Am I Head In The Right Direction (Kind of a chances thread....)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>I'm a Sophomore in HS right now. I'm an Indian Male, if that matters. I go to a normal public school in northern California, nothing special. We get a few people going to UC Berkeley every year ,(i guess we have a decent amount of people going to UC's overall, most go to community college though) and every couple of years someone goes to Stanford. For the most part, it is not very competitive, but in my grade, there are around 5 - 6 kids (including me) who are very competitive and smart (compared to others in the school). </p>

<p>Freshman year:
3.9 GPA
No honors or AP since freshmen are not allowed to take any.
I was in robotics club and my team placed 3rd in the regional botball competition. I've been writing in the local community newspaper since 6th grade. I was a tech at my school, where we fixed computers for teachers, etc. I participated in the Sacramento Regional Science and Engineering Fair, where I got awards from Intel, the navy, and the air force. My project was on Wireless Sensor Networks. (I'm pretty much the only kid in my school who participated and knows about this fair). I'm also a boy scout. I self taught myself C#. </p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
classes:
Japanese 2
Honors English 2
AP Stats
AP World History
Leadership (I'm sophomore class pres)
Chemistry (No AP chem at my school)
Math Analysis (Pre calc/trig)</p>

<p>I plan to participate in the science fair again. This summer I started fencing competitively (before this, I fenced recreationally. I'm fencing regionally as well as nationally). My school doesn't really have any of those academic competitions (math olympiad, science olympiad etc, that I've seen lots of people on these boards competing in). I have been invited for the National Youth Leadership Conference on Technology this summer (2006). Would it really hurt my gpa/chances of admission if I got a B in honors english?everything else is an A...can't think of anything else right now...if i do i'll post it later.</p>

2

<p>don't worry now....</p>

3

<p>i'd say yes, but you really wont know until the bginning of your senior year.</p>

4

<p>The thing is, I need to build up my resume. And for that, I need to do stuff now. Can anyone recommend any thing i can do...</p>

5

<p>write a useful program in C# and distribute it online</p>

6

<p>Coolphreak, what is it you love to do? What really excites you, makes you want to stay up late or skip a meal learning about it or practicing it? You have been involved in robotics, and science fair projects, and fencing, and writing for a newspaper, and fixing computers. Those are excellent ECs. </p>

<p>It doesn't really help to ask people who don't know you to recommend something you should do to put on your resume. Figure out what <em>you</em> are most interested in and pursue it: THAT is what MIT wants to see, not "the list of ECs you think MIT might be impressed with". The ECs you're already involved in are great: can you take a leadership role in any of them in the next couple years? Perhaps expand some of them into community service projects to help others even more? No need to spread yourself thin: you seem to be doing interesting things that you are interested in. If anything, I'd recommend diving deeper.</p>

<p>(PS: NYLC/Technology may be a good experience for you next summer, enjoy it! It is not a very impressive item on an application or resume, however, so do not do it just for that reason.)</p>

7

<p>will a couple B's in high school really hurt my chances of admission? I already got one B+ (first semester only) in freshman year, and I might get one in honors english this semester.</p>

8

<p>A couple Bs generally won't hurt your chances of admission.</p>