A Diversity Admit

A half-century ago, I wrote about MIT admissions for the school newspaper. I was told that MIT could easily fill every class with qualified students from America’s Imperial Capital, the Boswash (Boston-Washington) corridor.

Instead, it prides itself on admitting at least one student from every U.S. state every year, as well as multiple foreign countries.

Was I a diversity admit? After all, I was a resident of Oregon before I left for MIT. I have a vague understanding of how people feel when they suspect they are affirmative action admissions. I was asked by fellow students, once or twice, where I was from. “Oh, Oregon,” they said, nodding as if it explained something.

In the end, I feel I’ve done the place proud, in part by resisting the temptation to ever get anywhere near mathematics, science or engineering except as subjects of news stories.

Comments

[Robert E. Malchman]

I always thought I was a diversity admit, too, but only because I could read and write (my English SAT was 10 points better than my math), and I think they figured they needed *someone* to major in a HASS department so long as they could survive the STEM requirements.

[Paul Schindler]

Having a higher English SAT than Math SAT is apparently a common characteristic of The Tech Editors. The same was true of me and several others I know of.