Matt McGann '00 | January 27, 2005

"Match Game"

It may have been snowing outside, but inside, it's raining applications.

Unfortunately, I missed another classic IAP event last night: the annual 6.270 Robot Competition. Modeled after MIT's world-famous 2.70/2.007 robotics competition, 6.270 throws in an interesting twist: the robots must be autonomous. The competition is so popular, they hold it in the 1200 seat Kresge Auditorium on campus.

Here on my blog, there has been a lot of interesting discussion after my last post, and lots of good questions, too. I hope to answer many of those questions soon, but today I'll start with the question that seems to be most prominent: what does it mean to be a "good match" for MIT? What do we look for?

• Alignment with MIT's mission. The founding mission of MIT was to improve the world through science and technology. The Task Force on Student Life & Learning -- aka the "Task Force," which was formed during my time as an undergraduate to articulate MIT's mission for the next 50 years (this is a topic for another post) -- reaffirmed that mission, stating, "Today, the goal of discovering and applying knowledge for the benefit of society remains at the center of MIT's mission."

• Collaborative & cooperative spirit. The core of the MIT spirit is collaboration and cooperation: you can see it all over the Institute. The homework ("problem sets") at MIT is designed to be worked on in groups; cross-department labs are very common; MIT is known for its interdisciplinary research; the Open Source movement is powerful here; publishing and sharing of results is the center of academic research. Fostering a collaborative environment is an important part of the MIT community.

• Initiative. Opportunities abound at MIT, but they must be seized. Research projects and seed money and interesting lectures and all that good stuff isn't handed to students on a silver platter, but for those students who take initiative, who take advantage of what's around them, MIT's resources are unparalleled. Initiative is also coupled with risk-taking.

• Risk-taking. Asian Mom provided a great quotation from Marilee Jones, our Dean of Admissions: ’ÄúWe want to select people who are not only planning to succeed, but who are not afraid to fail. When a person takes initiative in life, they learn resilience as a result because taking initiative ensures risk and risk leads to failure as often as it leads to success. The most creative and successful people (MIT is loaded with them) know that failure is part of life and if you don’Äôt give up and manage to stay focused, goals ultimately get realized.’Äù

• Hands-on creativity. MIT is an active, hands-on place. Innovation is risky and messy! Getting your hands dirty and trying something new is often the best way to achieve success. We apply theoretical knowledge to real-world problems. Back in 1861, MIT's charter directed MIT's commitment to the "practical application of science in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce." Today, you can read this phrase engraved in MIT's Lobby 7.

• Intensity, curiosity, and excitement. "One of the fundamental principles of an MIT education is the intensity, curiosity, and excitement which, in part, define the ethos of the Institute and propagate into all of its educational activities," said the Task Force.

• Good people. Our strong community is one of the most wonderful things about MIT. We want people here who will be good community members, good roommates, good mentors to underclassmen, good role models for the next generation of students.

In the admissions process, we are looking for students who display these "very MIT" qualities. When I'm reading applications, these match qualities are always in my mind.

Don't forget that this finding of the match is two-sided -- you have decided that MIT is enough of a match for you to submit an application, and soon, admitted students will have to decide which school is their best match for the next four years.

So, now that I've told you a bit of what we're looking for in a match, I'm curious what made MIT enough of a match for you to apply. What are the qualities and characteristics of MIT that makes you attracted to the Institute?