I’m a female who scored a 115.5 on the AMC 10 but only got a 1 on the AIME. should i still report the 1? Would it hurt my chances for MIT?
I wouldn’t report the 1 if I were you. Most people will assume a score of 3-4 off that 10 score, so it’s better imo to just leave it at the idea that you chose not to take the AIME (a number of kids don’t take it even after qualifying).
But the good news is just making AIME can be a great boost for a female candidate at MIT and other STEM focused places. Even Asian females with AIME seem to do pretty well.
Are you a current junior or senior? Do you have another chance to qualify off the AMC12?
I’m a senior. took the amc 12 my junior year and did not qualify
also, if i leave the AIME part blank, is there a chance that I might get mistaken for not having qualified for the AIME? my score was qualifying but below a 120. (Thank you for answering!)
Hmmm. That’s a tough one. 115.5 was just on the bubble that year (I am assuming 2017). I do think that the adcoms are pretty sophisticated these days, because the AIME floors have been moving around a lot in recent years, and no question the tests have been getting harder (especially the 12A last year and AIME I). They might recognize the AIME floor difference between the 10A and 10B for your year.
I wish I had a good answer for you. My gut feel is that 115.5 is a good enough score to show that you have talent in mathematics. I am assuming that you are high in SATM and at or near 800 on SAT M2L2. Given all that, I think I would just leave the 115.5 score in and the AIME box blank.
Maybe they’ll think you qualified AIME and maybe they won’t but in any case the AMC10 score in itself is respectable and I don’t think your AIME score adds anything and might detract (you probably just had a bad day!). After all, it’s not about whether you qualified for AIME per se but rather that you had the ability to qualify that is most important. Much will also depend on the rest of your application. Do you look like you have been gung-ho for math competitions for a while, such that a missing AIME or AMC12 score would raise a big question? Or, are you just general STEM and the 115.5 just reinforces that you have more talent than even the average MIT applicant? See the distinction?
Perhaps others could chime in, but I think on balance I’d just put down the AMC10A score and let them think what they want about AIME and move on. I hope that helps a little!
i have a 790 on SATM and 790 on Math II. and the AMC is the only math competition i’ve done. i am not even part of the math team at my school. (generally a more sciencey person) I will probably go with leaving the AIME part blank. Thank you for your advice!
i just realized that the MIT app doesn’t allow you to distinguish between the 10A and the 10B. and i only qualify on the A but not the B. this is going to be annoying…
^Boo, that stinks! 
Hopefully, someone else will chime in with advice. But the way you portray yourself as a science person with no math team experience, I think you’ll be fine. I know a few girls who took the AMC10 on a lark (usually in elementary school or 9th grade), did ok and then moved on to other science pursuits and not math. I’m guessing that will be how you are viewed, and with the two 790s on the SATs, you should be squarely in the range of qualified on math skills.
Good luck!