Class of 2018: Welcome to the family!
“You belong to an extremely select group,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif told the incoming Class of 2018 at this year’s Freshman Convocation, the traditional welcoming ceremony for the Institute’s new freshmen. Pointing to the 7.9 percent acceptance rate for a group of applicants that is already heavily self-selected to represent the elite of graduating high school students, he told this “extremely strong and talented group” that although they undoubtedly had other options, “you all made an extremely smart choice” by coming to MIT. Recalling his own uncertainties when he first arrived here, he said he quickly realized “this community was like an extended family.” “The world needs graduates with an MIT education,” he said — the kind of people who are “not satisfied with just doing what is required to earn a degree, but who want what is required to make an impact on the world.” The welcoming ceremony was held under...