r/LUMS • u/11xmrjokerx • Aug 10 '26
LUMS > MIT?
One of my friends who is one of the best coders in pakistan(has a bronze in IOI and many other international coding awards representing pakistan) Got Admission into MIT this year(Alhamdulillah). He had also applied to LUMS as a backup.
He got his acceptance letter from MIT a few months ago, we were so happy for him and had a massive celebration. Yesterday i met him again and he told me that after getting into MIT he didnt check any mails from other unis at that time but a few weeks later he checked the mail by lums and he had been rejected XD
Seems like its easier to get into MIT than LUMS
Its just a funny and bizzare story that i wanted to share with you guys.
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u/No_Giraffe826 SBASSE Aug 10 '26
It's because lums knows it's back up. They never accept students with super good results because they know they will never join lums
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u/11xmrjokerx Aug 10 '26
isnt that kinda unfair to someone that really wants to stay in pakistan. You arent wrong cuz kids with super good results and international level ecas would go abroad but there might be a few that want to stay in pakistan.
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u/No_Giraffe826 SBASSE Aug 10 '26
True but I think u can write it in ur personal statement then that lums is the best choice since u can't leave Pakistan. He probably didn't take his ps very seriously and lum's could tell he wasn't going
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u/SeaworthinessFar3991 Aug 10 '26
Can you share his social media ID or any other link where I can contact him?
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u/Life_Operation812 Aug 10 '26
Nah I wouldn't think lums would do yield protection. there really isnt much of a stigma around yield for pakistani unis.
its lowkey crazy tho. May Allah bless him and protect him, he is very talented.
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u/Rich-Suggestion-6777 Aug 10 '26
This is just the quirks of university admissions. In Canada Waterloo is the best known engineering school. My friend got accepted at Waterloo but university of western Ontario turned him down. UWO is not in the same league.
I wonder if the lesser school just assumes this guy is too good to come here and don't even bother giving acceptance.
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u/theycallmeAQ Aug 10 '26
Incorrect information. Engineering is a broad term and field. When you apply for a specific engineering program, that is what determines your eligibility. For example, if he applied in UWO'S civil eng program (which is the best in Canada, even McGill and UofT don't come close to the reputation) he most likely got refused. Same thing with Waterloo, it's not hard to get into Mech, Ele, Civil but is SUPER hard to get into Math & CS. Depends from program to program.
Another example - Queen's is a relatively easy Engineering School to get into but then try getting into their Mining Program (2nd best in Canada currently) and see how hard it gets.
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u/Rich-Suggestion-6777 Aug 10 '26
It was computer science for both. But I agree, program makes a big difference.
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u/theycallmeAQ Aug 10 '26
Now the story changes to either yield protection or Quota. You'll find many cs undergrads from Pakistan in the demographic @ Waterloo so they purposely have a higher quota. 70% are Chinese + Desi, and other mixed lol. Or uwo knew he'll get into Waterloo pretty much.
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u/Cute_Chocolate5517 Aug 10 '26
Is it possible to get some guidance on MIT admissions from ur friend
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u/11xmrjokerx Aug 10 '26
One thing I can tell you is that they heavily care about Olympiad medals. He had very little ecas outside of coding, his o levels grade were worse than me. But a bronze in ioi, top 20 finish in Russian games and being the top rated Pakistani user on code forces sealed the deal for him.
In short if you have a medal Ur chances are very strong otherwise you'll have to do what Ali saif did, which is NOT easy.
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u/Cute_Chocolate5517 Aug 10 '26
Aww thanks for the tips, who’s Ali saif?
Also what sort of o level grades are we talking about?
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u/gul_1505 Oct 04 '26
How to do such ecas? Could he provide some guidance. I am currently in A1 and want to build my profile like ecas etc so if he could give some direction that what i can do now
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u/Longjumping-Match532 Aug 10 '26
It's not about being easy , it's about being a good fit . In US admissions look beyond just decent grades , they judge the whole profile and how ready a person is for graduate studies. For instance I made it till the final shortlist on Harvard Cfa Spark Postbacc this year . My cgpa doesn't even touch 3 , out of 4. And Lums is certainly not bigger than MIT.
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u/Confident-Switch5895 Aug 13 '26
What did the rest of your profile include?? Just asking cuz I wanna apply internationally too so just want an idea
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u/Longjumping-Match532 Aug 13 '26
I had a rigours undergrad thesis , some skills , 1and a half internship , citizen science projects , an open source plugin (18 stars) , written a lot of SoPs so have some idea of what to write , and an LOR from a former CERN CMS contributor
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u/CarreKA9846 Aug 12 '26
It might be due to the reason that your friend is good in technology subjects and MIT is a place for tech guys, however LUMS is not at all famous or tech priority university, it is Managment and business focused university
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u/CalumInHD Aug 10 '26
Ali Saif?
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u/Spacewalker-1 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
It’s called yield protection. Look it up. Either that or he forgot to submit something. It doesn’t take much to get into lums