MIT Admissions will no longer participate in Schoolhouse Dialogues pilot project
The Dialogues portfolio will not be included as a supplement for the 2025-2026 cycle
Colin Clark–The Tech
On May 12, Schoolhouse.world, a free online peer tutoring platform founded by Khan Academy CEO Salman Khan ’98, MEng ’98, announced that MIT, among other universities, would be accepting Dialogue portfolios as optional supplements for undergraduate applications.
However, MIT later backtracked on this decision in July. A statement provided by MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen confirmed that MIT will no longer be a Schoolhouse Dialogues university partner, and that undergraduate applications for the 2025-2026 cycle will not include the Dialogues portfolio as an optional supplement.
According to Khan, the goal of Dialogues is to promote civil dialogue through meaningful conversations. The program allows high school students to partake in one-on-one Zoom conversations about global issues including artificial intelligence, climate change, and economic development. Besides individual conversations, Dialogues also has online clubs that meet every other week to discuss certain subjects. Students who participate in the Dialogues program can receive a portfolio with peer feedback, providing a summary of their conversations and the communication skills they developed.
Besides MIT, Vanderbilt University has also decided to end the pilot project with Schoolhouse Dialogues “after careful consideration and hearing some concerns,” according to a press release on July 31. Six universities continue to be official Dialogues partners and will accept the portfolio as a supplement for the 2025-2026 application cycle. These colleges include Columbia and Johns Hopkins.
The launch of Schoolhouse Dialogues comes at a time of increasing tensions in higher education. The Israel-Gaza war has led to debates and protests in many college campuses, including MIT, and many social scientists have also noticed an uptick in political polarization in recent years. In a recent essay, Khan wrote that the program aims to provide “students a space to speak honestly, listen bravely, and practice engaging across deep differences” in a world “fractured by ideological bubbles.” In May 2023, MIT launched Dialogue Across Differences, a series that aims to promote civil dialogue on difficult topics. In the 2023-2024 academic year, the series invited speakers that discussed the Israel-Palestine conflict from various perspectives.
In a statement to The Tech, Allen clarified, “We understand the material would not have revealed the topics discussed or viewpoints expressed.” Allen stated that MIT will continue to accept the Schoolhouse portfolio, which provides tutoring certification for various courses. MIT also accepts calculus certification transcripts via Schoolhouse.
Although MIT will not accept the Schoolhouse Dialogues portfolio as a supplement, MIT Admissions states that the Institute remains committed to fostering civil discourse. “Being able to talk with people who might have different views than you do, on difficult topics, is a skill that we want to promote and that is being lost over time,” Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill ’86 said. “Dialogue is a key way to learn and sharpen one’s own views.”
Kate Pearce ’27 contributed to reporting for the article.