I’m a junior right now in High school at the 6th best high school in the country. I have a 3.8 in unweighted GPA and a 4.8 Weighted GPA. I got a 2400 SAT I and high 700s SAT II. I got a 36 on ACT, two tries.
My ECs are as follows
Started 800,000 dollar software company
USAMO qualifier
Ranked 26th best high school student in Michigan for math
International Model UN
Stand up Comedian
Varsity Golf 4 years
Spent over 500 hrs tutoring kids in Detroit
What are my chances for MIT???
Will the GPA screw me over??
I cannot diagnose the latter from this couch, but you have as good a chance as anyone. Regardless of whether or not you get into MIT, you’re going to get a great education somewhere. Congratulations.
Can you afford MIT? Did any of that revenue return to you?
You look like a very well rounded applicant.
I don’t think the GPA will really screw you over …
Chances for anyone to get in are very low but you definitely have a better chance than the regular applicant.
Your software company and stand up comedy will really stand out.
Im sure youll get into some top school.
Good luck !
Actually, @Runikk, there are plenty of ways you could go other places. Have that dream and go for it, but don’t make that your life. You are more important than MIT and will be successful no matter where you go.
While you have a shot at MIT, I’d definitely suggest an attitude adjustment. The idea that “there is no way I could go anywhere else” is just silly. MIT is a reach school for everyone (unless perhaps an applicant with some major hook). I’d do some research and seek out other schools that you also love that are a bit less competitive. There are so many wonderful universities out there that nobody should fixate on just one school – especially such a hyper-competitive one in terms of admissions.
Don’t say that there is no way you could go anywhere else. You are setting yourself up for a huge disappointment if you don’t make it. Of course you have an excellent chance to be admitted but so do at least 50% of the applicants to MIT. At some point it will become almost a question of chance if you get in or not.
You are doing all the right things so just try to improve your GPA as that is your only (slightly) weak spot. Also, spend some of your time this spring looking into other schools where you might be happy to attend and are pretty sure to get in. Always good to hedge your bets. In your case, you know that if you get into MIT, you are going so spend all of your time looking into these other schools so you are prepared.
That is a ridiculous statement, and no one can guarantee your admission there. Be sure your application is spotless in terms of great, well edited, error free essays and no mistakes elsewhere. Get everything in on time. You need amazing recommendations, so think about who you will ask for those. MIT does want you to interview, so do whatever research you can on that ahead of time and keep your balance in the interview no matter what kinds of things happen (there are some pretty amazing stories of poor interviewers out here, you never know). Run the Net Price Calculator, but if your company has $800,000 in assets and you are an owner, know that those assets will likely be held against you at least partially from a financial aid perspective even if they are not liquid assets in your mind.
And… do really mean it that if you can’t go to MIT, you won’t go to college at all? Then put in only one application and don’t complain if you are not admitted. Even though I would say you have better than average chances of admission, you still may not get in. Other colleges you may want to consider if you do actually plan to go to college somewhere:
Reaches - Harvey Mudd, Stanford, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon (admission to CS is very competitive there). You could look at Ivies, but I never feel like they are the greatest place for a software entrepreneur to get a degree.
Match- University of Michigan (which would be affordable for you AND happens to be a great state university -- don't be put off by the fact that a lot of your classmates may go there, there are a ton of bright students there, you could definitely thrive there). Maybe UVA, but from OOS it may be a low reach. If you can afford the others on the list, then maybe Berkeley (also low reach) and UCLA -- but you will get no need based FA from the California publics no matter what your financial situation is.
Safety - Case Western. I don't know too much about RPI, but might be worth looking at. If you are looking for a less expensive state option, U of Minnesota has fairly low OOS tuition.
And to answer your original question, I doubt the 3.8 will be the problem if you don’t get in. That is high enough for them to put you in the pile to look at further. Just keep it up at that level this year and next fall.
Thanks guys for all your replies. I didn’t really mean my last post that way. It is just my dream college. Could you guys suggest stuff that I should do to improve my chances
On a totally random note, I don’t know for sure if I make Varsity this or next year for Golf, but I almost positively will
You had some suggestions (essays, rec letters, GPA, etc.) Short of learning to walk on water, I don’t know what else you can do. What do you want to major in at MIT?
Good luck with golf, but JV vs Varsity golf probably isn’t going to be the kicker for MIT admission. Don’t fret your 3.8 either. Just do your very best to have an excellent second semester and remember that not all 3.8s are equal.
Besides the ones mentioned above, there are probably a lot of good safeties which have the same feel as MIT among the other [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools.
Cornell is good too, I hear. A guy I know who has applied to MIT also applied there. I doubt he’ll get into MIT, but it would be crazy if he did. He’s really hoping to go the USAFA, so MIT is his “second” choice lol.