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Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:34 am
by hyc34
So I checked MIT admission information today and found something funny at this website http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/f122.pdf. Written in this pdf, last year, the number of students admitted is 88 out of 688 and the number of students enrolled is 43, however, from the rejection I received today, it says something like "750 applicants with 30 openings" and similar thing happened last year with the same thing "700 applicants with 30 openings". I am just wondering which one tells the truth? If 88 students were admitted out of 688 applicants, then the situation is not that bad (I guess I must have done something wrong with my application), and for private schools like MIT, the nationality of students should not matter that much, right?

Re: Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:10 am
by giga17
What they meant is MIT planned to have an incoming class size of 30. Then probably based on the statistics of past acceptance rates, they expect an acceptance rate of ~33% among the total offers that have been extended i.e. they will plan to extend offers to 90 students. The fact that half the students accepted last year meant that they exceeded their target for the number of graduate students for that academic year (if they are telling the truth about wanting 30 students for that year).

So basically, there is a difference between accepts (getting an offer) and admits (actually enrolling in the institution).

Re: Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 3:20 pm
by hyc34
giga17 wrote:What they meant is MIT planned to have an incoming class size of 30. Then probably based on the statistics of past acceptance rates, they expect an acceptance rate of ~33% among the total offers that have been extended i.e. they will plan to extend offers to 90 students. The fact that half the students accepted last year meant that they exceeded their target for the number of graduate students for that academic year (if they are telling the truth about wanting 30 students for that year).

So basically, there is a difference between accepts (getting an offer) and admits (actually enrolling in the institution).

So what you are saying is that the AIP data is correct? MIT did send out 88 offers out of 688? I am still confused.

Re: Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:01 pm
by scintillahx
hyc34 wrote:
giga17 wrote:What they meant is MIT planned to have an incoming class size of 30. Then probably based on the statistics of past acceptance rates, they expect an acceptance rate of ~33% among the total offers that have been extended i.e. they will plan to extend offers to 90 students. The fact that half the students accepted last year meant that they exceeded their target for the number of graduate students for that academic year (if they are telling the truth about wanting 30 students for that year).

So basically, there is a difference between accepts (getting an offer) and admits (actually enrolling in the institution).

So what you are saying is that the AIP data is correct? MIT did send out 88 offers out of 688? I am still confused.
Not everyone who are admitted will be enrolled. They may choose to go to another school. Schools all know this so they will send out more offers than the number of available openings. Sometimes more students may choose to go to MIT than MIT expected (over-enrolled..).

Re: Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:47 pm
by negru
scintillahx wrote:
hyc34 wrote:
giga17 wrote:What they meant is MIT planned to have an incoming class size of 30. Then probably based on the statistics of past acceptance rates, they expect an acceptance rate of ~33% among the total offers that have been extended i.e. they will plan to extend offers to 90 students. The fact that half the students accepted last year meant that they exceeded their target for the number of graduate students for that academic year (if they are telling the truth about wanting 30 students for that year).

So basically, there is a difference between accepts (getting an offer) and admits (actually enrolling in the institution).

So what you are saying is that the AIP data is correct? MIT did send out 88 offers out of 688? I am still confused.
Not everyone who are admitted will be enrolled. They may choose to go to another school. Schools all know this so they will send out more offers than the number of available openings. Sometimes more students may choose to go to MIT than MIT expected (over-enrolled..).
And that's when campus gunmen come in

Re: Confused about the number of students admitted

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:39 pm
by grae313
hyc34 wrote:
giga17 wrote:What they meant is MIT planned to have an incoming class size of 30. Then probably based on the statistics of past acceptance rates, they expect an acceptance rate of ~33% among the total offers that have been extended i.e. they will plan to extend offers to 90 students. The fact that half the students accepted last year meant that they exceeded their target for the number of graduate students for that academic year (if they are telling the truth about wanting 30 students for that year).

So basically, there is a difference between accepts (getting an offer) and admits (actually enrolling in the institution).

So what you are saying is that the AIP data is correct? MIT did send out 88 offers out of 688? I am still confused.
Yes, the AIP data is correct. Last year they had 30 openings. They admitted 88 students hoping that around 30 of those would accept, but 45 students actually ended up accepting.

If they admitted 88 hoping for a class of 30, they must historically have an offer acceptance rate of approximately 35%, but that will fluctuate year to year. Some years more than the target 30 will accept, some years less, but over multiple years it will hopefully average out to 30. This "target class size" number will be selected by the department based on a) how much money the department has for paying grad students and b) how many TAs the department needs each year for classes.