

I just had a little question regarding SAT scores.

Let me start from the beginning. Frankly, I never knew about MIT until May 2007! I always knew that I would have to go back to India to study and in India all you need to "get in" is high marks. It does'nt matter whether you participated in extra-curriculars or not. So I studied hard and did my best all throughout. Including pursuing my hobbies and interests.

I discovered MIT really late, but I'm happy that I did!!!!!!

Consequently I had to rush to take the SATs to complete all the test requirements.

When I did take the SAT1, I was sick on test day. I totally messed up and my scores reflected it.
I did not want to cancel my scores because I knew that I did not have enough test dates left to complete all my other tests since it's not possible to take both SAT1 and SAT 2 on the same day.

I proceeded with the subject tests and I did very well.

I later saw on the website that I could have taken the TOEFL instead of the SAT because I am an international student. So i took the TOEFL and I did well.

The problem is here.
My school grades are good.
My SAT subject tests scores are good.
But my SAT1 scores dont reflect my real potential.

As I have sent TOEFL and SAT2 scores to MIT will my SAT 1 scores be over looked. Or will I have to retake the SAT to "prove " that I can do it ???

Do I need to put my SAT scores on my application even if I want only my TOEFL and SAT2 scores to be considered which is OPTION 2.

Or is it okay to just stick with my current tests??

Will an unintentional mistake on my part jeopardize my application???

@asm, Paul: I know how that feels. It's just that Part 1 is the important part. Misspelling my name, school, phone number, or one of those other little things could really hurt the application. I was almost literally hitting myself after realizing that I got my mother's graduation year wrong after sending it. But that's not that important.. is it?

@Larisa: Haha, if I get accepted into MIT, you can bet there'd be something like that. When I was in college, we' put up a very messy network with ethernet cables and wireless LAN and we'd post some messages like "free leftover food in room N". But I think half of us abused it to send friendly insults to each other and send letters (and delete other people's letters!) to the women's dorm. I love college life :)

@Anonymous: My point exactly. Maybe it's just me, but I'm always more afraid of the simpler sections, because I'm afraid of making a careless mistake that could really come back and hit me hard in the face. Like having a typo in the birthdate, which would be really bad! (Don't worry, I made sure that was correct before I submitted it. =D)

Ah, now to work on Part 2...

I must say, MIT's online application is very well designed and very polished. But then again, how could I expect any less from MIT? ;-)

is anyone else just sitting around the main blog page, refreshing every 5 minutes, in hopes of getting a bit of news on admission?

the wait is killing me! ahhh!

Yeah, me too. At least give us a date, MIT Admissions Personnel! All the other schools have dates! *bawls* And I had been hoping to get our decisions BEFORE most other schools' early decisions.

:) Just kidding. Take your time, as long as you accept me!

AHHHH!!! THE SUSPENSE!! IT IS KILLING ME!!!

Save me Physics!!! Must...*twitch*... study... *twitch*... for Physics C...
Must *twitch* know... *twitch* more... PHYSICS!!

AHHHHH!!! MIT EA decisions!! I hope I don't get deferred, because the suspense will kill me 'til March!!
NOOOOO-(long and drawed out...)-OOOOOO!!!

@ my fellow MIT EA-ers: I am most honored and esteemed to be among such great company as you all. GOOD LUCK!!!

@ MIT admissions (EA): Please TAKE YOUR TIME!! AND HURRY!!! (The suspense...!!!)

oh, I forgot to add:

@Anonymous:
Yes! I'm sitting around every 5 sec too, just logging in, and then looking through the blogs in case an admissions person "accidently" (or not) drops a hint as to what date the decision will come out!

I've (admittingly) even looked up last year's...
They announced the date 8 days before the real day EA decisions come out!! I wonder...

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
(That was random...)

PS
PHYSICS!!

PPS
GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!!

