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So either my high-school classmate was extraordinarily lucky to get admitted in spite of the fact that there was nothing spectacular about his academics/extra-c

• hga 13y ago
  In reply to you and yajoe, obviously it doesn't hurt to be the child of an alum. But first MIT has to decide if you can do the work, e.g. the calculus and calculus based physics all students must take. That sets a pretty high bar. The last time I checked, which was before the Great Recession changed the game and increased applicants, MIT was getting 13,000 applications a year despite the extreme amount of self-selection, of which they judged 3,000 could do the work. From that they construct a class of around 1,100 students.