Am I in or Am I out?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Well, I have had my interview, and it went pretty well. Looking only at my academic and activities background, do you think I could get in? It's my second-choice (soon to be first because I know I will never get into my first choice)!</p>

<p>I'm an asian female, and I live in the south. Schools i'm applying to are:
MIT, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and 2 local colleges. Years are shown by number (4 is senior year, 1 is freshman)</p>

<p>Courses this year:
AP Music Theory
AP German Language
AP Government & Politics
AP Language & Composition
Course taken at nearby college: Applied Differential Equations II (sr level class)</p>

<p>SAT1
Math: 780
Verbal: 690</p>

<p>SAT2
still waiting for the scores, but last time it was
Math2c: 700 (don't know if this will go up much)
Writing: 600 (this should go up at least 50 points)
and chemistry was terrible, i'm guessing this time it's anywhere between 550-650</p>

<p>AP Exams
Calc AB - 5
Calc BC - 5
Psych - 4
Engl Lang & Comp - 4
Physics - too low to mention</p>

<p>Rank: 5 out of a little less than 500
GPA - after this semester (hopefully)
weighted: 5.308 (6.0 scale)
unweighted: 3.846</p>

<p>Special Recognition</p>

<p>· The College Board Advanced Placement Scholar Award (4)
· Toyota Scholars High School Nominee (4)
· NC State University’s Park Scholarship High School Nominee (4)
· Harvard Book Prize Award Nominee (3)
· National Leadership Conference Nominee (3)
· The National Society of High School Scholars Nominee (2)
· School of Science and Mathematics Admission (2)
· 2003 SummerVentures Program (2) – Student Government; Yearbook Editor
· US Achievement Academy International Foreign Language Award Recipient (1)
· Algebra II State Competition Team Member (1)
· Qualified for the Geometry Team (1)</p>

<p>Extra-Curricular Activities/Clubs</p>

<p>Key Club <a href="4,3,2,1">50+ hrs of community service per school year</a>
· Vice President (4)
· Advisory Board; Webpage Designer (3)
· Advisory Board (2)
· Freshman Class Representative (1)</p>

<p>· German National Honor Society (4,3,2,1); Executive Board (2)
· German Club (4,3,2,1) – President (3), Vice President (2)
· Webmasters Club (4,3,2) – Vice President (3); Guidance Department Editor (2)
· National Honor Society (4)
· Chinese Language School (12 Years)
-Chinese-American Society (TACAS)
-Tai-Chi class (4)
-International Festival Volunteer (3,1)
· Asian Students Association (4,3,2) – Webpage Designer (4,3)
· Student Council Homeroom Representative (2,1)</p>

<p>Work Experience</p>

<p>· Caribou Coffee Company Employee (4)
· University Civil Engineering Intern (summer 2004)
· German Teacher Assistant (4,3)</p>

<p>Language skills
Fluent in 2 languages, able to understand (not speak) 1, and lessons of German for 7 years</p>

2

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/benjones/www/blog/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/benjones/www/blog/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>:)</p>

3

<p>Are you sure you know what you want in a college? </p>

<p>How much have you looked into the colleges you're applying to? You don't seem to have that much interest in the maths or the sciences (looking at the AP courses you are taking and your activities) ...... and Princeton is... uh.... at best... VERY different from MIT.</p>

4

<p>I definitely have an interest in Math and Sciences - I completed all the math curriculum at my high school and have completed 3 college courses. I also interned this summer in engineering, and the summer before that went to a class on Epidemiology.</p>

<p>LSA - The link you gave me was very interesting, as well as inspiring.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies!</p>

<p>Another other suggestions? Comments? Criticisms? Angry yelling? Cheering?</p>

5

<p>I agree with pebbles... you may definitely have an interest in math or science, but it doesn't seem to show with your scores. As someone who took "all the math curriculum" at your school, how come you only got a 700 on your math iic and your physics ap score was too low to mention?
anyways, good luck :)</p>

6

<p>Well I didn't study for Math 2c, and I didn't remember the probability stuff (I never use it)</p>

<p>As for physics - I didn't have a calculator :( Plus, i suck at the subject</p>

7

<p>whoa. how the heck does a 6.0 scale work? O_o</p>

8

<p>AP courses: 6.0
Honors courses: 5.0
Regular/Academic courses: 4.0</p>

<p>This makes it so a C in the AP class is equal to an A in the regular. Rather accurate, actually.</p>

9

<p>Hm... well I'm pretty sure MIT would recalculate your GPA anyways... either that, or they'd look at the actual grades and not a number given by your school. As long as you dont ACTUALLY have Cs in your AP classes, you shoudl be fine :)</p>

<p>Good luck, hope to see you there :D</p>

10

<p>MIT applicants have been denied admission with credentials that are more impressive than yours. So, what makes you different? Are you inspired to become a scientist? Do you have something unique to contribute to MIT? These are the questions you need to ask yourself. As everyone else would tell you, there's no formula for admission; and the admission process is much more qualitative than you would think [especially for a school like MIT]. And MIT can deffinitely tell when it's the "back-up" to the big H [although wasn't it rated the most competitve school to get into this year?], so you can never let that come through. Based on what your abridged resume shows, you deffinitely have a chance and you can definitely fit in a competitive pool. You need to think about a possible hook and how you want to integrate that into your essays. You will also need to select the accomplishments that are most significant to you. Best of luck with MIT and other apps. Hope I helped ^ - ^</p>

11

<p>You're not allowed to have a calculator in Physics.</p>

12

<p>You aren't applying to MIT for engineering, are you?</p>