It's almost as if they were holding the date on purpose to kill half the application pool from an acniety attack and not having to send that many rejections and referrals. Good thing it's MIT. =) WE know they are doing their best to review EVERY application carefully.

guys , just relax......don't get so excited....
instead of logging in every 5 mins. spend your time doing something else useful ( don't tell me that u've got nothing else to do )

MIT , sure is a fabulous place but it is not the only 1 in the world.....god forbid , but if u r not admitted to MIT , your world will not end.....there r many things still waiting for u.
SO sit back...keep your fingers crossed , and carry on with your routine life.

best o' luck 2 all of u.........SEE YA LATER

§unßAbaÞhu

Nice job, Anon9! I was looking through old blogs to see when they announced the date last year, but I couldn't find it :p

So.. if they announce it the same amount of days prior as they did last year, and if they hold true to exactly mid-December this year, (The 15th or 16th), then perhaps we can expect an announcement today or tomorrow!

But those are a lot of "if's".. way too many to count on.

And.. as a side note.. rather than stalking this blog and trying to predict when it will be announced, I could be doing an Art History essay.

Good luck everyone!!

Funny Part 1 Mistakes:
S listed his father's occupation as "faceless bureaucrat" and only realized it after he submitted. (This was a different college's Part 1.) It's now part of the family lore.

Wow i see all these applicants so nervous that some are spasming ( uncontrollable twitching sound familiar?) lol i can only imagine how I'm gonna be, being international I'll have to wait until late March or Early April! gah! Well as does everyone else on this page hope, I really want to get in to MIT.Right now the application essay( the 500 word compulsory one) is being written and rewritten and rewritten by me, and I hope my corny jokes help to make up for my above-average-but-not-stellar writing skills and allow it(my essay) to shine like a beacon among the rest! but i guess everyone else wrote their essays with the same intention! gah! ( yes i like "gah"ing, i got it from the comic strip Dilbert, which is really funny). hope to see some of you guys and gals at MIT

sorry for the double post but does anyone know when u can call the collegeboard people to find out the scores for the Dec SAT subject tests via telephone( yes I know one has to pay a fee to do so).

@MMM: According to collegeboard.com, scores should be available by phone the same time they become available on the web, which is December 20 for the December test.

Not to dredge up an old post, or anything, but...
Rocky Horror is tehawesome.

ok, i've stalked the old blogs too. not just matt's... i've also looked through ben's, nance's, etc.

On December 3rd, for the past 2 years, Matt has announced that selection committee was starting. 6 days laters, in both years, decisions were announced.

THERE HAS NOT EVEN BEEN AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT SELECTION COMMITTEE STARTING.

GAHHHH.

so at the earliest, if Matt posted a blog RIGHT NOW saying selection committee had commenced... that would put as at a december 13th release date. But seeing as it's almost 10 pm EST, that's highly unlikely. So at the earliest, decisions will be announced december 14th...

On a side note, a lot of the old blogs are really cool! I found this great one about MIT related gifts- http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/mit_inventions_breakthroughs/holiday_gifts_mit_style.shtml

i showed it to my mum, and she bought a clocky for a friend! look up some videos of clockys on youtube- very cool!

also, check this out:

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/mit_inventions_breakthroughs/the_magic_paint_brush_1.shtml

ok. i'm done being a crazy blog stalker now :)

correction, selection committee was announced dec. 2 two years in a row... and decisions dec. 9. which puts 7 days between the two. which means an even longer wait o.O

I believe I DID say "8 days" and this would be the proof for Early Action 2007.
Don't know where these 6 days, 7 days, come from...

"Ben Jones | December 01, 2006

"If You Wish To Receive Your Decision Online..."

Selection committee has begun!

We are pleased to announce that we're still on schedule to release MIT admissions decisions online at 12:00PM EST on Saturday, December 9. (Decisions will also be sent via postal mail at approximately the same time.) If this date/time changes for any reason, I will announce it here, but I do not foresee that happening at this juncture."

