Alternatives?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Yea, so im a Junior now, and really getting into the whole college search thing, and have found MIT, and basically am dead set on going there. Unfortunately..my grades seem on the very low, uncompetitive end..I hate to post stats but....</p>

<p>SATs: 710 CR 680 M 700 W
SAT IIs: M Bio: 800 Math I: 690 U.S History: 720
Currently taking AP US History, AP Bio, AP English Language, and AP Psych
Next year taking AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc BC, AP Computer Sci, & AP English Lit
Weighted GPA: 5.250 Unweighted: 4.125(Basically a B+ student in AP classes although our AP exam reputation is quite formidable)</p>

<p>Also play lacrosse and led our Science league Bio II team to 7th in NJ...</p>

<p>Now for some questions...my GPA is weak, and I have yet to recieve any AP grades..so are there any alternative schools that MIT students traditionally apply to...preferably on the East Coast. Also, my school teaches AP Physics for only the Physics C: Mechanics Exam, and I have been considering taking the Physics C: Electricity/Magnetism exam and teaching myself or something to that extent. Is that a wise move, and if I bomb the exam, would MIT consider the fact that I did not have formal instruction on it? Thanks in advance and I appreciate any input you have!</p>

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<p>Alternatives...? :rolleyes: MIT is t3h one and only, man!</p>

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<p>how about that second-rate community college down the road? harvard!</p>

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<p>
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how about that second-rate community college down the road? harvard!

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</p>

<p>Uh oh! UH OH! We need a fire extinguisher in here!</p>

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<p>LOL! iostream knows where it's at :D</p>

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<p>It really depends on what you'd like to go into. I was admitted to MIT, but here are the other major schools I applied to.</p>

<p>CMU (Carnegie Mellon U) - has an awesome school of computer science</p>

<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic - is quite good at engineering, especially with entrepreneurship. They have an accelerator and a nuclear reactor if you like Physics.</p>

<p>Caltech - puts out the best pure scientists in the world. Caltech put out 31 Nobel laureates. MIT put out 63, but take a look at the class size. Caltech's class is 5x smaller than MIT's. If you want pure science, this is the place.</p>

<p>For the record, I was admitted to CMU and Rensselaer (but have no other affiliation with them) and was rejected from Caltech. I would have chosen MIT above Caltech anyway.</p>

<p>As for your chances..
I don't see any unifying goal or passion from your post. MIT tends to like people who are well rounded, but with a special passion (for me, it was computer programming). Believe me, test scores and grades honestly mean very little. I know a person who got perfect ACT and SAT scores, diverse ECs, and perfect grades, but was still rejected. He just did everything that was offered at school, but nothing that he was personally passionate about, no unifying theme.</p>

<p>As for the AP, it honestly can't hurt. I personally got a 4 on the physics B exam (not the Calc based one!) and a 3 on the US History exam, and I was still admitted. You don't need to be a supergenious to be admitted to MIT, you just need to be one to seize opportunities, enjoy learning, etc.</p>

<p>Believe me, you've got an excellent chance if you work for it. If I had applied during my mid Junior year, I would have been flat out rejected, no question. I did some cool things during the summer, and ended up with an application that was good enough to get me deferred. Finally, at that point, I kicked into gear. I realized that this was my life, and that I desperately wanted to go to MIT. From December to early February, I worked extremely hard, did some seriously cool things with computer programming, and sent a supplement that I was very, very happy with. I'm sure it tipped the balance..</p>

<p>Wow, I talk way too much. Good luck!</p>

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<p>all the schools previously mentioned plus Stanford (amazing), the Ivies (depending on what you want to do and what kind of campus you like), Harvey Mudd, Chicago, Rice, etc.</p>

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<p>A lot of MIT applicants also apply to Mudd as well. You'd be surprised to hear that several actually pick Mudd over MIT (although I'm sure many more pick MIT over Mudd). Also apply to Caltech. You can't really go wrong with any of those three schools.</p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd, Caltech, Stanford and that school up the river are all just about as hard to get into as MIT. Olin is hard to get into as well, but you should look at it - see if it appeals.</p>

<p>Rensselaer (RPI) is a strong school with a whopping 75% acceptance rate - you'd have an excellent chance of getting accepted. My son liked it very much.</p>

<p>Worcester Polytechnic Institute is another place you should look at. High average SAT scores, high admit rate. It's smaller than RPI and has a quirky schedule. Kids take three classes at a time, it seemed even more project oriented than RPI to us. Kids seem to love it, even more than RPI. </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon is at least as strong as MIT in some fields. I like the fact that it's strong drama, art and architecture programs makes it less overwhelmingly techie, compared to RPI and WPI. It's also harder to get into. You apply to different schools within CMU (but you can apply to more than one) and they have different admit rates. Overall admit rate was 39%.</p>

<p>I'd urge you to consider looking further afield, though I admit we didn't. There are some excellent choices in the midwest like Rose Hulman and Case Western Reserve.</p>

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<p>Actually, RPI's acceptance rate has been dropping like crazy lately (a good sign that the school is being recognized as a very nice school)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?view=5463&part=1&IssueID=199%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?view=5463&part=1&IssueID=199&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>2003 - 80% acceptance
2007 - 49% acceptance</p>

<p>It's an excellent fallback, and it gives good financial aid, too (2nd only to MIT's aid, for me)</p>

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<p>Huh, I didn't realize RPI's acceptance rate had fallen so much. I guess that's what happens when Newsweek dubs you one of the 25 new Ivy's. :) </p>

<p>At any rate be warned Mathson had better stats than the OP and didn't get into Stanford, MIT or Caltech - so be sure to look at some less competitive schools. Did get into that school up the river though. ;) However he's going to Carnegie Mellon.</p>

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<p>Another thing you might want to make sure when it comes to actual college applications - do them as though all your colleges are your top choices. I made a terrible mistake this year. Knowing (since my sophomore year) that I want to go to Caltech, I basically spend time only on that application. Thus, I was rejected EA from MIT, from Princeton, from Columbia, waitlisted at HMC, Rice, Caltech, and even RPI. Only WPI, NYU and CUNY H. took me at that point. Luckly, I'll be heading off to Pasadena next fall, but it just shows that crappy essays can ruin your otherwise very strong application. So be careful! :)</p>

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<p>Might wanna look into cooper union and rose-hulman inst of tech as well.</p>

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<p>Depends what exactly your into. I'm into some combination of EE, CS, and CE, so in addition to MIT, I applied to Caltech, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, RPI, Harvard, Princeton (mostly because of parents, but their CS programs are decent) and Olin, where I'll be attending.</p>

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<p>I applied to and got accepted by Rose Hulman.</p>

<p>Was my second choice ;). I suggest this as an alternative too!</p>

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<p>I would look into Rose Hulman also. I am going this Fall and was very impressed</p>

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<p>Depending on what you want to major in, I would second the Chicago suggestion. While MIT's fantastic engineering programs beat out our nonexistent engineering department, if you're looking at doing physics, chemistry, and/or math and you want to be in an intense academic environment and have a big city at your fingertips, you should look into the school. I know a handful of math and physics majors that turned down MIT for Chicago because they felt they would get more attention and would have the chance to explore their other interests through our Core.</p>

<p>I remember that Ben Jones had a great "Here are schools that are not MIT but are really awesome and are worth looking into" post on his blog. He mentioned most of the schools that have already been mentioned. The only non-engineering school he mentioned was Chicago!</p>