But yes, the point is we get about a week's notice, more or less!
AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

ah, true.

i was skimming the list of matt's blogs and saw he wrote one about selection december 2

but as you say... "But yes, the point is we get about a week's notice, more or less!
AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

There is also the possibility that they have started on selection committee and decided not to tell us until later on. Matt quoted Libby from UChicago the other day:

"We have a goal date. Do we ever meet the goal date? No. So we're not even going to tell you the goal date, because we probably won't meet it. If we do, we'll be happy, and you'll get your decision in mid-December. If we don't, we'll be less happy, but you'll still get your decision in mid-December."

Thus, maybe they did not tell us when they started selection committee to avoid our further stressing over when the decisions come out. I, as optimistic as ever, think that they have started selection committee either on Thursday or Friday and the decisions will be ready on Saturday the 15th.
Therefore, 7 more days.

I like your optimism, Tong! But would they really leave us in the dark like that? I guess only time will tell.

I do, however, like the sound of only 7 more days.

:D

I like your optimism, Tong! But would they really leave us in the dark like that? I guess only time will tell.

I do, however, like the sound of only 7 more days.

:D

all this talk of snow and ice, bleh. it's gorgeous down here in sunny south florida, sitting by the pool. i just got my first acceptance letter today; my back up school.

deep breath. relax children. don't be so stressed out.

I would love some snow right about now... I've a paper to write with my predictions for the presidential primaries and a debate to prepare for on the USA PATRIOT Act, both for AP Government, both on Monday. Not to mention the insane amount of work I need to do this week for AP Chemistry. Kill me.

I heard back from my second-choice college a couple of days ago with an acceptance letter, and now I'm just hoping that the news on this end will be as good. Looking forward to knowing either way.

Personally, I concur with Tong. If you guys read another blog post about our supplement materials and stuff being received by MIT, that blog hints that they begin the selection committee around December 7th.

I was kind of disappointed to see almost everyone replying only to this blog post... the one about the IAP (the most recent one)was really interesting too!

I wonder about the decisions too, but I really think instead of worrying too much about WHEN the decisions come out, we should be focused on current school stuff. We only have like a maximum of 7 more months with our school friends, some of whom we may never see again. So maybe we should all be hanging out or doing homework together with our friends right now rather than freaking out about a college decision that we can't really do anything about at this point....

OH AND THE AWESOME BLOG ENTRY TITLED "EVERYONE LOVES A MATH JOKE" was also a GREAT read! Here's the link:
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/everybody_loves_a_math_joke.shtml

Good luck everybody!

=)

Even though you have a point, Jing, it is possible to habitually check this blog and still have a life.

Whether we can do anything about it or not doesn't make the waiting much easier. And although I enjoy hanging out with my friends (did so last night, as a matter of fact), it's hard to ignore the large cloud of suspense hanging over my head.

important question about MIT:

How's the food?

@ anon
When I visited MIT I ate at this eating-group place called pika. Every day they cook themselves a meal. It was amazing! I ate a variety of homemade breads, and some soup. I'm not sure as to meal plan foods, though.

No love for Regular Decision applicants. But hey, at least I get to cling to false hope for a few weeks longer than you guys, but then again, I get to endure the waiting, too--no doubt while some of you are joyfully gamboling around the house and gibbering incomprehensibly after receiving big, healthy envelopes from MIT.

I...finished my interview yesterday...uh...I think it went...well...uh...that's something, right?

Meghan -- You're right, anticipation is the worst, but I didn't imply that checking the blog means you don't have a life! ;] (I think I have a life even though I check MIT's blog like 24/7) I just don't think people should worry too much about the decisions; they'll come when they come.

Oh and my friend told me that we first get a plain letter of notification before we get the big packet; and we also get a poster of MIT -- does anyone know if that's true?

I had sushi when I visited MIT, it was some of the best rice and seaweed I've ever had!

oh no, twilight bob, you don't just get a big healthy envelope with your acceptance letter... you get a TUBE. how cool is that!!

http://snively.blogspot.com/2006/12/tube.html

LOL THAT IS INTENSELY AMAZING.

How much does the MIT admissions office take into account whether any relatives are alumni?* I only ask because there was a spot on the application for listing relative alumni.

* And, more cynically, how much does the MIT admissions office take into account how much a relative has donated?

Anon8:
After reading that post, I can say for certain that I have never felt the way I just did about a cardboard tube. I think you folks at MIT are trying to drive me mad--I am like Tantalus in his stream.

HEY! That was a reference to Greek mythology. I can haz MIT now?

Man... the Tube... it has left me speechless...

I am feeling a queer sense of awe and desperation...

The wonderful Tube... :0

"LOL THAT IS INTENSELY AMAZING."
--Jing Jing's words shall do for now...

wow that sounds really really cool. Looking forward to this next week with great anticipation :)

Re: Anonymous

"MIT doesn't consider legacy status in admissions -- legacy kids aren't at an advantage compared to the rest of the pool."

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/double_legacy.shtml

All you people... Calm down. You've already turned in the application, so all you can do is wait. In the meantime, enjoy a compsci joke!

There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who know binary, and those who don't.

- Patrick D.

Hey Matt,

I am applying regular action, and was wondering why the tracking didn't display that a few stuff came in, is it because you guys are busy with early decision at the moment?

Thanks in advance.

-Mike

Patrick D, the best is when someone replies with all their heart being completely serious saying "thats only two types!"

Using a white frisbee seems a little silly in the snow though! :-P

OH! It's a white frisbee?? I thought it was a snow frisbee--a frisbee made out of snow... that would have been cooler :)

...still waiting... eeeeekk...

@ Jing Jing: which blog was it that they hinted they started the selection committee Dec. 7??
...I can't find it :(

I agree with whomever it was that said that MIT probably is not going to tell us when they're going to let us know. while we're waiting in agony, we should try and keep in mind that they have few good reasons for delaying decisions a little bit:
1. New admissions person. it's bound to slow down the process. also, maybe with this new admissions person, the dept. has new ideas about how admissions should be run, i.e., restoring some of the mystery and surprise in college admissions that we've lost since the birth of technology such as the computer and email. it used to be that you knew you'd get the decisions around such and such date, varying a little due to mail delivery. there wasn't a set date and time of sat. dec. 9th at 12:00 EST as EA applicants had last year.

2. Increase in EA applicants. since Harvard disbanded their EA system, MIT got the overflow, and is now currently reading and carefully analyzing a record number of applications.

3. Iowa blizzards. They seem as though they are trying to be very accomdating to these people and letting them turn in missing parts of their application as soon as they can.

4. CA fires. as with the aforementioned blizzards, MIT is trying to be as understanding as possible in allowing them to turn in missing scores, school reports, etc.

and honestly, if they weren't being this understanding, they wouldn't be MIT.

Overall, I think we just have to sit back and try and look at the silver lining. I know it's hard to do--I personally am not so much nervous as I am incredibly anxious to know if the MIT admissions officers agree with me that I belong at MIT, and it's not easy to wait without a concrete date of relief. anyways, the silver lining is this: the longer they take, the surer you can be that their decision is sound. If they weren't being this careful about such an important decision, again, they wouldn't be MIT, and we all probably wouldn't have fallen in love with MIT in the first place.

Matt:
Will the EA applicants this year get tubes?

Thanks!

p.s. my money for the EA release day is Saturday, 15th December

Excellent post, Hilly. A little logical reasoning always does the trick in easing anxiety. :D

Speak for yourself, Meghan. Some of us have already thought of all those reasons and we still want to know NOW! ;)

*refreshes mitadmissions.org and sighs*

To Anon9: Directly quoting from blog: "...as we begin selection committee around December 7th"
The original post is at:

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/deadlines/soothing_words_about_deadlines.shtml

Hilly, me

^ It's totally possible that they got into committee by the 7th, but I took that to be their 'goal date', so it didn't necessarily happen.

At this point, I'm not really expecting to be told very much about selection committee, because if they were going to tell us about it they would of said something by now (I think anyway).

As for the waiting, I'm doing alright. Usually, it's just something I think about when I visit this site (at least once a day, sometimes more), but sometimes I think too hard about it, dwell on it, and become very anxious and sick to my stomach.

i bet december 15th as well!

just to answer a previous question...
i spent 6 weeks at mit this past summer at their MITES program and well...

the food isn't the reason we all want to go there!
i love MIT enough to endure it for 4 whole years

I thought MIT was all about clarity in its system and telling its applicants exactly what's going on :(

I'm disappointed that we still have no idea about when to expect deicisions...

Plan A, hello! I went to WTP this summer.. I probably saw you at some point. (BBQ, College Fair, etc) And although the food is nothing to boast about.. ABP was pretty good and became a regular hang out spot for my friends and I.

Oh and Amy, don't get me wrong, every time I let myself start to really think about it (once every 5 minutes or so) I start to feel like I'm going to throw up.

For those of you who work out even occasionally, I'd recommend doing some hard training sessions. They help the anxiety (at least temporarily) a lot.

I have a good feeling about December 14th for the EA release date!

Whatever MIT and MIT admissions are doing right now (including deciding to deny me o.0!... maaaybe...) whether "holding out" on us -- as some theories go -- or simply taking more time to go over each application with expected meticulous MIT-like consideration, I will accept through and through. I trust MIT to make the right decision, and I'll go with whichever way is best for MIT.

Naturally, it would be great to be accepted EA (I want a TUBE sooooo badly!!!!), and I shall be sad if I get denied, but life goes on--there’s graduate school; and if denied again, there’s professorship; and if denied yet again, I’ll decide if I want to be a janitor at MIT or something (ooh! Or a TUBE-maker!! Design future super-hi-tech Tubes to give out to those ity-bity EA-ers! Wouldn’t that be hella cool! I CLAIM THAT JOB!!!).

BEST of Luck to everyone, EA and RA!

PS
Whatever happens, PHYSICS all the way!! :)

Oh yeah, Thanks Jing Jing -- yes, I see it now... :P

Anon9, anytime.

YOU LIKE PHYSICS?!? DID YOU SEE THE CRAZILY COOL 8.01 LECTURE VIDEOS of Professor Lewin (I think) DEMONSTRATING principles of Physics?!?!?

If you're interested you can find it here:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physics-IFall1999/VideoLectures/

Sometimes I really feel like we're all stalking MIT....

@ anon 9

"and if denied yet again, I’ll decide if I want to be a janitor at MIT or something (ooh! Or a TUBE-maker!! Design future super-hi-tech Tubes to give out to those ity-bity EA-ers! Wouldn’t that be hella cool! I CLAIM THAT JOB!!!)."

hahahahahahaha! sounds like a good plan... and if you become head of the tubemakers, maybe you can hire me too?

p.s. are you from norcal?

"Physics all the way!! :)"

Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.

-Richard Feynman

Didn't Feynman graduate from MIT too?

Yes he did.
I love his quote.

Re: Meghan
"For those of you who work out even occasionally, I'd recommend doing some hard training sessions. They help the anxiety (at least temporarily) a lot."

www.crossfit.com
Check it out. It's fun stuff, but I doubt it'll help to calm you, heheheh.

Hi Ben.I have a small problem.My application essay is 600 words long.Will the kind-hearted admission officers at MIT have the time to read an extra 100 words?

Patrick,
Nice website. Thanks. :D.

Go to decisions.mit.edu.

you can confirm the ability to see the decision online.

Decisions will be released sat. dec. 15th at 12:00 PM EST.

Good luck, everyone! I wish you all the best. May the best fits get in.

Choose MIT carefully...
I know this is the time of suspense and anticipation. But as a mom of a student accepted EA three years ago, chose MIT carefully. My student's dream was to go to MIT since 3rd grade. But just because they chose you, doesn't mean it's the right place for you. Talk to people who love it, ... and people who don't. My student found students and professors ambitious, brilliant, but harried and exhausted. A few friendly, but many indifferent because they are trying just to make it. When I asked two recent graduates what the best part of MIT was- I heard "surviving it, now I can recover." Not what I would pay close to 200K to be the highlight! My student transferred out of MIT after 2 years (despite a 3.85 average), and is learning more, with better friends, more fulfilling activities for the rest of college! Good luck to you all with a very important decision.

@ Jing Jing: Wow! COOL!! YAAAAAY!! GO PHYSICS!! (I've seen the swing pendulum one -- Mr. Matt McGann showed it to us when he came for the MIT info session!)

@ Anon8/Zizou: Yes! I will hire you, and we shall make the spiffiest MIT Tube EVER!! WAH HA HA HA!! (That was NOT an evil laugh >. And YES, I am from NorCal; are you???

DEC. 15th, 2007 -- DAY OF FATE
GOOD LUCK TO ALL FELLOW EA-er, and GOOD LUCK on apps to all RA too!!
INFINITE THANKS, MIT ADMISSIONS, FOR ALL THE HARD WORK! I am sure MIT will have an awesome class of '12!

@anon9

no, i'm not. but since i AM from socal... i recognized the "hella" as distinctley norcal. S>N :D

@ Zizou: Nice... >. "Hella" sounds better than "hecka", in MY opinion, but you SoCal-lers (

Aside from all that, this NorCal-er still extends a "hella good luck" to you SoCal-er who is probably enjoying sunny weather?? (contrary to what's outside MY window...)

PS
Used to live in San Diego :) ... out among the rollin' hills! Unlike here... er, no hills to speak of.

@ Zizou: Nice... >. "Hella" sounds better than "hecka", in MY opinion, but you SoCal-lers (note: a different species... -- lolz, JUST KIDDING!! ha ha... bad joke... o.0?) may have a difference of opinions...

Aside from all that, this NorCal-er still extends a "hella good luck" to you SoCal-er who is probably enjoying sunny weather?? (contrary to what's outside MY window...)

PS
Used to live in San Diego :) ... out among the rollin' hills! Unlike here... er, no hills to speak of.

@anon9

oh, today was a cold 70 degrees :)
and NONE of us say hecka. ever. though i admit i've said hella a few times...

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utng mfzov gsay njaukxc eslodn aidhn wyou http://www.krpuiem.omtzdw.com

Hello there Matt,

I came across this thing, 'Midyear Grade Report,' in the admission. And it has this curious caption that reads 'Only for US or US-based school systems.' I went ahead and asked my High School principal about it and there was no clean and sure response. What precisely constitutes a "US-based" system? My school is in San Salvador, El Salvador; the courses are taught in English, yet I am unsure whether it would be accurate to call it a US-based system.

Matt,

In MyMIT, I found in my 'Application tracking' that the boxes next to Evaluation A and Evaluation B are not checked but the box for Secondary School Report and Transcript. However, I had sent all my school reports, transcripts, Evaluations in one package. Could this imply that the Admission Commitee hasn't process the Evaluations yet? Or does that mean that the commitee did not recieve the letters? I'm really worried that all the necessaries might not have reached MIT.

Last year I decided to take AP English Language. I have never been good at English and I took the class so that I could challenge myself and grow from the class. I improved. Unfortunately I only scored a 3 on the AP Exam. Will this hurt or hinder me in any way in my application. After all I am not an english kid at all, I love chemistry.